White paper on creativity - ebla center

Chapter 15so hard in recent years to promote and protect Italian design. The main tasks ofthe Council could include – in collaboration with the business associations – thesetting up of a permanent observatory on design which would draft an annualreport on business trends in the sector, as happens in many other countries.ObjectiveRaise awareness of the influence of the material culture and widespreaddesign on the export-driven production sectorsThe specific features of successful Italian design productions are universallyrecognised as having originated in the high-quality craftsmanship which has beenconsolidated and handed down from generation to generation in the districtareas. Innovative processes are often not simply produced by an individualprofessional figure, typically a designer, but are the outcome of closecollaboration between various professional figures involved in the productionprocess: the entrepreneur, specialised technicians and workers.There is a need for a greater awareness of the role played by district areas for thepurposes of fostering dialogue between the two different kinds of district:industrial districts, real or even only potential, found throughout the local areawhich are custodians of the local material culture and in which production takesplace; and metropolitan cultural districts whose services are used for advertisingand commercialising products.Action 8 : Set up institutions dedicated to the conservation anddevelopment of the material culture in the districtsThe conservation and development of the common heritage of material culturein a local area is the outcome of the joint action by a set of public and privatestakeholders:• museums and historic archives which not only conserve and collect modelsand projects that may be a source of new inspiration but facilitate access tothem though the use of digital and audio-visual media• specialised schools and technical institutes which work on encoding thewidespread know-how of a local area and provide training andapprenticeships guaranteeing the transmission of knowledge also to thosewho have not inherited a family tradition; the educational institutions mustalso develop a shared language and facilitate free creative expression topromote a more conscious widespread participation in the process and agreater capacity to dialogue with designers inside and outside the area• local committees and agencies whose members are representatives of localgovernment bodies and business associations with the aim of creatingcollective brands to preserve the average quality of local productions anddevelop a greater focus on process and product innovation. This wouldcontribute to guaranteeing the economic value of the collective brand overWHITE PAPER ON CREATIVITY 353