In June 1990 a conference took place in the Politecnico di Torinowhich was organised by the politecnico, the Brighton Polytechnic, and the Associazione per la Scuola per Esperti delta Produzione with the sponsorship of the British Council. The aim of the conference was to discuss the results obtained after a full four years’ of activity of the school and the graduation of the first group of students. During the conference a paper was presented to illustrate the genesis and activity of the school during the first cycle of life: I think that this paper is of interest for the readers of the SEFI review