The objective of Open to Knowledge is to assign importance to the
role of culture in the world.
The modern individual must be aware of how culture has a major part
to play in firms and undertakings: it is important that the challenge
of creativity should be taken up by firms in synergy with the area
to which they belong. In the first section, texts are brought together
which analyse the methods whereby the districts have begun changing
society.
In the chapter Guidelines for the development of a local network
for the creativity on the Biella territory, by Hermes Lab,
the processes for integrating symbolic capital with manufacturing
capital are described. This approach highlights the cultural content
of industrial products whose design incorporates sematic1, aesthetic
and ethical elements from the outset.
But how is the value of culture to be measured? The chapter Industry,
culture and hybrid goods emphasises the fact that notwithstanding
the economic value of knowledge and of creativity having been recognized
for some time in Italian firms, an authentic relationship with culture
is lacking. The culture/enterprise relationship thus needs to take
the form of a relationship in transition in which it is recognised
that economic value is determined by the union of tangible and intangible
factors. But have firms in the area understood what politicians, the
media and academics have been repeating for years - that culture,
information and skill are actually resources for economic development?
A proposal for the innovation in the small handicraft textile
business from SRF is the synthesis of an articulated research
programme aimed at understanding the potential and the demands of
small firms in the area. The challenge to creativity, however, does
not relate only to undertakings. The AGIO paper Creativity,
administration and territory highlights how the government
should shoulder this responsibility by developing attraction mechanisms
in the area. To carry out cultural projects, however, it is essential
that both public and private funds and financing be obtained. The
chapter Facilitated financial instruments providing support
for investments in the cultural sector offers a summary but
exhaustive overview of the sequence of stages in the preparation and
implementation of a cultural project.
To achieve the maximum efficiency in the conversion processes applied
to an area, these need to be part of dynamics which are present and
rely on the potential which is present. The chapter Report
on the mapping models of the competences endowment and immaterial
assets of the territory proposes various mapping models
to organise existing information in the area and make it legible to
the public.
Finally the text Roubaix, Tourcoing and Lille Metropole by
Francesca Giorgione and Raffaella Bucci shows some successful examples
of economic development fostered by culture.
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