Digital District is a strategic project developed by Unindustria Reggio Emilia whose aim is to provide advanced services designed to help businesses tackle the challenges and transformations connected with Industry 4.0. It has its roots in the White Paper, which sets out the goals that Reggio Emilia businesses must seek to achieve in the coming years. It is the product of the contribution and collaboration of over fifty Reggio Emilia entrepreneurs who, between late 2018 and early 2019, worked in a spirit of “co-creation” within four working groups, each focusing on a specific topic of crucial importance to the future of local businesses: education, innovation, local area and SME internationalisation.
VISION
Within their respective teams the entrepreneurs discussed the relevant issues, in light of their individual experiences and striving to look beyond immediate contingencies, and they identified both the needs to be met and the objectives to be achieved. Their work resulted in the production of four position papers, all structured in the same way and designed to come together in a final strategic policy document: the White Paper. The draft document was shared with the General Board and with more than 250 entrepreneurs, who took part in the 2019 local conferences in May.
This forum of discussion and verification led to the formulation of the final proposal, which was then submitted for approval to the Association members’ General Assembly held at the Reggio Emilia Municipal Theatre on 26 June 2019.
The promotion of discussion and collaboration between the industrial world, social representatives and institutions laid the formal and substantive groundwork for the development of the Operational Plan of the 2018-2022 Presidency, which came into effect in 2020.