MUSA Spoke 5 – Sustainable Design-Driven Retail and Service Model
MUSA – Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action is an Ecosystem of Innovation funded by MUR – Italian Ministry of University and Research as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. In addition to the Politecnico di Milano, the project involves Università di Milano-Bicocca, Università Bocconi, and Università Statale di Milano, as well as numerous public and private partners. The project promotes the development of innovative projects as a response to the challenges that the metropolitan reality of Milan faces in the transition towards the three dimensions of sustainability: environmental, economic and social.
The research group is involved in Spoke 5 – Sustainable Fashion, Luxury & Design with two targets: T5.9 ‘Development of an Innovative Sustainable Design-driven Retail and Service model’ and T5.10 ‘Sustainable Design-driven Retail and Service Model Toolkit’.
In this context, starting from the emergence of sustainable and collaborative consumption processes, the group focuses on defining a more active and proactive retail industry role within the context of the circular economy. The retail industry is recognised as a potential enabler of sustainable and circular processes; the project explores the potential of servitisation as a lever to improve resource efficiency and create positive environmental impacts for society. Product-service systems (PSS) are considered effective tools for implementing circular economy processes through improved resource utilisation, positively influencing extended corporate responsibility, generating new revenue streams, gaining new competitive advantages and increasing consumer awareness.
By defining innovative design-led models and tools, the objective is to accompany the retail industry towards a more sustainable and responsible transformation that simultaneously enhances the sociocultural, material heritage and circular economies by creating virtuous connections and networking with local actors.
The project aims to:
- Accompany companies to pilot innovative, sustainable, circular retail and services formats and concepts.
- Experiment with innovative distribution models for products and services with high cultural content (design, fashion, lifestyle).
- Define supporting protocols and effective tools to trigger transferable and scalable design processes.
- Activate training and human capital enhancement processes.
- Set up meetings, conferences, and workshops with companies, retailers, start-ups, professionals, designers, trade associations, citizens and municipalities to share and co-design sustainable solutions.