S-Tiles - innovazione/distretto

THE CERAMIC DISTRICT: SHARING INNOVATION

More and more often lack of knowledge is not the real obstacle to innovation; rather it is a series of factors external to the technology transfer process. Managing information overload, social acceptance of new technologies, environmental issues and the logistics that accompany the introduction to change often constitute a more demanding challenge than basic technologies.

The importance of exchanging knowledge and the need to find solutions based on co-operation and consensus are becoming more evident. The concept of ‘sustainable development’ itself, the decisive factor for achieving long term economic and social progress, is based on the growth of consensus. Companies are gradually realising the advantages that come from integrating all relevant stakeholders into the innovation process. The idea of a ‘company citizenship’ is already broadly recognised among the large multinationals. In order to anticipate this trend, since the nineteen-seventies the Sassuolo-Scandiano ceramic district has moved organically as a whole to face environmental emergencies and, at the same time, improve quality of life and competitive capacity.

In reaching these objectives, research activities have played a key role both directly and indirectly.

Directly: giving appropriate technological answers in reply to the ponderous problems (environmental and social) that understandably characterise a heavily populated and industrialised area.

Indirectly: contributing to the establishment of a network able to support the entire ceramic system through a process of selecting and comparing priorities and sharing research results, this being useful for the entire community.

The joint engagement of organisations such as the Centro Ceramico of Bologna (linked to the Universities of Bologna, Modena and Reggio Emilia) and a close co-operation with national research institutes (CNR and ENEA) have bolstered the work done by the single companies’ laboratories.

In the last decade research has focused on developing management tools ‘tailor-made’ for the characteristics and needs of Italian ceramic industry, taking into account their typology and size. These instruments are mainly guidelines for designing and developing environmental management systems, methods for evaluating product life-cycles, etc. These tools are consistent with the directives and regulations adopted by the European Commission in order to achieve the objective of sustainable development, at the same time promoting ‘environmental competitiveness’ according to the policy guidelines of the 5th and now 6th Environmental Programmes of Action.