Abstract:

The paper proposes a two-fold perspective on the topic of proximity: proximity and remoteness as non-univocal and not-only geographical categorisation of territories; design-driven innovation and entrepreneurial-driven innovation to prompt cross-disciplinary educational experiences.

The paper presents the educational process set for a Design thinking (DT) course for master students in business innovation and entrepreneurship based on framing and developing a possible and future innovation pattern in a small and remote context. Through the phases of framing, defining, developing, and implementing, a design opportunity, students were trained in the capacity of breaking-down the process, in order then to develop the ability to conduct a foresight vision and to manage a value-creating process. In fact, the integration of foresight and creative abilities served to frame and develop a design project opportunity through the development of scenarios.

Why DT for the entrepreneurship curriculum? DT is the approach to innovation that support vision-making, problem-framing and problem-solving skills development within managerial environments, that spread diffusion since the early 2000s as a way of coping with the challenge of innovation in the uncertainty of the contemporary markets. Entrepreneurship is the process of discovering or creating opportunities out of social and cultural capital to generate economic and symbolic value potential. The presented application explored these potentialities for small and remote contexts, turning the so far diffused understanding of remote areas as complicated and unproductive into a renewed idea of value-driven proximity.

From a methodological perspective, the development process has been set following these phases:
i) understanding the social and economic potential of the location in terms of regional focus and proximity economy;
ii) understanding the competitive space as challenges and assets to frame the possible value creation according to the existing human and social capital;
iii) defining the specific cultural sector according to the opportunities identified;
iv) select a future scenario for small and remote places and further design it to frame the specific future perspective (polarity mapping of scenarios and trends);
v) problem definition for the later exploration of possible solutions;
vi) scenario and concept idea definition for the territory through the design tools of Personas, System Map and Customer Journey Map.

This process aimed at testing the valuable inclusion of the DT mind-set in business education to let students directly explore the importance to balance “exploration” - as the search for new knowledge - with “exploitation” - as the maximization of profit from existing knowledge. To achieve this goal, the use of both DT methods and future thinking approaches served to test and demonstrate the need to acquire the ability of thinking intuitively (meaning to be innovative through a future-driven perspective) in balance with the ability of thinking analytically. The aimed result is to train business entrepreneurship students to avoid the risks of generating unstable businesses, on one side, or old-fashioned ones, on the other with a specific focus on generating innovative ideas in the context of small and remote places, acquiring an acknowledged understanding of what does it mean to develop innovation in remote areas exploiting regional factors as driving forces for future transformations.

Keywords:

Design thinking, cultural entrepreneurship, cultural and creative industries, regional patterns of innovation, remoteness.