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The purpose of this paper is to take into consideration the propensity to offer vocational training of a large sample of Italian private firms by retrieving cross-sectional data from INDACO (2009).

Estimating a probit model, the author assesses how the age and the gender composition of the employed workforce, as well as a set of relevant corporate characteristics, such as size, sector, geographical location, innovation strategies, R&D investments and use of social safety valves, are linked to the willingness of firms to supply on-the-job training.

First, as far as the average age of the whole employed workforce is concerned, it was found that the propensity of surveyed firms toward training provision follows an inverted U-shaped pattern. Furthermore, it was shown that larger firms have a higher training propensity with respect to small firms, and the same attitude holds for productive units that adopted innovation strategies and/or invested in R&D projects. By contrast, it was found that the propensity to support training activities is negatively correlated to the percentage of employed women and the use social valves.

The sample of business units taken into consideration is quite large, but it has some biases toward larger and manufacturing firms. Moreover, the cross-sectional perspective of the analysis does not allow implementation of the finer identification procedures that can be applied with panel data. Furthermore, the lack of employer – employee linked data does not allow to fully address the issue of compliance to training activities.

From a policy point of view, the results shown throughout the paper suggest some broad guidelines. First, especially in small firms, vocational training for young and older workers should be somehow stimulated. Moreover, as far as mature employees are concerned, those interventions should be framed in an active ageing perspective. Subsidies and targeted job placement programmes are often claimed as being the most appropriate ways to improve the underprivileged position of older workers. However, continuous learning during the whole working life still appears as the most effective device to reduce the employment disadvantages in the older years.

While there are a number of papers that study the age patterns of training participation by using workers’ data retrieved from personnel and/or labour force surveys, this work is the first attempt to provide a probabilistic assessment of the decisions of Italian firms regarding training provision by taking into account the ageing perspectives of the incumbent workforce.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the hypothesis that it is fruitful to study new areas within research for sustainability, through experimental education courses, that are based on international and multilateral (transcultural) learning processes.

This way of introducing education into open research issues is presented throughout the experiences and the results of the DECOS campus network (Design in Emerging COntexts for Sustainability). This is an informal expert network on higher design education which involves university campuses from emerging and industrialized countries. The learning process established among those universities has been yearly assessed by the didactic observatory of the Politecnico di Milano University, considering also the feedbacks of the various involved professors.

The paper presents both the opportunities of such learning processes and the results actually achieved (designed) by the students, i.e. the students' sustainable system concepts.

The described experience encourages its continuing and its further implementation and dissemination.

The originality this experience is due to the combination of both experimental education and open‐front research issues and design for sustainability with transcultural learning processes.

This paper aims to diffuse the concept of a multi‐lateral learning process as a means to promote experimental didactics and research (and the cross‐fertilization between these two activities) in the field of design of sustainable product‐service systems (PSSs) and to consider the university campus as the locus for the design, implementation and dissemination of sustainable innovative solutions.

The presentation, description and justification of the working hypothesis, i.e. the campus as community “lab” and “window” to design and promote sustainable innovation. It is described throughout the direct and experimental experiences matured by the design in emerging context for sustainability (DECOS) educational network. This is introduced by both a general overview of disciplinary contents and by the presentation, description and justification of the disciplinary issue. The achievements of the case study (the educational projects spin‐off) and the (disciplinary) contextualization of the case study (the educational design projects) are discussed.

The paper presents findings at two levels. First, disciplinary: the paper justifies the concept of sustainable PSS as a radical innovation model towards sustainability, highlighting its potentialities for emerging contexts (countries). Within this disciplinary framework, it points out the necessity of raising a new generation of designers equipped to operate as system sustainability innovators. Second, educational: through the presentation of a successful case study, it validates the multilateral learning process (network) as a means to develop and promote curriculum innovation and validates the hypothesis that university campuses can be used as optimum show‐cases for the design, testing and dissemination of sustainable solutions for society at large.

Concrete implications of the actions described in the paper are the introduction of advanced/experimental education courses within the curricula. It suggests also the development of tools and mechanisms (such as the use of specific collaborative design web tools and the students and teachers exchanges) as possible future developments for the presented actions.

The idea of studying the PSS applicability and potential in emerging countries represents an original approach. Furthermore, the paper presents an original and effective way of linking experimental didactic with open‐front research issues.

The aim of this essay is to examine the relationship between design and handcraft, and examine the artisan as a witness of cultural and social traditions.

In the fashion and textile sector, craft production represents a very high manufacturing cost, particularly when production is not delocalized. However, it might not be easy to position craft production in the market, because its value is not immediately perceived. In this case, a design-oriented approach is essential. Design is important for the specificity of local productive knowledge and identity, not only to develop products with a high narrative content, but also as a stimulus for innovation. In combination with a local orientation, design can build value on implicit knowledge, the search for new languages, increase in the emotional dimension of the offered work, and innovate processes and the conception of the finished products. At the same time, design can help consumers to understand and recognize the qualities and unique characteristics of handmade products, thus creating the feeling of a unique purchasing experience with high added value.

WovenTechnology is the main element for attaining excellence in manufacturing areas in the field of fashion. In recent years, integration of advanced technologies has been the main aspect for revitalizing the entire Italian manufacturing system. Starting from CAD software, then hardware, and finally, the use of communication technology for business facilities, this paper shows the most interesting cases in which fashion has benefited from advanced technologies to design innovative products and new business strategies. Digital technologies effectiveness is the new frontier that propels the manufacturing system and defines new ways of doing things and new marketing scenarios able to support companies in customer loyalty and market diversification. From these, it can be said that innovation is the result of several factors and the rapid spread of technologies, which clearly represent opportunities for the industry system to combine advanced manufacturing and traditional processes, ensure flexibility, and achieve new ways of producing, designing and selling.

The history of weaving and textile innovation follows the history of technological innovations and the evolution of socio-cultural issues in a stepwise manner.

Currently, textiles and patterns are tools that characterize garments and define their unique aesthetics, becoming identity-making elements not only for a single product or a collection, but also for brands. By balancing a delicate equilibrium between brand heritage and Zeitgeist, the Italian textile industry bases its success on the capability to re-organize creative processes to generate innovation, also thanks to new relationships among textile designers and their customers. In particular, it is in the textile pattern development activity where we can find, on the one hand, interesting examples of product innovations through traditional tools, such as the company archives, and on the other hand, interesting examples of process innovations through new creative possibilities offered by high-tech fabrics.

Through special case studies, this essay will analyze and define possible creative models that innovate in the textile sector.

The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the key contextual, personal development and research issues facing micro-ecopreneurs in the UK food industry.

Key literatures and definitions are examined concerning the role of an ecopreneur, as well as the nature of ecopreneurship. Contextual ideas are drawn from arguments concerning the triple bottom line, and economic versus social and ethical trade-offs, as well as a closer examination of the UK food industry and future trends.

The UK eco-enterprise market has been growing and dynamic. However, micro-ecopreneurs in the UK food sector are now faced with numerous trade-offs and challenges, not least in terms of educating consumers, overcoming difficult market situations, and gaining access to venture capital. In the absence of widespread data, there have been calls for further research to clarify fundamental conceptual questions, such as: What are the long-term sustainability trends for ecopreneurship in the UK food industry? How will ecopreneurs deliver high-quality produce alongside demands for cheaper and more processed foods, commonly found in many UK supermarkets? What motivations, personal development skills and managerial qualities are required from future micro-ecopreneurs for long-term success in a highly competitive sector?

The authors direct future researcher attention to the key managerial and personal development issues facing many small business ecopreneurs.

This commentary is intended to explore broad issues and ask pertinent questions, in light of the harsh economic realities in 2013, experienced by many smaller UK ecopreneurs.

The main objective of this article is to propose an interpretive model that attempts to decipher a product's values in terms of functionality, usability and meaning. This model can support companies in better integrating these values in their product offering and in defining the most adequate innovation strategies that they can adopt.

The authors conducted an empirical analysis on more than 450 products from the Italian furniture industry. Moreover, using an interpretative model 50 product signs were mapped (materials, surfaces, colours, etc.) for each product. The obtained database was analyzed via the principal component analysis (PCA) statistical technique with the intent to identify dominant product languages. In fact, interpreting a product language as a set of product signs, the article describes an objective process able to identify dominant product languages as combinations of different product signs.

The interpretive model described in this article represents a first result in itself. In addition, by mapping the dynamics of dominant product languages, it has been demonstrated that they evolve differently in relation to several product typologies. In turn, the possibility of “brokering” dominant product languages from one product typology to another and from one industry to another has been verified.

First of all, this model can support companies in the identification of emerging trends and, consequently, allows them to develop product semantic forecasts. In addition, the analysis of dominant product languages over time can also allow a company to propose combinations of product signs typical of past periods. Finally, the identification of dominant product languages can also allow companies to analyze the state‐of‐the‐art of the industry and, consequently, identify different ways to propose innovation to the market.

Most of conducted researches related to product languages have shown primarily a qualitative‐based approach, in which the observations are made by a restricted set of design experts on a subset of representative products. In contrast with the current literature in this research field, this article describes an objective process that is able to identify dominant product languages.

This chapter looks at the increasing interest in the cohousing phenomenon in Italy within civil society, public institutions, and academia. The most significant element to emerge from all this interest is the ‘ambiguity’ concerning the use of the concept. It is thus necessary to identify what the ‘Cohousing’ nomenclature is applied to, present it in its historical and geographic context, trace its origins and development on the basis of the related literature, and highlight the recent issues that have arisen from the debates held in international research networks. This chapter will advance the hypothesis that ‘ambiguity’ is playing, to a certain extent, a positive role, creating a common ground where different traditions, institutions, and social practices can meet and approach one another. I also propose considering the remarkable territorial activation expressed by emerging bottom-up initiatives as the most relevant specificity of the actual Italian situation from a public policies point of view. I identify the main issues at the national level and compare them with those issues found during field research carried out through participant observation. The introductory analysis of the reported case study, which focuses mainly on context conditions, shows the Ferrara bottom-up initiatives to be the (unintended) result of previous active citizenship public policies, thus revealing the importance of and the frames provided by urban policies to social innovation processes. As a future research issue, a shift is recommended from a blanket approach to a critical analysis of specific experiences.