October 27-28, 2022 | Two days of training and discussion aimed at companies, designers, researchers and students.

What role do companies play in society today?
What questions must they answer in order to innovate and be competitive?
How then do the themes of social innovation speak to corporate culture and its evolution?

The traditional parameters within which companies have operated until now are changing, in search of a necessary response to the urgent challenges the world is presenting us with, from climate chaos to pandemics, from demographic pressures to socio-economic inequalities.

In this new scenario, the number of companies that in the development of their business model also pursue aims of common benefit is increasing, where responsibility, sustainability and transparency, towards people, communities, territories and the environment, have become indispensable factors for corporate growth, distinction in the market and response to increasingly conscious consumer behaviour.

For companies today, it is crucial to identify the values that can be encouraged, to communicate these principles in order to give visibility to the actions that concretely pursue them, and to activate a development plan to define future objectives that are in tune with them and with current market needs. These are all activities in which design – with its specific methods, tools and languages – can be of vital support to companies.

In fact, design, by placing itself in the right dialogue with the other disciplines involved and participating in the planning of social impact, becomes the ally of companies in orienting participatory processes, building inclusive decision-making paths, elaborating contemporary languages, realising visions and values by acting on spaces, products and supply chains.

On 27 and 28 October, the protagonists will be entrepreneurs, who will present successful case studies, designers, who through testimonials and training workshops will show the tools of design useful to companies that want to innovate and act for a conscious change, and economists, who will frame the proposed themes in the current scenario, also providing tools for assessing the social impact.

“Rooted in a solid history of social entrepreneurship, the establishment of a system of expertise on the topic of social impact has become central in Turin” recalls Sara Fortunati, Director of the Circolo del Design. ‘This creates fertile ground for making our area a point of reference for the application of design skills on social and environmental innovation issues.

By placing itself in the right dialogue with the other disciplines involved and participating in the design of social impact, design in fact becomes the ally of companies to guide participatory processes, build inclusive decision-making paths, elaborate contemporary languages, realise visions and values by acting on spaces, products and supply chains.

Also on this front, the relationship with the Chamber of Commerce is confirmed as fundamental in the development of projects and activities in favour of the use of design as a lever of innovation.”

“The Chamber of Commerce has been actively pursuing the topic of social economy for years, also thanks to the promotion of the Torino Social Impact Platform, which operates in the territory in order to promote it as a suitable place to develop business and impact finance,” explains Guido Bolatto, Secretary General of the Torino Chamber of Commerce. In the same way, we promote the relationship between designers and the business world, aware of the support that design methodologies can bring to the world of production and services. The same methodologies can also favour and support social enterprises and help bring the traditional business world closer to these increasingly topical issues. “Next now” will be an important opportunity to understand how design can ensure a pragmatic approach to social entrepreneurship issues, through well-trodden paths and procedures”.

Discover the programme and register on Eventbrite.

For information and bookings:
info@circolodeldesign.it
Marta D’Angelo – 331 4321195

Next Now is a project of Circolo del Design.
With the support of: Turin Chamber of Commerce and Iren
With the scientific partner of: Polimi DESIS Lab and the collaboration of the Department of Architecture and Design of the Politecnico di Torino
In collaboration with: Torino Social Impact and Unione Industriali