Design and SMEs: the trigger of creative ecosystems

In this paper we present key issues that contribute to enhancing the debate on the relationship between design and SMEs. We compare the situation in Italy and the UK both considering an historical background and by understanding how governments are currently supporting companies in using design – especially focusing on SMEs, that is the main industrial population in both countries. We underline the importance of developing a trusted relationship between designer/entrepreneur. This collaboration is in fact historically based on a strong element of reciprocity and interdependence and it results in a successful action often because of the personal characteristics of both the designer and the entrepreneur, it being a mechanism highly based on trust and cultural matters. This relationship and the qualitative advantages it has brought to businesses is a very difficult one to measure and support for governments, although these are increasingly looking at creativity as one of the main triggers of innovation. More importantly, the profound changes underway are calling for the need to give new meaning to what a company is; only consequently looking for viable ways of growth. We highlight the network dimension in the connection between design and business, as a viable new way to answer to the profound changes (cultural, civic, environmental, economical, and social) underway. We conclude by defining such collaborative systems “creative cosystems”, in that they trigger knowledge exchange mechanisms, creativity and innovation by generating an adaptive environment that resembles a biological ecosystem.