Knowledge and Technology for a Sustainable Future

IN THE EDITORIAL THAT OPENS THE LATEST ISSUE OF BOCCONI'S ONLINE MAGAZINE VIASARFATTI25, RECTOR GIANMARIO VERONA TALKS ABOUT THE START OF A NEW ACADEMIC YEAR WITH A FOCUS ON KNOWLEDGE THAT MATTERS #NOWMORETHANEVER

“We need to reinvent the way we do business in order to develop a greener footprint. And technology can play a key role in reducing emissions. In a word, now more than ever we need to focus on sustainability ». In her welcome talk to the students of MSc programs, Silvia Candiani, CEO of Microsoft Italy and Bocconi alumna, contributed to imbuing the #nowmorethanever initiative with meaning and perspective.

This campaign summarizes the importance and uniqueness of a new academic year that started after a lockdown and looks to the future with uncertainty on how the health emergency will evolve. Silvia touched on two fundamental points, digital and sustainability, which in this strange year have undergone a profound transformation, passing from a phase of fashionability to that of a necessary condition. Digital technology has helped us in every aspect of our lives during the lockdown: from socialization to work, from teaching to shopping to entertainment. And it was precisely in this period, in part through the determined wave of Fridays for Future, that we fully understood how essential it is to take care of our planet, to live in a sustainable world that is also able to fight pandemics like the one that has hit us.
 
For Bocconi, #nowmorethanever is helping our students prepare for the future, developing basic knowledge, the only thing capable of leaving a lasting impact on society. This is why we are committed and invested in returning to experience all the dimensions of our campus, including the new virtual ones that we have come to know and appreciate. We welcomed our new students, selected from among the many candidates (this year the applications again rose by 5%), and the 22 new professors who arrived in September from all over the world. We were also reunited with students and colleagues who for months we have only seen online. And together, we all started writing our #nowmorethanever

by Gianmario Verona, rettore