Design can be a tool that enables the technical capacities found in productive districts to be applied to developing industrial policies closely tied to the territorial contexts; it can act as a linking force inside the districts themselves, in the supply chains, networks and cloud platforms. For this reason, it has been an extremely important competitive tool throughout the history of Italian industry, in particular, in a sector like that of ceramic coverings, with its strong geographical concentration in the province of Modena and its internationalisation from the 1990s.
Ceramica Fioranese is an example of a firm whose business approach is strongly linked to territorial expertise, the most innovative forms of which are precisely in the area of design.

Carlo Branzaglia (Cesena, 1962). He works in the eld of strategic design and design education. He teaches at the Bologna Accademia di Belle Arti where he has been the coordinator of the DPA A and Bologna Design Center. He is the scienti c coordinator of the Milan IED postgraduate school; he’s a member of the International Health Design Network and sits on the Board of Directors of the ADI Compasso d’Oro Foundation Collection. His latest publication is Fare Progetti (Logo Fausto Lupetti, II edition, 2019).