Innovation does not come from Silicon Valley. But it can be seen in Riviera del Brenta. This is the view of Dan Breznitz, a world expert on innovative industries, and director of the Innovation Policy Lab at the University of Toronto. He sees the Veneto shoe district as the best example of how to make production indispensable to the rest of the world. An area on which luxury shoes are inevitably dependent, thanks to the farsightedness of local entrepreneurs.
Innovation is not only the Silicon Valley
To l’Economia by Corriere della Sera, Breznitz explains the possible development models of an economy. As well as their spin-offs. The Valley, for example, “is an innovative system in which, however, very few people are given really good salaries and very interesting work. If they are successful, they receive lottery tickets called stock options that promise them a lucrative financial exit – are his words -. But none of this is widely shared, and most of the community remains outside. As a result, inequality is growing rapidly”.
Alternative models
In other contexts, other models work. Like Taiwan, explains Breznitz, which has managed to avoid competition from Japan and South Korea by specialising in semiconductors. And now, the whole world needs it. And like the footwear of the Riviera del Brenta. “There, concludes the study, “local entrepreneurs understood that their strength could not be to produce millions of Nike shoes, but create luxury shoes for Prada or Gucci. They specialised and now, if you want to sell that kind of shoe, you have to go and ask them for it. That’s the place where your project becomes reality. The innovation of Riviera del Brenta was discovering how to fit into the global industry”.
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