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Creativity, Innovation and Design

Creativity, Innovation and Design

Focus
Creativity, design, and innovation are central to maintaining the competitiveness of Italian firms in the global economy. Companies that combine traditional craftsmanship with industrial production, especially in Made in Italy sectors like luxury fashion and design, gain a strong competitive edge. By integrating Industry 4.0 technologies, they enhance artisanal processes, boost efficiency, and create innovative products that merge heritage skills with digital innovation. This combination of know-how and technology drives national growth and strengthens Italy’s global presence.

Goals
-  Promote Industry 4.0 in craftsmanship to enhance efficiency, quality, and product innovation.
-  Combine tradition and innovation by supporting artisans and companies in the digital transition.
- Showcase Made in Italy excellence through the integration of heritage skills and advanced technologies.
-  Build collaborative networks among artisans, designers, and technologists to create innovative products and business models.

Creativity and "Made in Italy" sector
The integration of craftsmanship and industrial production marks a key step for the knowledge economy. Creativity today is recognized not only as a dimension of thought but as a practical activity: “doing” is a way of thinking. Italian companies that successfully combine management skills with spaces for imagination and hands-on creation are more innovative and competitive, particularly in Made in Italy sectors. Industrial capacity for customization, supported by traditional know-how and Industry 4.0 technologies, represents a core competitive advantage and a driver of national growth.

 

Program on Innovation | TeDIS

TeDIS conducts research and training on Innovation and Competitiveness in the Global Economy, with a focus on globalization processes in areas such as Creativity and Design, Sustainable Logistics, and Urban Mobility Policies.

TeDIS serves both as a research hub, collaborating with companies and institutions, and as a cultural and training platform, organizing events and meetings.

Since its foundation in 1999, TeDIS has been funded by public institutions—including local government, the Italian Ministries for Research and Innovation, Formez, and the European Commission—as well as private companies such as SAP, Sun Microsystems, Telecom Italia, HP, and Lotus. It has also developed joint research projects with Duke University’s Center on Globalization, Governance and Competitiveness.

From 1999 to 2009, TeDIS focused on Industrial Districts & Technologies, analyzing SMEs’ evolution with network technologies and ICT, and on SMEs, Clusters & Internationalization, studying their global expansion and the role of local manufacturing systems.

Since 2009, TeDIS has shifted its focus to Creativity, Design and Innovation, Sustainable Logistics, and Urban Mobility Policies, participating in several EU-funded projects and fostering international networks for researchers, institutions, and policy-makers.

Today, TeDIS participates in the VIU’s Research Group Thinking Global Resilience: Cities and Global Change, actively contributing in its initiatives and collaborations that engage both faculty members and students across the VIU network.

Contact
tedis@univiu.org

TeDIS People

Scientific Director
Stefano Micelli - stefano.micelli@univiu.org

Executive Director
Lucia Di Gioia - lucia.digioia@univiu.org

EU Project Controller
Matteo Cavalieri - matteo.cavalieri@univiu.org

Creativity, Design and Innovation
Stefano Micelli  - stefano.micelli@univiu.org

Sustainable Logistics: Transport, Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Marco Mazzarino - marco.mazzarino@univiu.org

VIU Fellows
Enzo Rullani, Ca' Foscari University of Venice
Giancarlo Corò, Ca' Foscari University of Venice
Mario Volpe, Ca' Foscari University of Venice
Marco Mazzarino, University IUAV of Venice
Luca De Pietro, University of Padua
Marco Bettiol, University of Padua

Researchers
Maurizio Cociancich, Stefano Grigoletti, Giovanni Longo, Paolo Menegazzo,
Lucio Rubini, Chiara Sorice, Jessica Tomaselli. 

 

What We Do in Creativity, Innovation and Design

Relevant projects carried out in Creativity, Innovation and Design

Upskill 4.0 (2022-2024)
VIU and Upskill collaborate on the themes of the competitiveness of the territories, the ecosystems of innovation, the impact of higher technical training on the competitiveness of enterprises. The main objective of the research is to develop paths of technological and social innovation by making schools, companies and territories collaborate.

Homo Faber (2018 and 2022)
Michelangelo Foundation appointed Tedis and particularly Stefano Micelli, its Scientific Director as expert to collaborate in the concept of their Homo Faber project, to select some of the artisans that took part of the exhibition and to curate the automotive pavillion.

Bond Factory (2019/2020)
D-House, a Lab for the new technologies of Fashion: TeDIS carries out a study for the development of an innovative laboratory capable of accelerating digital transformation processes in the fashion sector with particular attention to the issues of the green economy and the training of new professional figures.

VIU Graduate Seminar: "rethinking manufacturing, consumption and globalizaton in the era of automation" (2019)
Twenty years ago, the TeDIS Center has been developed proposing a specific line of research devoted to study the relationship between the rise of network technologies and the model of organization of economic activities. The present competitive scenario is characterized by the rise of a new set of technologies that are reshaping the way production and consumption is organized. This VIU Graduate Seminar aims offers a training opportunity to discuss the challenges of this new scenario, providing a framework to interpret the deep transformations that will occur at multiple levels – firms, countries, consumers / citizens, cities.

TourPMI (2017/2018/2019)
is one of the innovation projects of Banca IFIS Impresa which aims to tell the Bank through its client companies.
Banca IFIS every month selected the companies among all the Italian regions and met the entrepreneurs directly in their productive realities for a storytelling through the development of mini-documentaries describing their stories. Tedis contributed to the concept development and to the storytelling management. 

First Draft (from 2004 to 2019)
A blog for discussions related to craftsmanship, design, globalization of SMEs, competitiveness. 

Italian Association City of Ceramics (2017/2108)
Tedis carried out a research on the "go-to-market" model strategy declinated to the Ceramics sector.

PIM Center (2017/2018)
Tedis has been appointed by PIM to collaborate in a research analyzing the revitalization of city centers through the artisans labs and shops as key factor of the economic reinassance of urban life.

Digital Artisan Lab (2015/2016)
IFIS bank appointed TeDIS to implement a communication plan on digital workshops in order to show how traditional Italian companies of Made in Italy had the capacity to transform theirselves in companies confronting the global economic challenges thanks to the new technologies of the digital manufacturing.
the activities carried on were:
-to develop a communication format and platform where to higlights the workshops case studies;
-to identify the case studies to be part of the video platform.
Digital Artisan Lab is the container committed to create a storytelling of this path and of this transformation. 

Maker Faire Rome (2014/2016)
showcase of invention, creativity and resourcefulness of the "Makers Movement".
TeDIS has been appointed by Innovacamera (Chamber of Commerce of Rome) to carry on dissemination and supporting activities within the framework of the Maker Faire 2016, 2015 and 2014, that were held in Rome annually in October.
Activities developed:
-Manufacturing hackathon: Planning and coordination of manufacturing hackathon held in locations identified by the Chamber of Commerce of Rome.
- Makers school: creation of a national network of technical and vocational schools that participated in setting up prototypes and projects to be presented during the events that took place in the Innovation Week
- Digital artisans: selection of a group of craftsmen who were able to transform their traditional business.
- Call for school: Italian schools participated to the annual call for application.

Digital Manifacturing  (2015):
Fondazione Make in Italy appointed TeDIS to carry on parts of its research on:
- digital manifacturing for growth and productivity
- companies strategies transformation
- digital manifacturing and innovation of Made in Italy
- the evolution of Fab Lab business models
The data analysis supported by questionnaires and case studies focussed on the impact of technologies on digital manifaturing and on the evolution of companies strategies.

Valore artigiano (2013/2014)
The Artisans Federation of Entrepreneurs of Vicenza (FAIV) appointed TeDIS to design and implement a series of Workshops and Labs addressed to young designers coming from the main European Design Schools to promote the linkages between local artisans and contemporary designers in order to develop an innovative approach to the artisan world. 

Main Publications related to this focus area

Micelli. S.: "Fare è innovare: il nuovo lavoro artigiano"; Il Mulino ed., May 2016
Bettiol M., (2015), Raccontare il Made in Italy. Un nuovo legame tra cultura e manifattura, Venezia, Marsilio
Bettiol M., Micelli S. (2014), “The hidden side of design: the relevance of artisanship”, Design Issues, Winter 2014, Vol. 30, No. 1: 7–18
Micelli, S.: "Futuro Artigiano: l'innovazione nelle mani degli italiani", Marsilio I Grilli ed., June 2011
Micelli, S; Mannino, I.(curators): "L'innovazione diventa sostenibile"; Giovani imprenditori Unindustria Treviso ed., April 2011
Bettiol M; Chiarvesio M; Micelli S.; "Innovazione, performance e design nelle imprese leader dei distretti industriali italiani"; in Baglieri E; Lojacono G; (curators), "Vincere con le idee", Egea ed., 2009
Bettiol M., Micelli S.: "Design e creatività nel made in Italy. Proposte per i distretti industriali", Bruno Mondadori ed., 2005