The “semantic innovation” and a new building cycle. How the building technology may be a help to overcome the crisis.

Data show the development of investments in the construction sector over time, these data are developed by various countries, and in particular the paper will present the Italian and American data. It can be inferred from the data that the construction industry is subject to periods of crisis and growth (in a loop), also it can be noticed that every positive phase of the construction industry is characterised by a specific market demand. Certainly today the construction sector is experiencing a crisis (as it happens in almost all productive sectors), the paper shows that “sustainability” will be the next market demand and the theme of the future positive phase in the construction industry. The paper focuses the attention on how the sustainability may become a new market leverage considering that the demand of sustainability can affect various issues of the construction sector (and also various issues of other sectors). This results in process innovations, in product innovations and in semantic innovations. A semantic innovation may be defined as the innovation of the meaning, it is the kind of innovation that leads to the change of understanding and/or acceptance of a process or a product in relation to a meaning changed, added, or simply made explicit (i.e. It describes the characteristics of a product, characteristics that the product had already previously but which had never been suitably described and used for the affirmation of the product on the market). The definition of “semantic innovation” implies a number of new responsibilities for designers and government bodies (also at the international level). It is a new issue in the construction industry. A new issue that, if misused, will lead to greenwashing, if properly managed, will align the construction market to the new environment-friendly culture.