The participants at this national roundtable described Italian agriculture as a sector which, although growing, is still replete with shortcomings. The industry has shown that it can shift exports of over 41 billion euro, but this is still not in the league of Germany’s 80 billion euro figure. It was felt that the sector continues to suffer from insufficient competitiveness, due mainly to a lack of investment and innovation.
The starting premise of discussions at this national roundtable was that the issue of air transport owes its considerable complexity to the sheer number of stakeholders involved. The interests and different perspectives of airport operators, airline companies, travelers, local authorities, and other competing and combined transport networks were seen as calling for a synergistic approach both on the part of these players themselves and of the State.
The vast energy transition under way goes well beyond ratcheting up the use of renewables, as much as that is essential for obvious environmental reasons. The shift in that direction is currently a gradual one that, however, in the coming years is going to reach a watershed point at which, once the cost of new sources drops considerably below that of hydrocarbon products, the changes already ongoing will speed up.
The starting premise for discussions at this Meeting for the Friends of Aspen was that blockchain is much more than just the technology behind bitcoin. It is a public, decentralized, cryptographically-secured ledger shared by all parties operating within a computer network. These characteristics make it a paradigm destined to have significant impacts on the economic system, fundamentally changing our understanding of the concepts of transactions, ownership, and trust.
The participants at this National Interest event kicked off their discussions by observing that the pharmaceutical industry is one of the main agents of modernization and innovation in Italy, with its success rooted in the historical events and conditions that have helped shape the current Italian model.
The Brussels event of June 20-22 (the Transatlantic Strategic Dialogue) was the crucial step to consolidate the link between the US Strategy Group and its European counterpart. The Dialogue will continue as a regular feature, gathering the two Strategy Groups at least once a year. The next such meeting has been scheduled for the end of January, 2019, in the US.
Kicking off this event was the observation that at the end of 2016, “post-truth” – as conveyed by so-called fake news – was declared word of the year by the Oxford Dictionary. This was held up as an example of the challenges posed both by the rapid evolution of technological and business paradigms, that are shifting the focus of communications, and by the speed of access to digital platforms, where members of the public have become both readers and authors. Users also have the ability to determine how successfully a piece of news is spread, by sharing it en masse or to a narrow audience.
The idea embodied in the expression “America first” represents powerful forces in American society.
This meeting and debate session kicked off with observation that the debate over the impacts of cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence, on the business and professional world, and, indirectly, on educational and social systems, has become a pressing one. The new prospects that they open up also call for reflection on the part of intellectuals and politicians, who have typically shown no inclination towards certain subject matters that, in the past, were the preserve of highly-specialized and circumscribed niches in tech circles and, to some extent, in academia.
Discussions at this National Interest event devoted to the topic of changing the way independent regulatory watchdogs are governed spanned a number of issues. It was noted that such authorities, representing an embodiment of the widespread phenomenon of polycentric decision-making characteristic of the modern state, emerged in order to meet certain needs of states, such as relieving overburdened parliaments by delegating regulatory functions and introducing a certain degree of pluralism in administrative structures to cope with the increasing frequency of international dealings.
Kicking off discussions at this National Interest event was the observation that the opening of Italy’s 18th legislature would seem to portend a new order within Italian society, among the various political parties, and within the country’s institutions. Power relations between the parties, as well as the interplay between them and the key priorities for debate, have changed.
Managing post-Brexit relations between the UK and the EU is a special challenge in the security sector, and all parties seem to agree that this requires a specific framework, insulated from the broader negotiations. A few basic principles were put forward to facilitate what will inevitably be a delicate transition.
The international system is at a highly uncertain stage of transition, both in terms of the economy and of politics and security. Following the acceleration in growth and trade (in part, certainly positive) owing to the globalization mainly of the 1990s, a series of tensions have become manifest in the form of regional crises and global instability. Profound technological changes – those macroscopic in the financial sector, but not only – have had a direct effect on the social structure of individual states and on balances of power.
Investments, culture, sharing: three elements that pundits and professionals consider indispensable to making System Italy resistant to cyber threats.
The 16th 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 8th 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.
