The aim of this Aspen Institute Italia round table was to examine the public administration’s role in meeting the challenges posed by technological innovation. A background document entitled “Public administration and digital platform capitalism” was presented during the meeting.
Brexit and all the uncertainty it is generating constitute an entirely new and potentially destabilizing element for financial markets.
London has long functioned as Europe’s main financial market despite being located outside the Eurozone. The United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union now places Europe at a crossroads: either reach an agreement making it possible to maintain a good portion of operations in London or begin the long and painstaking task of creating a continental marketplace.
Modern medicine is in continuous evolution, with discoveries and technologies unimaginable until just a few years ago. The field of immunology could not have conceived, for example, of an immune system capable of being “educated” to combat tumor cells, and yet today there is a vast amount of clinical evidence of exactly that. Advancements in research have led to various paradigm changes that have overturned previous ideas about disease and the human body.
Europe is finally being put to the vote. Of course, the parties of individual nations will continue to count, and national issues will hold a certain importance for citizens called to the polls. But in the end what will be at stake is a new idea of Europe, because this time, and as never before, the European construction is going to be judged politically.
The 17th edition of the Aspen Institute Italia Seminar on Values and Society is held in collaboration with The Aspen Institute.
The three-day seminar is dedicated to the memory of Aspen Institute Italia co-founder Ennio Presutti, who passed away in 2008.
The 9th edition of The Aspen Institute Italia Seminar on Leadership, Globalization and the Quest for Common Values was held in collaboration with The Aspen Institute.
The three-day seminar is dedicated to the memory of Aspen Institute Italia co-founder Ennio Presutti, who passed away in 2008.
Water is an undeniable human right essential to the life and health of all citizens. Its distribution, however, is a complex process that presupposes the existence of a proper industrial sector equipped to deliver it from the supply source to the private home while maintaining high standards of quality and service.
Concomitant with the adoption of more stringent European copyright rules, any discussion of innovation and competition in the information sector necessarily involves examination of the current digital revolution. The instruments of governance inherited from the traditional sectors of publishing and telecommunications no longer suffice to deal either with the changes under way or the high concentration of market shares and financial resources in the hands of so few: large scale platforms and major American and Asian digital operators (in terms both of hardware and software).
The first of the 2019 Aspen University Fellows round table discussions was dedicated to Italy’s and Europe’s prospects for a year that will see the qualms of Brexit intersect with European parliamentary elections and the economic uncertainty of a continent unable to generate shared prosperity and beset with rising social tensions.
The first 2019 meeting of the Aspen Junior Fellows focused on analyzing the European Union’s plans and prospects in this year of parliamentary elections.
“Knowing Europe in order to change it”, could be said to have been the discussion’s leitmotiv. The Treaties map out the objectives toward which the Union must strive, such as balanced economic growth and price stability, and the instruments employed must be capable of meeting the ambitious goals that the common project envisions.
According to UN estimates, 65% of the world’s population will be living in urban settings by 2050, resulting in an increase in consumer and energy needs and development opportunities. Major metropolises already cover approximately 3% of the planet’s total land surface: The “city” of 103 million inhabitants now forming around Beijing is struggling with serious logistic problems, beginning with those related to transportation.
The US economy continues to show signs of very strong and wide-based growth, although a few indicators suggest possible problems going forward. A relatively optimistic view points to the fact that there are no significant financial imbalances – especially since companies are doing well. Historically, unless the real estate sector is directly involved in a crisis of confidence, even significant equity market corrections do not cause recessions. The housing market has indeed slowed, but only to the degree that this was expected, and current prices appear to be sustainable.
It is not going to be the economy that jeopardizes Donald Trump’s eventual re-election to the White House. The American president, who for some remains a sort of accident of history, is much more pragmatic than his abrupt strategy changes and innovative communication habits – by quarrelsome tweet – would indicate. Tax reform is doing the American economy good, and its advantages should last long enough to play a role in his run for a second term in 2020.
Kicking off proceedings at this International Conference was an acknowledgement that while France and Italy naturally have national priorities that sometimes diverge, they also have shared responsibilities and interests both at the European and the transatlantic level, ranging from making necessary strides on key aspects of eurozone reform to enhancing industrial cooperation, including on matters regarding defense and security. In examining the relationship of the two countries, it was felt that the impact of prevailing global conditions must also be taken fully into account.
