White paper on creativity - ebla center

Chapter 66.5 ConclusionsA key feature of the Italian tasteindustry is the extraordinary numberof products and their rootedness inthe distinctive identity fabric of a localterritory. Food and wine is a verycomplex sector combining economicweight with intangible features of thecultural heritage. The small and verysmall size of businesses is anotherdistinctive feature, which has bothelements of strength and points ofweaknesses and vulnerability.Although the sector is not labourintensive, human capital plays astrategic role at the stage ofconception and creativity in thestrictest sense, but also in theproductive processes and in buildingstrong links with the local community.The close bond with the local territorymakes quality food production asustainable activity and, according tothe figures, economically worthwhile.The transmission of knowledge fromone generation to another, mainlybased on non-formal components,seems to have been successfullycombined with the introduction ofprocedural, technological andorganisational innovations. This hasencouraged the creation of newcompetent specialised professionalfigures and ad hoc training courses.Despite obvious differences from oneregion to another (mainly due to a lackof protection in the South andarguably too much protection in theCentre and North), the taste industrytends to appear as a system potentiallywell-integrated throughout theproduction chain. Moreover, the foodand wine industry has considerablecapacities for synergies withneighbouring production sectors, suchas tourism, and especially culturaltourism. In fact certified productsconvey a positive image whichenhance the whole local area. Byencouraging more integration betweensectors, the conditions can be createdfor the development of externaleconomies. The acquisition andtransmission of innovations – whetherthey are new recipes, new foodmaterials or new methods ofpreservation, packaging, distributionand consumption – happens veryquickly and is a constant phenomenonrunning through the system (often in atwo-way or circular fashion) from thehighest luxury segment to the morepopular local segment. Unlike fashionproducts, food and wine products donot show exorbitant differencesbetween high and low price brackets,and quality products are welldifferentiated from non-qualityproducts. This means it is veryimportant to ensure that producershave a solid support system, especiallyin order to make communications topotential customers more effective.Moreover, the culture of quality foodand wine should be linked andintegrated systematically with policiesdeveloping other local cultural goods,such as those part of the historical,artistic and landscape heritage.WHITE PAPER ON CREATIVITY 152