Promoting Transition and Fostering Sustainable Innovation: The MUSA Spoke 5 Project

Milan is globally renowned for its luxury industry, encompassing fashion, design, and all related sectors such as beauty and jewelry. These industries are currently undergoing a profound transformation, merging their high standards and exceptional characteristics with the increasing global and consumer demand for sustainable products and practices.

To manage the complexity of this transition, MUSA Spoke 5 , a project funded by PNRR aims to design and disseminate best practices providing support to foster sustainable innovation, starting from the municipality of Milan.

The event ‘Dove il lusso incontra la sostenibilità” held on 16 May 2024 at the Politecnico di Milano marked a significant step along this path, creating a community of companies interested in activating a collaborative process, sparkling meaningful dialogues towards new practices through speeches from renowned guests.

Guests facilitate the conversation by providing insights about leading innovations in related fields, starting from the role that digital technologies can provide.

Paolo Stella, influencer and creative director of the @suonarestella project shared the value of critically reflecting on the role that objects around us can play in nurturing innovation.
He presented the project as an opportunity to exploit social media to generate awareness about fields like design, traditionally distant from mainstream consciousness, introducing new concepts and trends to a broader audience.

To strengthen the role of digitalization, Valentina Pontiggia, Director of the eCommerce B2c and Retail Digital Innovation Observatory of the School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano, emphasised the importance of integrating digital technologies to support sustainable innovation. Through the research of observatories, she highlighted how data analytics and product traceability are becoming crucial for promoting fair and trustworthy innovation. This integration not only enhances environmental sustainability but also reinforces social responsibility.

Carlo Salvato, Professor of Business Strategy at Bocconi University in Milan, contributed to the dialogue by discussing how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can achieve sustainable innovation by harnessing their unique capabilities of flexibility and local connectivity.
Sharing data from research of Osservatorio AUB he underscored the significance of diversity in age and gender as catalysts for heightened innovation and superior performance, shedding light on the potential of diverse teams to drive progress in sustainability.

Echoing the core values of the MUSA community, Edoardo Iannuzzi, founder of the start-up ACBC stressed that sustainable transformation extends beyond material changes. It involves fundamentally reshaping collaborations among stakeholders and nurturing systemic innovation. With his company, Iannuzzi pointed out the necessity of creating a global, interconnected system where various actors cooperate to reduce material consumption and foster sustainable practices.

The essence of this event lied in the matchmaking session planting the initial seeds for building a community of firms in the fashion, design, beauty, and luxury sectors. This community aims to bring together firms already committed to sustainability with those aspiring to transition towards more sustainable practices, nurturing collaboration to support each other in shaping a sustainable future. The diversity of backgrounds in participants strengthens the innovation opportunities that these interactions enable, becoming a paramount opportunity to interact with firms that are typically difficult to reach.

The MUSA community’s ultimate goal is to become a central hub for fostering innovative practices and supporting both SMEs and established firms on their path towards sustainable innovation. To achieve this, MUSA Spoke 5 will activate in the coming perioda digital platform to nurture and sustain the connections formed within this community over time, paving the way for a more sustainable future in Milan’s luxury industry.