Sofidel brings the “Festival della Crescita” to Lucca
As a multinational company with roots in the province of Lucca, Sofidel is an Italian business whose vision combines growth and sustainability, the guiding values of the “Festival della Crescita” (Festival of Growth) which, thanks to Sofidel, will also be held at Lucca this year.
Sofidel, the second biggest European manufacturer of paper tissue in Europe and the sixth biggest worldwide, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year – 50 years which have seen it grow from a provincial family-run business to a major player on the international scene. A history of hard work and commitment. And also of a vision which looks to the future. It is precisely this vision that has led the Group (with its well-known Regina brand in Italy), as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, to bring a stage of the “Festival della Crescita”, the concept developed by sociologist Francesco Morace and curated by Future Concept Lab, to Palazzo Ducale, Lucca from 9 to 10 of June 2016.
Two days of meetings and events open to the public, during which major stakeholders and actors – businesses, artists and designers, public authorities, institutions and intellectuals – will act as ambassadors for their experience in making sustainability, education, innovation and creativity the keys to growth. The event aims to narrate the concept of crescita felice (happy growth) experienced as courage, faith and responsibility, and after the first edition at last year’s Expo (Milan), will be travelling to 11 cities in 2016, including Lucca, where it is sponsored by Sofidel. The objective is to recount together the reality of a country which not only believes, but invests in a positive, sustainable vision of the future.
“The underlying reason for Sofidel’s decision to sponsor the Festival della Crescita,” says Luigi Lazzareschi, Sofidel CEO, “lies in the enormous importance that the concept of responsible growth has always played in the history of Sofidel, from 1966 to the present day: sustainable growth which safeguards the present while guaranteeing a solid future. Growth, in other words, which reconciles development and innovation with social and environmental responsibility.”
“After the success of last year’s event,” says Francesco Morace, writer, journalist and founder of Future Concept Lab and the Festival itself, “we wanted to expand our reach by taking the Festival to a variety of Italian cities, with the aim of drawing a real map of growth while promoting an authentic vision of happy growth during our travels.”
The Lucca stage will host a number of discussions of creative and innovative sustainability, of future challenges as well as experiences from the past, as tools for facing and managing the uncertainties of development. Participants at the event include, among others, Stefania Giannini, Italian Minister of Education, Eva Alessi, Sustainability Manager for WWF Italia, Stefano Brown, Sustainability Manager for IKEA Italia Retail and Luciano Canova, Professor of Behavioural Economics at Sacro Cuore Catholic University of Milan, as well as many journalists, philosophers, businesspeople, educators and artists. There will also be many of Lucca’s leading businesspeople, who have made Lucca a byword for success in a variety of industries. Speakers at the Festival della Crescita will include Fabio Boschi, President of Perini Navi, Renato Genovese and Emanuele Vietina, Director and Vice-Director respectively of Lucca Comics & Games, Mauro Celli, Vice-President of A. Celli Paper for It’s Tissue, Pierluigi Pierallini, Founder and President of Tagetik and Stefano di Santo, Managing Director of Fabio Perini. As for the Lucca paper manufacturing sector, Linda Gobbi, Vice-President of Future Concept Lab, will be discussing the positive triangulation between innovation in manufacturing, the genius loci and industrial sustainability as the key to happy growth.
Festival della crescita (Festival of Growth): www.festivalcrescita.it | Downloadable Festival of Growth Program