National Programs

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.

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.

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.

Smart factories, interconnected cities, and fifty billion objects hooked up to the internet by 2020: these were some of the facets of the digital revolution flagged by the roundtable participants as transforming the economic and social fabric of both advanced and developing countries. This ramping-up of technology was regarded as a game-changer, opening the doors to Industry 4.0, the promised benefits of which are manifold, including maximum volume flexibility, faster transition from prototyping to mass production, increased productivity, and reduced waste.

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.

Though acknowledged as unpredictable in its consequences like every momentous turning point of the past, the fourth industrial revolution was hailed by participants at this national roundtable as entirely unique in terms of its pervasiveness, the profundity of the transformations induced, and the speed of the changes occasioned, marking something of a “progressive watershed” between one age and another.

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.

This meeting was part of Aspen Institute Italia’s efforts to support business by promoting efficiency and effectiveness in public administration. For the occasion, the Institute carried out a detailed study  coordinated by Professor Sabino Cassese, an innovative feature of which are the assessments and proposals contributed by various associates currently confronted with entrepreneurial and productive challenges.

Industry has only recently been rediscovered as having a fundamental role in Europe and the world. Industry 4.0 is a revolution that is going to change not only industry itself, but economic systems as well. The “Smart Factory” involves all phases of industrial manufacturing, from design to production and logistics, all the way to post-sales. The smart factories of the future will be part of a social network consisting of machinery, goods, workers and consumers that, as they interact, will establish a new technology-production paradigm.

Italian industry has always managed to combine intellectual creativity with manufacturing.  This is reflected in the history of its brand names, both great and small.  They embody certain values but also have their own specific meaning. Their protection is of crucial importance both to their respective companies and to consumers.

The discussions at this roundtable session were informed by a series of questions posed at the event regarding the purposes served today by Italy’s national public broadcaster (RAI), and whether it still makes sense to talk of public broadcasting in this day and age.

Participants at this national roundtable embarked on their discussion by first observing that, over the last thirty years, the Italian National Health Service (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale – SSN) has assured generations of Italians a good standard of universally accessible services. Today, however, the system finds itself operating in different circumstances to the past due to technical, economic, and ethical factors.

In order to drive home the importance to the Italian economy of design as a core component of the international success of the “Made in Italy” brand, the participants at this roundtable likened the sector to oil, in the sense of being a form of “energy” fueled by the history, culture, and flair for style and beauty that have helped forge Italy’s image abroad over the centuries. This image can rest assured of its considerable appeal, stemming in part from the international appreciation of a lifestyle that continues to draw accolades globally.