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Roundtable

  • Meeting in digital format
    • 21 March 2022
     
     

    The greater city: connected, attractive, sustainable

    Fears of urban crisis stoked during the most difficult months of the pandemic have not borne fruit. Indeed, revived economic and social activities are rekindling the vitality of cities, yet the change due to significant lifestyle interruptions is inexorable. The need has emerged, first of all, to redistribute and reconfigure urban density: the de-synchronization of rhythms consequent to social distancing has eliminated rush-hour congestion and made public transportation more efficient.

  • Meeting in digital format
    • 3 March 2022
     
     

    Digital infrastructure and technology: innovation and sustainability

    What was already an ongoing digital revolution accelerated with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, foregrounding it as a concern. Indeed, people in their daily lives and businesses have been inundated with digital-driven processes that are often taken for granted and in need of proper governance. As with all changes, the digital revolution is capable of generating unity and inclusion but can also divide and exclude. In that sense, the two principle perspectives from which to examine it are culture and infrastructure.

  • Meeting in digital format
    • 31 January 2022
     
     

    Challenges for Italy’s foremost industries: innovation and sustainability

    Italy’s 2021 economic recovery, an excellent sign for the future, was led especially by domestic consumption and other segments such as construction that enjoyed the benefits of fiscal incentives, and thus offers a good point of departure for 2022. This despite national and global level threats that include increased energy and raw materials prices, the slowdown triggered by the fourth pandemic wave, and bureaucratic snags that could obstruct the timely manufacture and consignment of the machinery needed for the digital transition.

  • Meeting in digital format
    • 5 April 2022
     
     

    Corporate finance. The geopolitics of currencies and crypto-currency development

      The dollar remains strong and, despite a few crises, is still the world’s preeminent reserve currency. The euro, on the other hand – although it does represent a solid and advanced economy – has not managed to become a reserve currency capable of replacing the dollar. The currency “multipolarism” now emerging – difficult to construct yet certainly inexorable – is going to include the phenomenon of cryptocurrencies. The trend is toward a multipolar system with one dollar/euro area and another consisting of many of those currencies currently located outside that area.

    • Meeting in digital format
      • 28 February 2022
       
       

      The energy we need: An intergenerational outlook

        The European Union and its member states have been ramping up efforts over the past two years to combat climate change and decarbonize as many sectors as possible, from standpoints of both policy and the economy. The European Commission published its Green Deal in December 2019 and subsequent Fit-For-55 legislative package in July 2021, which set some very ambitious decarbonization goals. These included a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (as compared with 1990 values) by the end of 2030 and complete carbon neutrality within the year 2050.

      • Meeting in digital format
        • 12 February 2021
         
         

        The challenge for the young Italians in technological innovation

          Although Italy continues to offer proof of excellence in a broad array of fields, there is still considerable margin for growth in younger generations’ understanding and application of technological advances. The current Covid-19 pandemic and the possibility of stemming its spread with the mRNA vaccine have further underscored the need to invest in research and innovation in the interests of creating social and economic value.

        • Meeting in digital format
          • 8 June 2021
           
           

          Creating Excellence

            Creating excellence is one of Aspen Institute’s cardinal objectives, and one of the strategic factors in generating the country’s recovery. To this day, Italy remains an advanced European economy despite its relatively low percentage of university graduates. That percentage could be augmented through a different interpretation of education that embraced those hubs of excellence that flourish thanks to their ability to interface with the business world.

          • Meeting in digital format
            • 30 June 2021
             
             

            Territoriality and Health Policy

              The pandemic has highlighted the fragility and disparities of a National Health Service already hard put to confront the combination of an ageing population and the growing incidence of chronic pathologies. As a result, the political agenda is now focused on striking a new balance between macro assistance levels (moreover, previously indicated in “fiscal federalism” reforms) and the proportioning of related standard costs.

            • Meeting in digital format
              • 12 July 2021
               
               

              Digital Platforms

                The digital revolution has profoundly changed how goods and services are consumed by increasing their availability online, thereby enhancing the role of web platforms. Indeed, these latter have been an essential tool for extending political rights such as freedom of speech, and for framing new ones, especially within the economic sphere, such as consumer rights. At the same time, however, they have laid the groundwork for a concentration of overriding powers, and the abuse of those powers.

              • Meeting in digital format
                • 3 November 2021
                 
                 

                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.

                • Meeting in digital format
                  • 17 November 2021
                   
                   

                  The rise of the silver economy

                    Population ageing is a global trend affecting all the world’s foremost economies. The phenomenon is have an especially significant impact on China and Europe and seems destined, along with the climate crisis, to be among the main generators of change in twenty-first century societies. Governments, citizens and the business community thus find themselves facing a range of challenges as well as a host of opportunities.

                  • Meeting in digital format
                    • 24 November 2021
                     
                     

                    Making the most of Italy’s energy resources

                      The focus of both the G20 in Rome in October and of the COP26 in Glasgow in November was the energy transition.  Italy continues to be an active participant in a debate that sheds light on the fact that the transition is not only energy-related, but also an economic, financial, social and cultural one.

                    • Meeting in digital format
                      • 22 November 2021
                       
                       

                      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.

                      • Meeting in digital format
                        • 8 November 2021
                         
                         

                        Digital society: democracy, information, security

                          The relationship between information and power is not a new concern. Ancient Greek historian Polybius defined ochlocracy as the degeneration of democracy where the mob is led to believe it is free to exercise its prerogatives while instead becoming the active instrument of one or more groups. The exponential spread of interconnected actors has fed a considerable flow of web-channeled data, the appropriate use of which platforms are required to manage. This endeavor calls for an ability to differentiate between content that is legal and that which may constitute a violation.

                        • Meeting in digital format
                          • 14 July 2020
                           
                           

                          Of pandemics and resilience. People, communities and development post Covid-19

                            The pandemic has unmasked the fragility of our self-assured, globalized, skill-savvy world. Even the most economically advanced countries’ primary response to this unknown virus was a low-tech social distancing, which has necessarily foregrounded the limitations of human action and knowledge.  The Socratic paradox “I know that I do not know” encourages the kind of continuing fortification of basic research that calls for increased funding from the Italian government.

                          • Meeting in digital format
                            • 6 July 2020
                             
                             

                            For a sustainable and responsible economy: the role of finance

                              Sustainability has been a concern in the financial world for some time now, with steady and significant growth over recent years in investments centered on ESG (environment, sustainability and governance) criteria. Far from slowing that trend, the Corona virus epidemic is proving an accelerator, with investors seizing on the opportunities associated with a “green” recovery and reconstruction.

                            • Meeting in digital format
                              • 22 September 2020
                               
                               

                              Social mobility: on youth and merit

                                A mapping of the current phenomenon of continual social mobility reduction shows university training as having an extremely important role, since successfully completing a good post-secondary education is one of the essential prerequisites for improving social status and economic prosperity.

                              • Milan
                                • 27 January 2020
                                 
                                 

                                AI: a new alliance between technology, business and society

                                  The Artificial Intelligence debate, which started back in the 1950s, has become particularly topical today. The benefits of AI are recognized as undeniable but, at the same time, there is growing fear and resistance owing to the evolution of the man/machine – or subject/tool – relationship.

                                • Meeting in digital format
                                  • 28 September 2020
                                   
                                   

                                  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.

                                  • Milan
                                    • 18 February 2020
                                     
                                     

                                    A Country for young people

                                      The fourth Aspen University Fellows roundtable was devoted to the theme of Italy’s compatibility with the newer generations and the role of those generations in a society whose complexity often generates uncertainty and pessimism.