The PLOTTI (Place Leaders Of Twin Transition in the Italian local manufacturing systems) project aims to identify place leaders of Twin Transition (TT) in Local Production Systems (LPS) specialized in manufacturing industries.
The TT, also known as the "double transition," is the symbiosis between the technological-digital transition and the environmental transition. Requested by the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan), it involves modernizing production processes through the development of solutions aimed at making society and its industries more sustainable.
The double transition acknowledges the ongoing changes in the world by combining the digital and sustainability agendas, linking the objectives of the latter—known as the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals)—to new technologies that enable more effective and efficient achievement of these goals.
This combination of technology and sustainability fits within the initiatives of the European Green Deal, which is:
“A set of proposals to align the European Union's climate, energy, transport, and taxation policies with the goal of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030.”
An effective transition towards a greener and digital economic system should not neglect the population of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and the LPSs where these firms are generally embedded. SMEs are still lacking behind in terms of technology adoption and exploitation of sustainability related benefits.
SME’s barriers in the adoption of digital technologies and in the exploitation of their environmental benefits depends on several factors at both a firm and systemic level (e.g., uncertainty regarding the value of digital technology, and the integration of digital
tools into the industrial organization). Traditionally, these barriers have been locally reduced through place specific mechanisms fostering knowledge sharing, collective learning, imitation and technology diffusion.
One possible means to positively react to disruptive and global challenges relies on the presence of a set of local actors (local or localized policy-makers, business leaders and trade unions’ chiefs, scientists and higher education actors, socio-cultural activists) expressing a Place Leadership (PL).
However, how Place Leadership supports Twin Transition in Local Production Systems and what are the main features of TT PL is not clear.
In this context the project aims to explore:
1) how PL emerges during the contemporary change of paradigm where digitalization and green combine in the value creation processes;
2) how PL is characterized by looking at both economic and non-economic actors;
3) how to measure LPS TT performance and to detect potential embedded economic TT PL;
4) how PL works in fostering TT at a LPS level.
The methodology entails a preliminary phase where the exploitation of a variety of databases enables the generation of a multilevel dataset identifying TT PL in the Italian economic landscape and the levels of digital adoption and green attention of each LPS.
After the generation of this dataset, the project will develop in-depth case studies consistently with the variety of LPS TT performance.
Research findings will support policy actions related to TT by offering a systemic view of the digital and green transition of manufacturing and their value chains.
The project outcomes will open opportunities for long-term exploration of TT and contribute to theory on local development by paving the way for the exploration of network externalities for circular economy, hybridization of value chains and spatial effects of TT.