Innovation in Cultural Districts: The Cases of Naples and Washington

During the years, academics and practitioners have given great attention to the role played by cultural heritage and arts in revitalizing and regenerating central and peripheral areas of contemporary cities. In the era of global markets and knowledge sharing, the production of culture represents an increasingly complex activity: on the one hand, culture should adapt to goods and services that are different for content and technology; on the other hand, it should try to satisfy a very heterogeneous demand. With these premises in mind, it seems to be clear that culture represents an essential resource to several geographical areas in order to re-launch themselves and to be competitive in the global arena. The aim of the paper is to analyse evolved cultural districts in order to understand what is the role innovation plays both at the systemic and firm level; also, this research aims at capturing the way innovation can support cultural districts in their promotional activities, both at the organic phase and during the service provision. In order to proceed with this analysis, the paper discusses the theme of innovation in cultural districts from a theoretical perspective to then present an empirical study that take into account two cultural districts, D.A.T.A.B.E.N.C. and the District of Washington, which successfully implemented innovation in their activities.