Cernusco sul Naviglio (MI)
16 April 2018
Cybersecurity: dangers and opportunities for businesses
Investments, culture, sharing: three elements that pundits and professionals consider indispensable to making System Italy resistant to cyber threats.
National Roundtable
Bologna
9 July 2018
Italian airport system: synergies, investment, attractiveness
The starting premise of discussions at this national roundtable was that the issue of air transport owes its considerable complexity to the sheer number of stakeholders involved. The interests and different perspectives of airport operators, airline companies, travelers, local authorities, and other competing and combined transport networks were seen as calling for a synergistic approach both on the part of these players themselves and of the State.
Rome
12 September 2018
Shifting to sustainable transportation in Italy: social and economic consequences
The participants at this roundtable noted that there is practically unanimous consensus on the need to rise to the challenge of achieving eco-sustainable mobility, a necessary objective in order to meet the Paris Agreement’s target of keeping the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C. The issue was viewed as one primarily concerning the health of both the present generation and the next.
Rome
26 September 2018
The Italian Public Administration Reform: drivers, achievements, next steps and goals
Aspen Institute Italia’s aim in organizing this roundtable was to provide an opportunity to reflect on the processes that have characterized public administrative reform in Italy in recent years. In the course of the proceedings, a new Aspen Report was presented entitled “Public-sector reforms in Italy during the 17th legislature: their impetus, outcomes, and objectives”.
Bologna
16 October 2018
New citizens and the Italian Constitution’s values
Aspen Institute Italia’s aim in organizing this roundtable was to foster debate on the challenges involved in integrating foreigners into Italian society. By way of introduction, it was noted that, over the years, the number of foreign nationals permanently residing in Italy has grown steadily and is set to continue to rise, as will the number of immigrants acquiring Italian citizenship. In a very short space of time, Italy’s society has been transformed, in line with what has happened in other countries such as France and the United Kingdom, and can no longer be considered mono-ethnic.
Milan
22 January 2018
The US Tax reform
Discussions at this national roundtable opened with the observation that the tax reforms signed into law by the Trump administration have an air of momentousness about them and have a significant impact on corporate taxation, with the company tax rate reduced from 35% to 21%. The impact on personal income tax is, however, decidedly more modest, with the tax rate cut by merely 2.6 percentage points, dropping from 39.6% to 37%. In addition, the former measure is, at least in theory, permanent, while the latter – for reasons tied to US parliamentary rules – will end in 2025.
Rome
15 November 2018
Making the most of Italy’s energy resources
Discussions at this roundtable kicked off with the observation that global economic growth, which has been particularly strong over the past year, has brought with it well-known benefits in terms of development (helping to combat extreme poverty, for instance), yet it has also marked a reversal in the trend of CO2 atmospheric emissions, which, after having stabilized for a three-year period, are rising again at a rate of around 1.5%. This once again poses the question of what measures are needed to decouple growth from emissions.
Rome
12 July 2018
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.
Monza
12 November 2018
Digital economy development
The participants at this national roundtable noted that digitalization is a paradigm that is not only revolutionizing the economy but the whole of society. This transformation transcends geographical boundaries, is not confined to particular sectors, and has also changed the market and the contractual rules that for decades have governed dealings between different economic actors.
Milan
13 June 2017
Smart buildings, smart energy: the future of intelligent infrastructure
Participants at this national roundtable highlighted smart energy and smart building as key components of the smart city concept. “Smartness” in urban contexts was seen as entailing the pursuit of two main objectives: efficiency in the face of resource scarcity, and a higher standard of living. To achieve these goals, it was deemed essential to focus efforts on three fronts in particular. Firstly, infrastructure is a necessary though insufficient precondition for services to be able to respond to complexity, which in urban contexts stems from an admixture of markedly varied needs.
Milan
26 June 2017
How can the school system help Italy’s competitiveness?
The participants at this national roundtable vehemently challenged the veracity of a popular – now verging on hackneyed – belief that the Italian education system only churns out mediocrity. Nothing – it was felt – could be further from the truth. The tenor of education and training at an international level leans favorably towards the traditional system adopted in Italy which is based, in its essentials, on the Giovanni Gentile model.
Rome
29 March 2017
Enabling factors to develop sustainable transportation in Italy
Discussions at this national roundtable emphasized that sustainable mobility is a fundamental underpinning of any goods and people transport system that, while meeting movement and transportation needs, does not give rise to negative environmental and health impacts but rather contributes to ensuring improved quality of life.
Rome
31 May 2017
The future of government: imagining the Italy of tomorrow
The pursuit of security and a desire for greater certainty were recurrent themes in discussions at this national roundtable on the future of government in Italy. It was observed that Western democracies – beset by populist movements of various ilks and engulfed by ongoing economic crisis – are struggling to arrive at a new order and are, above all, failing to fully meet the needs and demands of their citizens.
Milan
27 February 2017
Fighting poverty and favoring social integration: new business models to boost cooperation
The participants at this roundtable session noted that, today more than ever, there is a need to formulate responses capable of addressing the impacts of the enduring economic crisis. Statistics were cited indicating that, in Italy, absolute poverty affects over 4 million people, of whom around 1 million are minors, with another 13 million people at risk. In addition, in Italy and Europe, new forms of poverty predominantly involve segments of the population that – from once relatively protected positions – have become vulnerable, thus giving rise to new states of fragility and need.
Rome
7 July 2017
The migration challenge. Human mobility and development in the 21st century
The starting premise of discussions at this roundtable on migration, organized by Aspen Institute Italia, was that current tensions within Europe demonstrate how Italy has effectively become – and is being seen by its continental partners – as a buffer state: a country deputized to serve as a “shock absorber” in the new geopolitics of the Mediterranean.
Rome
15 February 2017
Italy’s constitutional reform: searching for common ground
The participants at this national roundtable opened their discussions by affirming that the constitutional referendum held in Italy on December 4, 2016 produced a result that leaves no room for doubt: the electorate has rejected the proposed reforms to the Constitution championed by the Renzi government. In 2006, the same fate befell the proposal put forward and supported by a center-right majority.