The revitalisation of the economy of the Biella region requires new skills to be developed in the area in the field of so-called intangible resources - services, culture, creative activities - which are today a key factor in competition, also for manufacturing and the textile industry in particular. Creativity, culture and professional services perform a central role in defining a country’s and an area’s competitive capacity because they do not involve only the most advanced sector of services but also the more traditional manufacturing industry in the same way.
The Case Studies section provides informative material on specific cases pertaining to policies for local development and to the attraction of resources in the five areas which the O2K project has identified as critical for the Biella region.
AIM-Attraverso i Muri (Through the Walls) is an explanatory case of the problems involved in exploiting industrial archaeology assets and those of contemporary industrial/architectural structures. The project in fact seeks to carry out architectural upgrading not merely by decorative building, but rather by launching an operation which collects together and draws attention to values which the area can exploit, in the sense of rediscovering its own strengths, in the current stage of the construction of its own future.
The projects 8X5X563+1 and Cubi in Movimento - Ambasciata del territorio biellese (Cubes in Motion – Embassy of the Biella District) make artists, craft trade workers and industries in the Biella region interact by proposing creative solutions to actual existing issues. These are cases exemplifying the possibility of transforming local economies from a strong textile specialisation to a diversified economy with high service intensity.
There are sectors which are apparently secondary, such as devotional tourism and the technology/well-being binome whose basis is competitive potential for the area.
The Associazione Tessile e Salute (Textile and Health Association) communicates and disseminates information on the area involving, with a technical/scientific dialogue, the world of health, production, research and consumers’ associations. The Borsa dei Percorsi Devozionali e Culturali - L’anima dei Luoghi, l’Anima nei luoghi (Market for Devotional and Cultural Journeys - The soul of Places, the Soul in places) is a tourist promotion event which offers the facility for international demand, and supply by the Biella region, to meet within the context of devotional/cultural tourism.
A potential reservoir for the development of the Biella region is talented youngsters: The UNIDEE - Università delle Idee (University of Ideas), an international residence for young creatives whose purpose is to train "activators" for a responsible social transformation in global projects, has stabilising synergies between local industry and creatives from all over the world as its objective.
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