Knowledge management e design: un prospective italienne.

The article introduces two strategies of managing design as a “knowledge agent” starting from the comparison between “Design and Knowledge Management” in two different group of companies. The strategy applied in the second group of companies (small-medium Italian companies in furniture and fashion sectors) is taken as an example for using design to support NPD processes. In fact the cases of successful Italian companies show a context where design acts as a knowledge “broker” promoting the acquisition, transformation and creation of new knowledge supporting NPD processes and “captured” in users’ local communities and local professional and experts networks. Finally a case study is presented of a small fashion company and its renovation process through a design strategy.