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.
Innovations ranging from robotics to artificial intelligence, digital platforms to blockchains, is having a growing impact on the work world. The transformations under way concern not only professional and corporate spheres, but also everyday life. Due to the ageing of the population on the one hand, and millennial lifestyle choices on the other, robotics are going to be used more and more for household chores.
Proceedings at this International Conference got underway with an acknowledgement that the increase being witnessed in political risk factors — both in number and intensity — is linked to certain adverse effects of globalization, namely: the perception of growing inequalities, the rapid introduction of new pervasive technologies, the sense by nation-states of loss of control over their own destiny, and the shift in the balances of power between states.
