Our Future with Machine Learning

THE ACCELERATION OF LEARNING ALSO INCLUDES THAT OF MACHINES, AS UNDERLINED BY GIANMARIO VERONA IN HIS OPENING EDITORIAL FOR THE NEW ISSUE OF BOCCONI'S MONTHLY, VIASARFATTI25


Learning is the key word behind all cultural, scientific and technological progress. Progress that today is achieved at an ever-accelerating pace unthinkable only a few years ago, and possible only because learning is no longer just the man, but also the machines. Machine learning and deep learning make it possible to analyze and interpret data on a large scale and allow machines to self-regulate and learn according to the feedback received. This is what will increasingly make the difference in individual, social, industrial and institutional learning processes.

To lead us into this future, which in reality is already here, is Riccardo Zecchina, Vodafone Chair in Data Science and Machine Learning. In this issue of Via Sarfatti 25,  we will hear from Zecchina  and other researchers whose work ranges from the study of social networks to the diffusion of viral diseases, the analysis of connection networks and the implementation of new algorithms using data science tools and data analytics. These are scholars from fields as diverse as Marketing, Statistics, Demography and Physics who have found renewed stimulus to progress in the new computationally-intensive disciplines. This confirms that the innovative scientific drive of machine learning is completely interdisciplinary.

It is always the will to improve in the ability to transmit knowledge that brings Bocconi professors back into their classes. Once again the key word is learning, but the instrument is BEAT, the Bocconi Excellence Advanced Teaching program promoted by BUILT, Bocconi University Innovations in Learning and Teaching.

The aim of the program is to learn to teach using innovative methods and approaches that can enhance the classroom experience, so while it is addressed to professors it will have its biggest impact on our students. The new Bocconi payoff, Knowledge that matters, refers to both research and teaching. Because the production of knowledge and its dissemination are two sides of the same coin.
 

by Gianmario Verona, Rector, Bocconi University
Translated by Richard Greenslade