The group focused on understanding the role of science in society, in particular following the Covid-19 crisis, that has put science front and center in decision-making. In this context, we have moved from the pandemic to a pandemonium.
The seminar focused on three dimensions where Artificial Intelligence (AI) is seen as having a significant impact on industry. The first of these was regulation. An element that emerged very clearly was the impossibility of treating the matter exclusively at local level and the concomitant need for a broad-based international level regulatory framework.
Democracy is beginning to falter – not least, and above all because, it is so inefficient. A democracy that cannot decide cannot satisfy one of its own basic prerequisites. Western political systems have been in crisis for years, and are now having to face competition from autocracies.
The Italian energy system managed to weather the perfect storm of 2022 generated by the spike in gas prices following the Ukraine war and the simultaneous reduction in hydroelectricity production caused by drought. That was made possible by replacing Russian gas with supplies from other sources.
Progress in the field of medicine and improvements in the quality of life are making for longer life-expectancies; according to UN estimates, by the end of 2050, over-65ers will have surpassed under-25ers in number. This concerns Europe in particular and especially Italy, but also involves other countries such as China, which at the start of 2023 saw its birthrate drop for the first time since the 1960s and where the median age by 2050 will be 51 (higher than Italy’s is now).
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Large-scale events are undoubtedly an opportunity to plan medium to long-term infrastructure investments. Similarly, the PNRR can be viewed as a sort of large-scale event ready to reap the benefits of Italy’s experience hosting past events, with keen attention to both positive and negative results.
At first glance, culture and technology may appear mutually exclusive categories, but that has not always been the case. The Italian Classical and Renaissance traditions were a continuous intermingling of humanism and science that only the twentieth century interrupted. Reuniting them to create a “polytechnic culture” could prove fundamental to confronting major changes, such as the digital and environmental transitions, that are now having a radical effect on daily life and habits and will continue to do so in the future.
The Covid-19 pandemic has radically modified the consumer industry over the last 18 months. If, in a first phase, we saw the acceleration of trends that were already widespread, such as e-commerce, over time we witnessed the rise of new priorities, generally viewed as secondary in the pre-pandemic phase, including, but not limited to, the protection of the environment and the physical and mental well-being of the person.
The pandemic experience and consequent evolution of the global economic picture make even clearer than before the need for Italy and Europe to cultivate an attractive environment for industrial investments, primarily those strategic to national growth and security. This along with the promotion of adequate public and private level competences and a deep reform of the public administration aimed at higher quality and rapidity in decision-making.
Many factors have converged to bring radical change to the scenario:
The United States-China face-off is surely going to dominate in the near future. Washington now considers the bid to involve China in a liberal order, which Beijing itself has deemed illegitimate, a lost cause. Thus, in order to prevent the confrontation from becoming a conflict – or even war – it is going to be necessary to establish some collaborative terrain on global issues in a context otherwise dominated by sharp contrasts. It is not the Congress but rather the American economic world that interacts and is heavily interdependent with the Chinese economy.
The world of finance, with its products and markets, is undergoing a deep transformation. Indeed, from the standpoint of technology, the instruments made available to operators over the past 10 years have revolutionized the sector.
The early years of the Internet were marked by a liberal optimism about its decentralizing and democratizing effects. Information would be widely available and undercut the monopolies of authoritarian governments. However, the world seems to have undertaken a radically different path.
While certainly not exhaustive, this summary clearly reveals one of the principle reasons for the European crisis and the current tensions between the EU and national identities that has raised its ugly head thanks to sovereigntist and populist pressures. Excessive focus on the rules, especially by an increasingly weaker Commission, further distances the development of a politically empowered community system; at the same time, distancing citizens from institutions and revealing how low governments’ faith in each other is.
Globalization and technology have radically changed the tourism industry over the last decade. The processes of globalization have led to a dramatic increase in demand that has resulted in the two-fold effect of lower travel costs and increased connections that has made travel accessible to a growing number of people across the globe. At the same time, technology has made it possible for everyone to read and publish their reviews on where they have been in real time.
The new industrial triangle (Lombardy, Veneto, Friuli) is currently one of the European continent’s most dynamic drivers behind growth in GDP, exports and value added manufacturing. A performance made possible by an intersection of business, universities and public administration anchored to major technological and research platforms. The data are gratifying but, at the same time, they raise questions. In a country characterized by such exasperated dualism, it becomes urgent to understand how the new industrial triangle can bring the rest of the country with it.
