Diseño avanzado para la circularidad y la sostenibilidad: Soluciones digitales para apoyar la transición del Made in Italy

Numerous reflections have emerged in recent years on how design practices offer possible solutions to respond to ecological transition. In this context, Advanced Design, which is posed as an anticipatory and multidimensional design approach, intersects with Transition Design, focused on the theory of change and the study of possible futures, to give rise to a new profile of Transitional Industrial Designer, capable of incorporating the practices of mediation and anticipation in the sustainable and circular transition of industrial processes. This reflection currently finds a space for practical experimentation and theoretical deepening within the MICS-Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile research programme(*), funded by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) of the Italian Government with Euro-pean Union funds (NextGenerationEU), in the framework of the so-called PNRR-Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza, approved in 2021 by Italy to revive its economy after the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to enable the ecological and digital development of the country. The MICS programme, which involves 25 public and private organisations from the Italian territory, is articulated in eight intervention guidelines, called Spokes; each Spoke foresees the development of a set of projects oriented to specific themes, within one or more strategic sectors of Made in Italy.Spoke 1, coordinated by the Università di Bologna, is dedicated to the theme Digital Advanced Design: Technologies, Processes and Tools and investigates digital solutions to foster circular and sustainable innovation processes in the context of Made in Italy. An example of the proposed approach is the FuturE-Pack projects. Digital Advanced Design for the Enhancement of Packaging as a ‘Broadcaster’ in the Made in Italy Supply Chain, which explores the potential of digitalisation to enhance the role of packaging as a communication device that facilitates the exchange of information about products and their impacts, both between actors in the supply chain and between them and end-users.