On 3 and 4 April, the students of the Master’s Degree “Valorization And Sustainable Development Of Mountain Areas” took part in the workshop “The challenges of social innovation in rural and mountain areas”, organized in collaboration with Il Cardo – Cooperative Social and the Ca’Mon Center and coordinated by Professor Bill Slee, Emeritus Fellow at The James Hutton Institute.
The students of the Master’s Degree Course had the opportunity to have a real immersive experience in the mountain territory of Valle Camonica, but with an approach and an international guide, thanks to Professor Emeritus Bill Slee, member of The James Hutton Institute’s Social Economics and Geographical Sciences research group and member of Euromontana, with extensive international experience in social innovation issues gained over many years of work at University of Plymouth, Aberdeen, and Gloucestershire. The activity has also been enriched by the contribution of Elena Turetti (Cultural District of Valle Camonica), Sonia Visioli and Luca Ghirardelli (Il Cardo – Cooperativa Sociale), Stefano Boccalini (Artistic Director of Ca’Mon Centre) Professor Anna Giorgi, Professor Giuseppe De Luca, Professor Andrea Membretti (UNIMONT Campus of The University of Milan – Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences) and Dr. Sarah Whitaker (University of Turin and UNIMONT Campus of The University of Milan).
On Monday, 3 April, following the presentation of the UNIMONT Centre and the visit of its laboratories, Professor Slee met the students of the Master’s Degree Course “Valorization And Sustainable Development Of Mountain Areas” who were involved in a workshop on performative imagination entitled “Make social innovation work in the mountains of Valle Camonica”.
The afternoon opened with a brief presentation of the territory of Valle Camonica, the role of the Cooperative Social – Il Cardo, and the project Ca’Mon. Later, Professor Slee introduced the methods, tools, and approaches to discover and evaluate social innovation initiatives in rural and mountain areas. Coordinated by Professor Slee himself, Professor Anna Giorgi, Professor Andrea Membretti, and Dr. Sarah Whitaker, the students worked on the design of a socially innovative initiative to be implemented in the mountains of Valle Camonica, based on the social economy to combine social, economic and environmental sustainability.
After the presentation of the project idea, the group moved to Monno (BS), at the Ca’Mon Center where students actively participated in the preparation of the dinner based on typical dishes of the culinary tradition of Valle Camonica.
In the afternoon of Tuesday, April 4, students again reached the Ca’Mon Center to understand the challenges in innovation brought forward by this project. The subsequent group work, coordinated by Professor Slee, has allowed students to reflect on the prospects and development opportunities of the Ca’Mon Centre to highlight the actual and potential impact of local initiatives on wider territorial policies.
