National Interest

Milan

20 June 2016

The new frontiers of medicine

Opening discussions at this National Interest session was the observation that new advanced therapies, which are being increasingly adopted today, represent a real revolution in the health sector. They look set to enable a redefinition of the medical as well as social approach to dealing with diseases, especially those defined as rare, which affect around 500 people per million of the population and for which there is largely no treatment available.

Florence

27 June 2016

Nanotechnology and Italy

By way of opening premise, the participants at this National Interest event observed that nanotechnologies have for several years now been at the center of global technological and scientific development and are based on the ability to control matter on an atomic scale. They are highly multidisciplinary in nature and have gained importance in many fields of scientific and technological interest.

Milan

19 January 2015

High‐tech life sciences in Italy

The opening premise of discussions at this National Interest roundtable event was that an examination of industrial trends over the course of the deep and protracted crisis that has hit Italian manufacturing highlights the importance of the life sciences sector. Figures were cited in support of this assertion showing that, in Italy, the pharmaceutical and medtech industries have increased their contribution to the economy in terms of value added (up from 5% to 6% of manufacturing industry from 2008 to 2013) and even more so in terms of exports (up from 5% to 7%).

Milan

23 November 2015

Betting on Southern Italy to stimulate economic development

Driving discussions at this National Interest roundtable event was the acknowledgement that, more than 150 years on from the unification of Italy, the plight of the nation’s southern regions continues to be the major sticking point for the country’s growth. It was suggested that an examination of the integration and development successfully achieved by the former GDR would help pinpoint the sorts of measures needed to kick-start an effective process of regional convergence in Italy.

Rome

15 January 2014

Challenges for Italy’s start‐ups and the US market: innovation, technology, capital

Participants at this Aspen Italia National Interest event recognized from the outset of their discussions the crucial role that start-ups could – given the right conditions – play in increasing Italy’s economic competitiveness. The formation of new businesses in highly innovative sectors was acknowledged as not only helping to renew the economic fabric of the country, by opening up new market niches, but also as offering opportunities to younger workers, a group heavily penalized by the current crisis.

Milan

7 April 2014

Efficiency and sustainable development: challenges for business and government

Discussions at this National Interest event were kicked off with the observation that Italy needs a more systemic and cross-cutting culture of sustainability and efficiency: the former in order to build a green society, and the latter to achieve improved energy efficiency and a more prudent use of natural resources. To that end, it was deemed essential that a strategic plan be devised which takes the Italian public duly into account, with efforts made to raise wider awareness particularly with respect to energy costs.

Brescia

15 July 2014

Health, environment and lifestyle: can Italy be a model of sustainable well‐being?

Spearheading discussions at this national roundtable discussion was the affirmation that Italy could become a major force in sustainable prosperity, but in order to fully achieve this goal, it must work further on resolving its economic, environmental and social problems, and continue to maintain its strengths. While the country has an outstanding track record in health, wellbeing and lifestyle, there was a consensus that it must not rest on its laurels.

Rome

25 June 2013

New infrastructure to help Italian business compete on the international scene

This National Interest roundtable served as an opportunity to present and discuss the preliminary findings of the study initiated by Fondazione Enel, in conjunction with the LUISS Guido Carli University and Aspen Institute Italia. Those in attendance were provided with an abridged version of the final report which will be presented in the fourth quarter of the year.

Milan

27 May 2013

High-tech life sciences in Italy

It was remarked from the outset of this National Interest roundtable that the health and life sciences industry is crucial to the Italian production system due to the simultaneous existence of a number of particular factors, namely: the global nature of markets and the supranational character of competition; the potentially strategic role of public actors, owing to their ability to influence supply and stimulate investment; and the highly specialized nature of the professional skills involved.

Rome

7 March 2012

Strengthening cooperation between businesses and information services in the security sector

By way of an opening premise, the participants at this National Interest roundtable recalled that the 2007 security services reform law extended the scope of Italy’s intelligence system to the protection of the nation’s economic, scientific and industrial interests.

Milan

28 March 2011

Italy’s past and national identity: a reflection

National identity versus fierce local allegiances; the dichotomy of Northern and Southern Italy versus a creeping uniformity precipitated by globalization; Italy as an old idea already existing in Dante, versus a relatively young nation-State born a mere century and a half ago; a country seemingly intent on dwelling on its own shortcomings internally, versus a country admired elsewhere for its art, culture and lifestyle: this was the contradictory and complex image of Italy which emerged at this national interest event devoted to examining the country’s identity and shared history and exper

Milan

21 March 2011

Local dynamism in Italy: the keys to success

Kick-starting the discussion at this National Interest roundtable session was the observation that local-area dynamism is an essential ingredient for countries like Italy whose economy is characterized by a plurality of development models. The major contrasts existing between different regions of the country, it was stressed, need to be understood and addressed in order to foster proper growth at the local level that is both mindful of territorial specificities as well as capable of meeting the challenges posed by globalization.

Milan

6 June 2011

Exports: relaunching Italian enterprise

Kicking off this roundtable discussion was the observation that, in the coming years, exports are set to be the engine of growth for all European countries and, in particular, for Italy. Indeed, the rapid development of emerging economies suggests not only increasing imports of capital goods, but also of consumer goods. It was therefore seen as imperative for an economy as traditionally export-oriented as Italy’s to understand how to seize the opportunities opening up in global markets.

Rome

12 October 2011

Culture, politics, the economy: Italy’s national interest, from the country’s unification to the present day

In the beginning, there was the catch-cry of “liberty and independence”: the Risorgimento ideal par excellence, expressing the longing of generations of those aspiring for an Italian nation, who – from the Congress of Vienna to 1861, as well as in the bellicose sequels of the following decade – devoted their thoughts and deeds and blood and hopes to the unification of Italy.

Milan

26 April 2010

Italy’s strong and weak points

The opening premise of this roundtable discussion was that a differential of more than ten percentage points has separated Italy from the average growth rate of the eurozone countries over the last 10 years. Whilst the growth rates of some of these countries have now been revealed as unsustainable, based as they were on an escalation in private and/or public borrowings, it was acknowledged that a comparison with the growth of more virtuous countries, such as Germany and, in particular, France, is still unfavorable to Italy.

Milan

13 December 2010

Italy’s nuclear option

The comeback being staged by atomic energy is currently a hot topic of debate in many countries around the world, just as it is in Italy. During this roundtable discussion devoted to the issue, official figures were cited confirming the ferment of activity in this sector, with 65 new nuclear power plants under construction in 16 different countries. According to some of the participants in attendance, there are many technical, economic and geopolitical factors which justify the nuclear option for Italy, whilst others went further, describing it as an almost “inevitable” choice.

Rome

9 June 2010

The frontiers of identity

Identity is a word that has multiple connotations. Paradoxically, there is not just one but many kinds of identities, whose characteristics, origins and development processes are quite different from one another. Individual identity, for example, is often brought into question at the very moment it is affirmed: Saint Augustine explains that sense of doubt in fact characterizes the fundamental moments in one’s life. The ego becomes aware of itself by a process of elimination: I am all, minus that which I am not.

Rome

6 October 2010

Reforming Italy’s government and parliament: slight change or complete overhaul?

This discussion over the extent of governmental and parliamentary reform required in Italy today commenced with the observation that the currently prevailing approach to institutional reform seems to be rooted in an awareness of the need for cultural change. Thus the debate between whether to carry out the minimum change required or to enact sweeping reforms appears to have been superseded by an approach that leaves behind attempts to pay mere lip service to reform and firmly seeks to address actual needs.

Milano

25 October 2010

Kick-starting professional training

The participants launched proceedings at this National Conference with the observation that the role of technical and professional training institutes, once the powerhouse of the postwar economic boom in Italy, has been steadily declining since the early 1970s, with enrollment numbers falling inexorably. The result is that, today, these key components of Italy’s education system are no longer capable of supporting the country’s economic development, nor of keeping pace with technological advances.