Activity
The task of Spoke 3 is to give life to innovative training activities carried out in synergy with companies as well as research activities, to provide support to start-ups and to involve local communities on the issues of innovation and sustainability with reference to culture and tourism industry.
Tourism and culture industry
The Spoke of the Tourism and Culture Industry includes the territories in which the participating Universities are located. In Lombardy the Province of Como and the Province of Varese (University of Insubria), in Piedmont the Province of Verbania, the Province of Novara, the Province of Vercelli and the Province of Alessandria (University of Eastern Piedmont) and the Province of Biella , the Province of Cuneo and the Metropolitan Area of Turin (University of Turin), in Valle d'Aosta, Aosta and its province (University of Valle d'Aosta).
As regards the flagship projects, Spoke 3 extends the activities to the province of Benevento, with the participation of the University of Sannio, and to the province of Lecce, with the participation of the University of Salento. Depending on the different economic sectors and different scientific disciplines involved in the research area focused on the tourism and culture industry, the research and innovation program adopts the comprehensive approach of the UNESCO Framework. The development of the local area and culture is usually linked to historical, artistic and architectural factors, as well as to its natural beauty. The enhancement should therefore also consider other aspects which, in one way or another, are linked to the concept of creativity.
Today the culture of tourism regains this industrial dimension, an integral part of the territory's identity, of its social capital and - at the same time - the driving force behind the development of the tourism industry itself, which is enriched year after year with new cultural perspectives. In a context characterized by the pandemic which has inflicted heavy losses on tourism, the cultural sector and the textile industries, it is necessary to reflect on the possible ways of relaunching based on process innovation and new business models.
The keywords for this change can only be Ecological Transition in which sustainable consumption and production have become an important topic of political and research agendas in recent years with specific attention aimed at jointly considering production and consumption activities.