National Programs

Brandnames live in a complicated, multidimensional world, in a dynamic system that demands well-defined, unique, memorable, seductive personalities. A brand suggests to the consumer a series of symbols and values that make up that consumer’s attitude and desires in a vast social environment. Participants went so far as to speak of a “brand alchemy”. Businesses must take into account new social and cultural trends to maintain their customers, and phenomenons such as budget crises, recession, anti-global movements, and so on, demonstrate the vulnerability of brandnames.

During the roundtable, participants discussed several fundamental aspects of the ongoing transition to a very different sort of television. By 2012, tv will be made up of a sort of “digital pie” in three pieces: paid and free satellite – with hundreds of channels; cable – with sixty or so channels; and IP – with hundreds, or even thousands of channels, including accessible libraries and programs on demand. Markets will change accordingly, as will the primary players and the norms regulating it all. To this end, participants considered the Italian Gentiloni Bill on television reform.

The Roundtable highlighted the important role played by the Italian banking system due to the nature of the economic system which is characterized by a large number of small and medium enterprises in the industrial and services sector. In Italy there are currently 37 local banks and 439 banks of cooperative credit for a total of 14,8% of the Italian banking system.

The roundtable “Fighting poverty” was hosted by the Community of Sant’Egidio and offered participants the opportunity to consider how Italy – a G8 member state – might better fight widespread poverty. Greater commitment is needed if the planet’s poorest regions are to recover, especially in Africa. Most of the aid promised by donors is in fact aimed at Africa, yet the continent remains desperate. Promises must be kept and new strategies must be developed if our objective of halving poverty by 2015 is to be realized.

This roundtable focused on infrastructural problems hindering Italy’s competitiveness: to resolve them would mean allowing Italy to play a primary role – a hub – both for intra-European relations and for relations between Europe and other Mediterranean countries.

This roundtable focussed on the terminology behind the conflict between believers and non-believers. In Italy, France, and Germany, the debate has taken on a particular fervor of late: just think of the depth of sentiment that emerged over whether girls could or could not wear the chador in public schools in France, or the debate that raged over referenda proposed in Italy to allow stem cell research and artificial insemination. Participants agreed that a common field of research and areas of commitment must be defined.

This meeting, held in the beautiful Ambrosiana library, offered the occasion to reflect on a very different topic than usual, at Aspen Italia events: the soul, as seen in different cultures, and as it inspires everyone – whether he or she believes in God or not – to consider the most profound issues for humanity. Participants quickly, but without succumbing to superficiality, reviewed the notion of “soul” as it has been appreciated over the centuries and in different cultures.

This roundtable focused on problems presented by rapid development in the telecommunications sector and prospects for growth. The diverse platforms, each with their special characteristics and peculiarities, provide the customer with a variety of choices and services, in accordance with their particular needs. In order to compete, businesses must present their products in original ways as well as satisfy the customer’s demand for an interactive and personalized product.

The Roundtable dealt with a series of strategic issues concerning the Italian bank system, including the high cost of Italian bank serivces compared to other European countries; the limited size of the banks which doesn’t favor the internationalization of business; the difficulty in financing innovation and the common problem -especially in Southern Italy – of credit rationing. Banks stated that the cost of individual bank accounts in Italy are lower than France, Spain and Germany because of special agreements, payment on uninvested capital and joint holders.

This roundtable highlighted the need to redesign Italy’s infrastructure network in a fashion that is coherent with demand. Lower-cost projects that offer an immediate return on investment are of particular importance. Strategic priority should be given to ports and to train tunnels in order to facilitate the flow of commerce from the Far East.

According to the World Health Organization, Italy’s health system ranks as one of the best in the world. Yet it has also highlighted the problem, which Italy shares with other European countries, of funding a health system that is capable of responding to changes in the health demand of citizens. The participants called for there to be a move away from a profit and loss account mentality to an analysis of health needs by developing models for gauging demand.

This roundtable focused on the irreversible process of convergence between television and telecommunications. In the near future, in fact, ADSL lines and IP protocol TV will offer TLC operators a complete video experience. At the same time, for television, going digital has meant forging a tighter relationship with the end user – providing services demanded by those who actually watch TV; spectators can personalize their viewing options and the different functions of network operators, content providers and the service industry have been separated.

The roundtable discussion provided an opportunity to explore the new possibilities for further applications and the potential economic, social and organizational impact of information technology. The digitalization of information, banking, government, transport and tourist services is proceeding at a faster pace than anticipated.

New tools, new forms of access, availability of content, large variety of sources, increased Internet use: news has changed dramatically, and the challenges for the media are many. This roundtable, held at the Corriere della Sera offices in Milan, invited discussion on Italy’s particular situation with relation to the global communications market. Media training, revolutions ongoing on an industrial level, doubts on a regulatory level (especially as concerns intellectual property, as norms guarding copyright are mostly obsolete) were all on the table.

The roundtable discussion focused on the means and mechanisms to improve the attractiveness of the Italian economy. The roundtable participants voiced their disagreement with views that the country’s economic health is “in decline”, noting that such assessments are fueled by the presence within the country of areas with structural difficulties in adapting to international competition and the tendency towards making generalizations without taking into account territorial specificities and the existence of points of excellence.