The European Commission recognized design as a strategic means to foster innovation thanks to its capabilities of generating new economic and social value ( 2013). Looking at policies to support Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs), design can greatly contribute to identifying needs, capabilities and chances for these sectors.
The present document will face with the issue of design driven actions for the development of a set of policy recommendations in support of CCIs. In order to tackle with this issue, we will describe the process used within the European project CCAlps – Creative Companies in Alpine Space. CCAlps represented a sort of laboratory where to experiment new activities and processes to select, train and mentor innovative and creative ideas. The synergy between what was already studied and proposed by other research and our observation and experience allow the outlining of what we can define as a design driven agenda for policy makers in matter of Cultural and Creative Industries.