The roadmap to build a new Renaissance is reminding ourselves that innovation is first and foremost culture, not technology. Just think of Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance, the living example in front of your eyes.

I think about Florence, not because I was born in Tuscany, but because the Renaissance is a great example: it shows how innovation became culture that changed the world for the better.

Every new church, every new bridge or every new “palazzo”, every new “campanile” that was built, it wasn’t just a new building: it was something much more meaningful for the whole community. They were the expression of a new disruptive approach to life, a new emerging mentality, an explosion of creativity that changed the world for the better.

Today we are living in a similar period with an unmatched explosion of creativity at every level of the society. Learning to live innovation as a cultural approach will result in continuous and meaningful innovation. That was true in the 14th century and it can be a valuable roadmap in the new millennium which will help us to create new prosperity: it’s what I suggest to call “Renaissance 2.0”.

Now think of Amazon, Google, Virgin, Zappos: when innovation is culture, progress and continuous inventions are the natural consequences. Their continuous relevance is the result of their culture of innovation and it does not work in the other way around. I mean the latest Smartwatch Galaxy Gear model is not innovation and it does not mean innovation.

Probably we won’t be able to repeat the same masterpieces of the Renaissance, but we do have great opportunities to create value and meaning for ourselves and for the future generations.

Today we can take meaningful challenges such as the 8 UN Millennium development goals (to build more justice, to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, to reduce child mortality, to fight diseases and illiteracy, to ensure environmental sustainability, …). This will be the “Renaissance 2.0”, something for which future generations will be grateful to us, as today we are grateful to Dante, Giotto, Michelangelo, Leonardo.