Craft Driven Innovation – The “Know-How” at the Base of Industrial Innovation

This industrial PhD. research, co-funded by industry, aims to highlight the potential arising from the integration between innovative technological processes and traditional manual techniques, transmitting know-how within the new product development of the upholstered furniture sector high-end, with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of the “Made in Italy.” Simultaneously, the value of Open Innovation is underlined, hence the collaboration between the research world and the enterprise and the role of design as a mediator between this bidirectional flow of knowledge. Today, Italian manufacturing SMEs face complex and interconnected challenges exacerbated by environmental, economic, and social crises. In this context, synergies such as those described above are strategic tools for achieving sustainable innovation and enhancing the “Made in Italy” value. The scientific literature supporting the contribution includes various research areas, such as the role of design in innovation, the craft-driven innovation approach, and the concept of innovation through tradition. Moreover, different ways of adopting technological innovations are explored, both in production phases and in dissemination within new product development. In this phase, the research is based on User Research, exploring the co-financing company and its surrounding context to define specific business needs. Subsequent adoption of additional methodologies is planned to define the proposed research trajectories and achieve a pilot project to be tested in the host company. This study contributes to the scientific landscape by enriching the surrounding industrial field, validating the hypothesis that collaboration between digital and artisanal skills and between the research and business worlds represents a significant potential for the future of the sector.