When the founding members established the Centre for Industrial Studies (CSIL) in 1980, in Milan, they were inspired by the vision of the distinguished economists and entrepreneurs with whom they had been working.

Several of CSIL’s founding members and collaborators were students at ISTAO, the Adriano Olivetti Institute based in Ancona. Founded by Giorgio Fuà (1919-2000), ISTAO is one of the most prestigious schools of applied economics and business management operating in Italy. CSIL intellectual roots rely on Fuà’s ideas of economic development. They combine a Schumpeterian vision of development with the intuition that entrepreneurship results from a complex interaction between social, cultural, and political factors. This informs CSIL’s interest in industrial clusters, entrepreneurship dynamics, and economic development.

CSIL was also inspired by the entrepreneurial mindset of Alberto Zevi (1920-1993), one of its founding members. From him, CSIL inherited the vision that innovation is a never-ending process made of observation, imitation, and creative adaptation. In the delivery of its services, CSIL always strives for the valued ingredient of first-hand experience. 

From both Fuà and Zevi, CSIL derived its cosmopolitan vocation. From a starting point in the thriving SMEs industrial context of Brianza (north of Milan), CSIL’s activities now extend worldwide, and in a wide range of sectors. CSIL works with a global outlook, seeking differences and similarities, best practices, and world-class knowledge, to be transferred where it is most needed.

Today, CSIL is a centre of excellence with a strong reputation for reliability and intellectual integrity.