How can we transform the challenges of the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) sector in Southern Italy into an opportunity for interregional growth? To answer this question, Materahub, in its role as coordinator of the Regional Skills Partnership (RSP) Creative South, hosted an innovative capacity building journey structured into two intensive co-design workshops.

A new methodological approach: moving beyond traditional mapping 

The goal of the workshops was not to carry out a classic, static "roll call" of the actors present, but to trigger true ecosystemic alignment. To do this, we used the CYANOTYPES framewrok, integrated with the SACCORD model.

Through methodologies such as Triple Loop Learning and Boundary Spanning, participants (coming from Southern Italy, Piemonte and Emilia-Romagna) were pushed to dismantle consolidated institutional habits, abandoning classic "EUish" bureaucratic jargon to focus on the real operational urgencies of the territory. This strategy allowed us to defuse the dynamics of mere "territorial showcasing" and understand that the absence of an actor at a decision-making table actually represents a vital missing perspective for the entire system.

Key results: diagnosis, engagement strategy and the "ecosystem engine" 

Working in mixed interregional breakout rooms, participants discovered that local frustrations are actually systemic fractures shared at a national level. Starting from this diagnosis, the results achieved were highly practical:

  1. The stakeholder engagement action plan: three ready-to-use pathways were co-designed to engage three priority targets currently excluded or disconnected: Training connectors (Universities and VETs), Resource holders (Public institutions), and Invisible producers (freelancers, youth and the third sector). For each, an urgent need, an irresistible invitation ("Value Proposition") and a very first collaborative action ("Small Win") were defined to generate immediate trust.
  2. The interregional bridge: the alliance consolidated the desire to create a North-South-Emilia-Romagna axis based on the mobility of skills, joint political advocacy for European funds and shared pilot schemes.
  3. The future operational model: finally, the regional networks autonomously chose their own "ecosystem engine" from those proposed by Cyanotypes: the South will act primarily as a Policy interface (an active body for advocacy), Emilia-Romagna as a Regional observatory (data intelligence) and Piemonte as a Living lab (space for practical experimentation).

Next steps for the alliance 

The energy generated by the pilot phase does not stop here. The feedback collected outlined two fundamental strategic priorities to consolidate the RSP in the long term: the establishment of a permanent technical working group to guarantee interregional governance and the immediate launch of shared pilot experiments, primarily on crucial topics such as the use of micro-credentials to certify non-formal learning in the creative sector.

The ecosystem is mapped out: now it is time to transform the alliance into action.