The 14th Annual Conference of the Friends of Aspen, held at the Palazzo Litta in Milan, featured a debate on the ways in which a combination of culture and innovation could give rise to new forms of leadership capable of revitalizing Italian economic life – particularly its entrepreneurial scene.
As is now customary, the Conference – chaired for the first time by the group’s new president, Beatrice Trussardi – also provided an opportunity to introduce new members to the group and to present the group’s activities to them.
The Conference proceedings then got underway with the observation that today’s world is characterized by an uncertainty which is not merely economic in nature. There is a need to revisit the foundations of society and the role of businesses, and to pursue new avenues of debate and dialogue. The best firms have a sense of belonging and shared purpose that also need to be fostered outside these organizations. Thus, much importance was placed during the Conference on identifying new ways of involving people more directly in the brand experience.
The spread of technology and computer networks has completely transformed communications between producers and consumers. Metaphorically speaking, the straight linear progression of communications in the past has today been replaced by a circle within which ideas, processes and products are designed and traded. This is also due to the impetus generated by the free flow of ideas on the internet, as well as the pivotal importance of social networking sites in creating transnational circuits of new opinion leaders.
In this context, society, and businesses in particular, must look to cultural research and technology as the basic tools for creating a sense of community. Cultural offerings, technological innovation, scientific research and education are the tools through which this new sense of community can be forged. However, before adopting any new model, it is also necessary to reflect on the nature of business activities conducted, rethink respective roles and seek to identify new approaches to leadership. This process was defined as one of “creative leadership”. It was noted that examples of this approach can be found today among those in public authorities, private institutions, businesses and universities, who make use of innovative participatory models in which creativity is viewed and presented in a completely different light, that is: as a driver of ideas and of change, and as a real tool for economic development. It was emphasized that experimentation by public sector leaders should be encouraged and supported, and that culture provides one of the most important (yet least understood) platforms for innovation.
A prime example is the fashion industry, which has what it takes in terms of corporate culture and innovative ideas, exhibits a performance that can be measured with normal market indicators and, at the same time, benefits from a cross-fertilization of knowledge due to the involvement of contributors from diverse sectors. This is a rhizomatous field in which an Italian system must be developed, but not one which is blindly nationalistic. Attention was also drawn to the importance of focusing on university education as a means of fostering creativity and talent. Indeed, enhancing the value of education is also a means of forging identity. The process of shaping the future, it was observed, starts at the local level, and with the efforts of those who, in experimenting with new forms of cultural marketing, realize that boosting cultural offerings by combining them with public enjoyment are what is needed to provide a fertile ground for innovation. The internet also represents a gateway to cultural services and events that are thus made less exclusive. In other words, cultural participation experiences which “force” people to use their cognitive abilities, such as services which allow people to listen to music and then try and make music themselves, should be supported.
Through a series of case studies, the participants analyzed the important role that a multidisciplinary approach will play in organizations of the future, and how art and architecture could help enhance brand value. A further case study involved an Italian company whose innovative use of chemistry for environmental applications is the result of an extraordinarily successful relationship of osmosis between the academic sphere and industrial laboratories. Strong calls were made for tax incentives to be explored which would encourage private investment, and the importance of involving private sector operators in the management of cultural heritage was reiterated – on the condition that governance which is transparent and stable over time (and therefore shielded from the frequent changes in leadership of local administrations) is ensured, and that the tax burden on those operating in the cultural sector is reduced.
The final session of the Conference featured a presentation by John Maeda, President of the Rhode Island School of Design, of his theory that it is precisely the application of technology and culture to business which will shape the future, introducing a new economic model in which the classic S.T.E.M. paradigm (based on “Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math”) is combined with an I.D.E.A. paradigm (“Intuition, Design, Emotion, and Art”).