Starting from girls.Women’s Forum on inequality and sustainable growth
No country has fully achieved gender parity. A renewed effort from all actors at all levels, and from women and men alike, is necessary.
No country has fully achieved gender parity. A renewed effort from all actors at all levels, and from women and men alike, is necessary.
A report on “Digital disruption and transformation of Italian manufacturing”, which focuses particularly on the case of Piedmont within the context of Northern Italy, was presented at this International Conference as a catalyst for discussion on the topic of “digital disruption”, examining both the great opportunities as well the risks and social costs that this entails.
Kicking off proceedings at this International Conference was the observation that the fourth industrial revolution is already underway, taking advantage of technologies that transcend the boundaries between the physical, digital, and biological spheres. Robotics, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, and 3D and 4D printers were held up as just some of the new technologies making a forcible impact on the economy in general and manufacturing in particular.
No aspect of life, business or politics is immune to the major technological changes of our time. The speed and scale of transformation is such that breakthrough innovations are affecting everything, from the nature of work to what it means to be human. Zigzagging career paths are now the norm, traditional industries are revolutionized almost overnight, and the political debate is more intense and more polarized than at any other moment in recent history.
The large trade and financial flows across the Mediterranean region and the Middle East are major opportunities for economic recovery. They are based mainly on the new energy networks (from both conventional and renewable sources) and the expansion of the Suez Canal, in addition to the persistent role of Gulf investors (particularly through sovereign wealth funds). There are certainly significant obstacles to growth, starting with volatile commodity prices linked to greater investor caution than in the recent past.
Emerging from discussions during the Med 2015 Youth Forum – devoted to the topic “The challenge: new jobs for new generations” – was the finding that investment in infrastructure, in the Internet of Things, and in renewable energy, along with a shift towards a greater grassroots focus, are the factors that could bring about a decisive breakthrough to the problem of youth employment in the Mediterranean.
Kick-starting talks at this session of the Aspen Mediterranean Initiative was the observation that the arduous and variegated evolution of the Mediterranean region needs to be viewed within the prevailing global context.
Launching discussions at this World Economy Conference was an acknowledgement by those in attendance that the recovery from the economic crisis of recent years has been particularly slow in historical terms, with the most recent figures confirming fears of a further possible slowdown. This global scenario was seen as a fortiori necessitating that growth be considered a top priority for Europe during Italy’s current 6-month-long presidency of the Council of the EU.
The opening premise of discussions at this International Conference was that scientific research is crucial to innovation, understood as both the discovery of new facts, data, or laws of nature, as well as knowledge with a direct technological application. Indeed, technology provides an essential bridge between science and society. As a demonstration of this, the participants pointed to the limitless practical applications of the World Wide Web (which had its origins at CERN, based on the development of the internet), citing it as a case where the industrial spinoff has been enormous.
Discussions at this 2-day event got underway with the observation that the Mediterranean Sea clearly connects Europe not just with North Africa, but also the Middle East, the Anatolian Peninsula, and the Persian Gulf. All these axes present opportunities for growth through greater interdependence, in spite of the current difficulties being experienced by European economies and the political uncertainty holding back those on the southern shores of the Mediterranean.
The second Aspen Mediterranean Initiative seminar provided the opportunity to widen the network of the region’s emerging leaders as it analyzed the relationship between traditional and new media, and society and politics. Journalists, activists, bloggers and artists all shared their perceptions on the direct influence of communications on political events.
The Mediterranean region is very diverse and simultaneously presents elements of close interdependence: the economic crisis of the past few years has shown that each country reacts to the challenges and opportunities on the basis of specific institutional and social features, even in the presence of important contagion effects. The political transitions in some Arab countries, starting with Tunisia and Egypt, confirm these twin tendencies whereby endogenous and local factors interact with regional and international ones.
Those attending this second installment of the Aspen Bosphorus Dialogue embarked on a renewed consideration of the overarching issues stemming from the relationship between the trends unfolding within Europe and the transformations taking place in its neighboring regions.
Those attending this Aspen Mediterranean Initiative workshop set out to evaluate the impact of the so-called “Arab spring” on the economies of North Africa and on the wider Mediterranean region. The event, which saw the participation of key political and business figures from the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean, also marked the launch of Aspen Institute Italia’s Mediterranean Program.
The focus of this international conference was the family-run firm, without question the most widely-used business ownership and organizational structure. It was noted that in Europe and the Anglo-Saxon world, and in the Far East and more recently emergent countries, the family business constitutes – albeit to greater or lesser extents and with marked differences from region to region – a key pillar of the global economy, in the production of wealth as well as in job creation.
The Aspen Mediterranean Initiative participants concurred that the Mediterranean area is becoming even more diverse than it has been in the past, a fact which calls for special attention to be paid to the situation unfolding in various locales in the region, especially at a time of uncertain political transition in which social forces have a potentially crucial role to play.
The second meeting of the Trialogue series focused on the issues of global economic governance (with special attention to the role of the G20), trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific links in the security field, and instability in the Middle East region with its possible implications.
The Dialogue session got underway with the observation that the world economic recovery has failed to alleviate the social impact of the crisis, with the improving economic situation having no appreciable effect on employment. The participants highlighted that this phenomenon affects both workers in more mature sectors – that is, those most exposed to the consequences of globalization – as well as younger people, who are just entering the labor market.
The members of the first panel analyzed the multiple repercussions of the crisis that began in 2008 on the Western economies, as well as on their political systems and societies. The impact has been profound, putting in question the growth model and the sustainability of the welfare state in its current forms. Major tensions have also emerged between short term needs – such as the bailouts – and longer term goals. The very close link between modern states and capitalism, which in the Western world is captured by the expression “market democracy”, has become more evident than in the past.
The Conference got underway with a general discussion on a fundamental question: in the new world order, is Europe’s importance destined to wane – no matter what? Leaving aside the impact of major international trends (such as demographic changes), which have reduced the relative influence of the EU in objective terms, the participants pointed to various internal factors as constituting constraints on Europe’s potential. First and foremost of these is the difficulty of reconciling the sovereignty of the various Member States with the authority of Brussels.