Focus on industry: the EU and new industrial policies
Boosting economic growth in Europe is increasingly acknowledged as a necessary requirement for promoting development and the prosperity of citizens. At the same time, the (…)Focus on industry: the EU and new industrial policies
Aspen Seminars for Leaders 2024
Aspen Institute Italia celebrated 40 years of activity during the 43rd edition of the Aspen Seminars for Leaders, held in the traditional setting of Venice. (…)Aspen Seminars for Leaders 2024
Transdisciplinarity and academies: new jobs, new training
Education is essential to a work world undergoing rapid change as it keeps pace with the digital revolution. This necessary evolution poses a two-fold challenge involving the academic world on the one hand – from pre-school through university – and the economy on the other.
Global emergencies, new jobs, new training
Global emergencies and historic changes have combined to challenge contemporary economies and societies at an increasingly rapid rate. The impact of this on the work (…)Global emergencies, new jobs, new training
The future of the automotive industry: between innovation and transition
The changes underway in the automotive sector today are almost unique to that industry, in that they originate externally.
Digital & Media Revolutions: Innovation, Trust & Responsibility
Three fundamental topics are central to the Digital and Media Revolution: the meaning of innovation and the role of sustainability and education in such a (…)Digital & Media Revolutions: Innovation, Trust & Responsibility
Focus on Industry: resilience and recovery
The era of hyper-globalization that started back in the 1980s brought global production lines to geographic areas that offered lower production costs. However, over the (…)Focus on Industry: resilience and recovery
New jobs = New (remote) training
New jobs and new training can form a virtuous cycle in which the market’s demand for innovative professional figures fuels the demand for training, which in turn generates new work profiles. The pandemic has hastened the switch to digital, the main driver of innovation in professional and training sectors alike.
New jobs = New training
Even before the pandemic hit, a general reconsideration was already underway of various ongoing global phenomena in labor, such as the rise of new professions, the globalization of job supply and increased international competition, along with the exponential spread of digital technologies and automation. The events of the past 18 months have served to accelerate these processes while at the same time also offering opportunities for significant intervention.
Space: The new frontier for economy and research
The history of human presence in space consists mainly of two phases. The first of these, more political – and in hindsight, military – in nature, was entirely in the hands of the United States given the high cost of investments. In the second phase, which spawned the “new space economy”, has reduced government participation and opened the doors to private interests eager to offer auxiliary services to institutional operators as well as to develop new activities.
Digital markets and the real economy
Italian industry is compelled to face the prospect of a future digital market, along with the continuing paradigm shifts that technological transformation is imposing on the economic and social fabric. The radical transformation of manufacturing, consumption and habits is having a significant impact not only on daily activities but also on the capacity for near-future analysis and forecast.
Intellectual Property: Protection and Enforcement
At just over a year from the outbreak of the pandemic, the attention being given to the delays and difficulties of the vaccine campaign is overshadowing a fundamental fact: it took less than 12 months for scientists to produce a successful anti-covid vaccine. This is an astonishing result, and is thanks to public/private collaboration. That atmosphere of cooperation must not be allowed to fail now as efforts are made to manage its production and distribution.
The Power of Resilience in a Changing World
Globalization, new technologies, social media, migrations, racial tensions, and now the Covid-19 pandemic, have completely changed the face of society and are revolutionizing the business world for large and small firms alike. The pandemic, in particular, has sorely tested our systems’ capacity for resilience and foregrounded many fragilities, not only from a financial standpoint, but also in a more sweeping sense that encompasses public health, the environment, employment security and social equilibrium.
Southern Italy: the key to relaunching the Italian economy?
Southern Italy needs a new vision for the future built on consideration of its system strongpoints and on a deeper scrutiny of its problems, with a view to identifying alternative proposals focused on the competitive capacity of those regions, with the goal of improving the business environment.
Research and innovation for life sciences in Italy
The daily effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on every individual and organization are clearly foregrounding how wealth and health go hand in hand. The quest for health – the focus of the political agenda and objectives of every government – will influence every government’s process of reconstruction for months to come.
Generational turnover in Italy
Business is the fundamental agent in the recovery of an economy struck as dramatically by the pandemic as Italy’s has been. To determine whether that recovery will be a success we need to consider the system’s economic armature of countless small and medium-sized family-run enterprises. Today’s generational hand-over becomes even more important than it has been over recent decades. At stake is the result of the major challenges awaiting national manufacturing: the digital transformation and the environmental transition.
Science, politics, society: different speeds, common challenges
The relationship between politics, science and society is playing an increasingly prominent role in rising to the challenges of modernity. A strong alliance of political institutions, scientists, experts and citizens is essential to defeating the global pandemic, but also an essential prerequisite for the success of policies aimed at inverting the advance of climate change and introducing new technologies and new solutions for boosting the quality of life, prosperity and wealth of modern societies.
Future by quality: life sciences and research in Italy
Science and technology parks are an essential part of the innovation ecosystem. Their ability to link a variety of experiences and disciplines, thereby creating networks of research centers, spin-offs, start-ups, incubators, business angels and venture capitalists makes them a major factor in the country’s competitiveness, in addition to offering nation-wide opportunities. This important contribution is even more fundamental in the field of life sciences, where development timelines are very long and risks quite high.
Never waste a crisis: what lessons to draw for the Italian health system?
The emergency that erupted in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic has some important lessons to offer the Italian healthcare system. Although it is clearly difficult to compare the healthcare models of regions affected asymmetrically by the virus, it is undeniable that coordination at various levels has proven to be one of the system’s weak points. The situation has generated confusion along the chain of control and implementation of measures, and immediate intervention regarding operational aspects – even before institutional prerogatives – is imperative.
A new start for post-pandemic tourism
The pandemic crisis now under way is only the latest chronologically since 9/11, the Arab Spring, the 2008 financial downturn and Brexit; not to mention climate change, which acts as a sort of umbrella for all recent emergencies.
Labour market: innovation and skills development
The global economy is undergoing deep and rapid changes that are revolutionizing how production is organized. The very concept of the “job market” seems outdated in a world where skills are increasingly becoming the real currency. If the most innovative firms’ main demand is for talent, however, it is impossible to imagine a future without policies tailored to the transition that the majority of workers are going to have to face as they adapt to the continuing changes imposed by digitalization.
Research, Innovation, Regulation
Given the important links between research, innovation and regulation, businesses, universities and institutions are being called upon to work in unison to reinforce and improve Italian competitiveness and with it the economy. Indeed, highly innovative businesses, for example, consider regulation an effective aid to economic progress and the creation of value added benefits.
The requalification of industrial areas in crisis: a vision for the future.
The crises of 2008 and 2011 had a greater impact on Umbria than they did on other parts of Italy and Europe. Conditions had already begun to deteriorate in the early 2000s, creating a division between Umbria, a region with a great manufacturing tradition, and the wealthier parts of the country. The study presented at the conference cited microeconomic data about the origins of the crisis and highlighted a sharp polarization of companies’ competitiveness.
Innovation to boost competitiveness in agriculture
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.
Italian talent abroad
This National Interest event of the Italian Talent Abroad group focused on work, training and innovation as the key launching pads for the country’s future. It was noted that while the issue of employment is one that impacts on the whole of Europe, it has an even greater bearing in Italy. In particular, there is a risk of losing an entire generation of talent, thereby fueling a vicious circle, since the destruction of skills and expertise in many sectors constitutes an irreversible process.