From October 9 to 11, Aspen Institute Italia hosted the 45th edition of the Aspen Seminars for Leaders in Venice. Approximately 300 people participated, including international figures from the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Romania, Turkey, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, and the United States. The five seminars (one of which was in English, and two with simultaneous Italian/English translation) brought together diverse perspectives and expertise on the transformations reshaping the economy, society, and the international order.
In the seminar Focus on industry: rethinking flows. Knowledge, education, experience, innovation, discussions focused on how artificial intelligence—viewed as a functional tool—compels a rethinking of corporate organization, working hours, and responsibility, as well as education as a continuous process and a shared responsibility between the public and private sectors.
The seminar Longevity: Italy’s new business opportunity? examined longevity not only as regards its impact on welfare and the labor market, but also as a new economic opportunity. The challenge is to live longer while remaining in good health.
Featuring European, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern representatives, the seminar Mediterranean crossroads: stability, development, and human capital addressed the renewed centrality of the Mediterranean for Europe within an evolving geopolitical framework. The focus was on human capital, cooperation, and investment.
Sport as an industry, a factor in quality of life, and a field for diplomacy served as the common thread of the seminar Economy, society, values: the dimensions of sport today. Key topics included accessibility for youth, the role of data, investment and betting, public-private partnerships, and the sports arena’s independence from political influences.
The international seminar The media and democracy in our digital era: challenges, rules, a new equilibrium highlighted the crisis triggered by artificial intelligence and the need for a new architecture of trust, starting from fact-based journalism and the plurality of sources.
Concluding the seminars, the joint plenary meeting Aspen Collective Mind Seminar. Biological, digital, hybrid: the humanity of the future was dedicated to humanity’s future as a potential crossroads between biological, digital, and hybrid dimensions. The debate moved beyond the dichotomy of human extinction versus enhancement, showing how technology integrates into people’s cognitive, physical, and decision-making capabilities.