A design becomes an "act of knowledge and will" when it connects and balances the multiplicity of cultural, technical, and scientific knowledge. For this reason, the project becomes the result of systemic balances opened towards the future (Ciribini G., 1984). Hence, in generative design, which underpins almost all projects developed for the 2023 Marmomac Meets Academies exhibition, these systemic balances anticipate a series of relationships, even complex, between elements of a very different nature and manufacture, tangible and intangible. Cultural references and technology transfer are the main topics of this exhibition.