White paper on creativity - ebla center

Chapter 1leisure, entertainment, culture and wellbeing,has not only been broadenedand consolidated but has also becomefairer and more open. The market forgoods based on material culture isradically changing, thus shifting fromcompetition based on low productioncosts to competition based on thequality of products, their symbolicvalue and the quality of the experiencewhich they offer. Consequently, theimmense production sector of materialculture goods, which in Italy mainlycorresponds to the so-called “Made inItaly” sectors (industrial design,designer fashion, house design andhousehold goods, lifestyle, tourism, thewine and food industry, and lightengineering), has been driven by a risein demand for quality productsexpressing aesthetics, decoration,design and traditional knowledge.The decision-making processesinvolved in consumer choices also tendto diverge: while in the model ofcreativity for innovation the prevailinglogic is of rational choices based onoptimising benefits, in the model ofcreativity for social quality theprevailing logic is of choicessymbolically influenced by processes ofidentification with less stringent costbenefitratios (Santagata, 1998).The two dimensions defining thereasons for the success of the creativeindustries, i.e. technological innovationand a focus on social and culturalquality, tend to combine and overlap:industrial design, for example, dealswith new models of mobile telephones,while the online marketing of fashionproducts has carved out significantmarket shares. Technological cultureand material culture at times crossoverbut are also successful as sectors intheir own right.Culture and CreativityCulture is our history, our present andthe gift we leave to future generations.Culture is our inexhaustible wealth.The more culture is consumed, thegreater it grows and makes Italiansgrow, along with their identity andexpertise. Culture is a consolidateduniversal good which we have alwaysbeen so used to considering to be ourown that we have overlooked theimportance of developing andprotecting it. And in particular we failto measure it: we do not know its valuein terms of the market and production.To use some suggestive images, wewould point out that creativity can befound in our culture, in oursurrounding territory, in the quality ofour everyday life and our products. It isnot an end in itself, but a process, anextraordinary mean to producing newideas. In this sense, creativity andculture are the pillars of social quality,seen as a context of a free,economically developed, fair andculturally lively community with a highquality of life. Creativity and culture areinextricably bound. They are asuccessful combination which canposition our country at a time ofstrategic transition in the internationalprocess of globalisation. Italy knowshow to look to advanced countries andtheir technologies, but also todeveloping countries and their greatcultural traditions. With the former itWHITE PAPER ON CREATIVITY 17