From expertise to entrepreneurship

Homo Faber Economy: A Concrete Response to the Decline of Urban Centers

A Venice that focuses on and invests in small workshops, artisans, and their collaboration with young talents who choose to innovate by building on traditional craftsmanship.
This is precisely the outcome we have helped achieve by developing Homo Faber Economy, an ambitious project supported by the Veneto Region that has seen us at Upskill 4.0 work closely with the Venice School of Management at Ca’ Foscari University, the Fondazione di Venezia, and numerous other institutional and network partners.
With the event on May 5, 2026, at the San Giobbe campus, we celebrated the impact generated over these two years of work in a participatory meeting, sharing the lessons learned and presenting a new development model for the city of Venice.

Combining craftsmanship with new soft and digital skills

The question that guided the project was: How can we transform artisanal excellence into solid businesses capable of competing in the global premium market, while creating economic and social value for the city?
In fact, the greatest challenge for artisans often lies not in the quality of the product, but in the ability to build a strong and distinctive brand. For those seeking to grow in the premium sector, the product alone is not enough: it is necessary to build a clear and coherent narrative, invest in a space that can represent the brand and provide meaningful experiences for customers, and open it up to the community.

A program of training, acceleration, and mentoring to help you transition from “know-how” to “entrepreneurship”

To address this challenge, we have developed a program of support, training, and professional development involving over 30 instructors and professionals, covering more than 15 topics relevant to contemporary craftsmanship. From e-commerce to growth hacking, covering everything from the legal foundations of starting a business to premiumization. This program also included study visits and managerial coaching to help the participating artisans make a cultural leap: from “knowing how to make” to “knowing how to run a business.” We focused on three key areas:

1. Premiumization and identity. We have supported artisan businesses in adopting high-end branding strategies, teaching them the techniques of experiential storytelling. The goal was to help entrepreneurs recognize their own value and position themselves in the market not by engaging in price competition, but by emphasizing their uniqueness.
2. Technology as an amplifier. Technology has been identified as a cross-cutting key factor: from e-commerce to generative artificial intelligence. Digital skills do not replace the artisan’s craftsmanship, but rather serve as indispensable levers for process innovation, value traceability, and the establishment of a direct, disintermediated dialogue with international customers.
3. Intergenerational Bridge. Coaching has encouraged workshops to embrace new skills, fostering dialogue between the expertise of master craftsmen and the vision of young talents and college students—all of whom are essential to the digital and strategic transition.

The numbers behind an active community

The findings presented at the closing event in San Giobbe paint a picture of an urban fabric that is eager to counter the dominance of tourism by focusing on quality:

• 170 active participants who have formed a strong and cohesive network.
• Building a “local economy”: the participating businesses have begun collaborating with one another, creating a self-sufficient social and economic network.
• Developing new connections between the crafts sector, culture, educational institutions, and local stakeholders.

Our message to the city of Venice

What legacy does Homo Faber Economy leave for the local community?
The awareness that, to restore prosperity and social life to the city of Venice, the role of businesses remains of great importance today. This responsibility does not fall on the individual, but must be carried out by an ecosystem of educational institutions, accelerators, and businesses that generate value through services for citizens, opportunities for dialogue, and spaces for interaction that foster real connections, integrating perfectly with the principles of the PACT Economy model.
Entrepreneurship, in fact, requires investment, training, continuity, and courage. It does not end with the conclusion of a call for proposals.
For this reason, the growth of these businesses remains our greatest source of satisfaction and our commitment for the future. Upskill 4.0 continues to create opportunities for ongoing strategic support for these businesses, offering affordable programs to consolidate what has been learned and support those who decide to invest in their own businesses.

***