Economics and nature, culture and technological innovation — these are the themes addressed by a diverse and forward-looking group of protagonists in Treia, in the province of Macerata, where the Festival della soft economy is under way, organised by Symbola, the foundation for Italian quality. We spoke with its director, Domenico Sturabotti, to understand what qualities are needed today to meet the economic, social and environmental challenges facing our country.

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The failure of the economic model based on constant growth is by now plain to see. Do you believe that soft economy can represent an alternative for revitalising the economy without compromising environmental resources?
The economic crisis has stimulated the creation of new development models and pushed us towards a more efficient use of resources. In the coming days Symbola will present a report called Coesione è competizione, from which it emerges that those businesses that maintain an open relationship with the context in which they operate — with consumers, with the local area and with other companies — perform better. This means that those who run their businesses well also have a positive impact on the country as a whole. The same holds at the local level: all those more cohesive territories — that is, those with greater social inclusion, whether in terms of employment, immigration, greater voter turnout and participation in public life — record higher levels of wealth and income distribution. Opening up, therefore, is not an end in itself; it helps communities and businesses to grow economically.

Italy has an extraordinary wealth of biodiversity. Do you believe this can serve as a foundation to build on?
We live in a world of seven and a half billion people, hyperconnected through the internet and new technologies. After an initial phase in which this process seemed likely to flatten the world into two dimensions, distinctions are now emerging in a new phase of globalisation and are becoming important elements capable of attracting international attention — both in terms of the cultural dimension and the capital represented by biodiversity. Unfortunately, culture and biodiversity are still sometimes seen as something additional, outside the economic model. The current economic models in development, based on the medium-to-long term, instead attach great importance to these two factors. The reduction in fish stocks in the Adriatic Sea, for example, has effects on both the environment and the economy; depleting biodiversity also means having fewer opportunities to discover new substances for developing medicines or eco-sustainable materials. It is clear that biodiversity has a value. We must start again from there.

The soft economy indicator is the prodotto interno qualità (piq). How is it calculated?
In recent years, advanced Western economies have not recorded significant quantitative growth, and so a need has arisen to qualify the gross domestic product (gdp) — asking not so much what we produce, but how we produce it. Symbola monitors the evolution of a series of indicators year on year through precise parameters, such as energy consumption and waste production, and compares them. If, with the same gdp, there has been a reduction in energy consumption and a virtuous approach to waste management, the piq increases. There are also indicators linked to the quality of the finished product; we assess what is defined as the average unit value.

The growth of digital technology and the recovery of ancient, forgotten production techniques. Can these two apparently antithetical aspects contribute to the relaunch of Italian businesses?Absolutely yes. Digital technology today is a sector aimed at specific companies, but it will gradually extend to all areas of production — in ten years' time, there will no longer be any non-digitalised business. There will be a transition analogous to the one that once occurred with electricity. We must not confuse the tool with the objective. Digital technology can be an asset for those small niche productions that are strongly rooted in a particular area; clearly a certain level of competence is required, but one must not force the product to fit the tool — it should be the other way around. This is the challenge we have set ourselves. At present, producers are led to struggle to understand a tool they do not master; instead, these digital tools should be customised to the needs of the producer. It should be the IT specialist who builds the right platform for them, not the other way round.

The report Io sono cultura quantifies the weight of culture and creativity in the national economy and considers them the driving engines of advanced economies. What role can culture play in the national economy?
Culture already plays a significant economic role. One thing is to say how much culture generates in Italy today; another is to understand what function it performs, and then to equip ourselves with a shared strategy. Culture operates on a symbolic dimension. If a country wants to stand out, it must enhance its cultural sector, because that is what gives the country its uniqueness. Think of Italy: Florence is the most famous city in the world, and it all began with a book by Vasari who, during the Renaissance, described the Medici and Renaissance Florence. That was the greatest communications operation ever carried out, one that created a distinction between Florence and the rest of the world. Culture does not generate wealth in the short term, but it has a major impact in terms of the future. We need to return to investing wholeheartedly in creativity.