A Community Impacting Europe
A photo shoot to represent the 27 countries of the European Union through the students, professors and staff born in each of them.
2023/2024 Opening Ceremony Highlights
Facing global challenges and training new talent, students and researchers: this is the mission the university is taking on with inclusion and sustainability as its objectives. Only by doing so, says Rector Francesco Billari, can we change the lives of people and the world.
A University designed and developed to cultivate intellectuals, both students and researchers, able to leave a lasting legacy on the world. A university that is a community of 165,000 members including students, faculty, staff, alumnae and alumni, that draws strength from its own diversity and is continuously committed to opening up to new inputs and contributions.
This was the focus of the Opening Ceremony of the 2023-2024 Academic Year, the 122nd year in the history of the University. The ceremony was attended by the President of the University, Andrea Sironi, Rector Francesco Billari the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala – the first woman and the first African to hold the position of WTO Director-General – and Guerino Figlino, student representative on the Bocconi University Board.
One year of war in Ukraine: three facts and two doubts for the future
One year after the start of the war in Ukraine, Livio Di Lonardo, assistant professor of Political science at Bocconi, highlights some elements that have emerged clearly, and at times surprisingly, in these 12 months. First of all, the role of the US in uniting the front of the Western democracies. Secondly, the resilience of European countries, which, albeit with some hesitation, have nevertheless responded promptly. Third, Russia's military difficulties. But if these three elements have become clear, two others make forecasting the development of the war arduous: firstly, the duration of support from European countries, within which public opinion may in the long run no longer support sending arms to Ukraine. Secondly, the credibility of Russian promises: how long would peace then last? Would we find ourselves in the same situation as today in a few years' time?
Hacker attacks, the importance of investing in prevention
"The hacker attacks of these days could have been avoided," explains Greta Nasi, Director of the Master of Science in Cyber Risk Strategy and Governance at Bocconi University, "if institutions and companies had updated their defence systems. It would be important to involve in the decision-making process people who can read these potential risks in order to report them to the boards, who could then make the necessary investments in protection".
Bernankes prodigious contribution to monetary policy
“Ben Bernanke is the best example of an academic who made a huge contribution to monetary policy, especially in difficult times,” says Roberto Perotti, of the Department of Economics and who was teaching assistant to Bernanke at MIT, commenting on the awarding of the Nobel prize in Economics to Bernanke, alongside Douglas W. Diamond e Philip H. Dybvig. “The prize was awarded to Bernanke for three reasons: his study of the Great Depression and the mistakes made with monetary policy in that period; his study of the financial accelerator effect, ie how small shocks to monetary policy can have large effects; his advances on the econometrics of monetary policy.”
In memory of Alberto Alesina
Two years after his untimely death, Bocconi dedicated two days of studies and tributes to Alberto Alesina - alumnus, scholar and friend. The University has named a seminar room after him in the Department of Economics, and is launching a fundraiser to establish the Alberto Alesina Young Economists Award (https://give.unibocconi.it/projects/in-memory-of-alberto-alesina). Gathered to remember and pay tribute to the scholar on May 25 were Mario Draghi (President of the Council of Ministers), Lawrence H. Summers (former US Treasury Secretary and President Emeritus, Harvard University), Silvana Tenreyro (External Member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee and Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science) and Lionel Barber (former Editor-in-Chief of the Financial Times) who joined Mario Monti, Gianmario Verona, Francesco Giavazzi and Alberto’s wife Susan Alesina.
Before after B4i Mapo Tapo and the group trips for extreme sport lovers
Join Mapo Tapo founder Daniele Calvo Pollino's journey throughout the acceleration program in B4i and discover how his business evolved.
What If Russia Adopts CIPS?
"If the military aspects of the war are there for all to see, with an escalation that could lead to the end of Ukraine as we have known it, another war, the cyber war, is being fought with cyber attacks and counter-attacks. But there are also economic sanctions," explains Brunello Rosa, visiting professor of Cyber strategy and governance at the Department of Social and Political Sciences at Bocconi University, "such as the exclusion of some Russian banks from the Swift circuit. One implication of this could be that Russia adopts the alternative payments system CIPS, developed by China, which is still in the minority but growing steadily. If this is the case," Brunello Rosa continues, "we could really see the bifurcation of international payments with two competing systems."
#RussiaUkraine: three tools to strangle the economy
"The sanctions imposed on Russia are unprecedented and aim to strangle the Russian economy by preventing it from accessing international sources of financing," Carlo Altomonte, professor of European economic policy at Bocconi University, explains in this video. "Three main tools are used: blocking Swifts; banning the country's top two banks from accessing dollar liquidity; and blocking central bank assets held with European countries and the United States, which amount to about 40% of these assets." The Russian economy, with the application of these sanctions, thus risks a series of defaults.
Before/After B4i: Cargoful, when technology meets logistics
Erica Pezzica, founder of Cargoful spoke again with B4i to answer the exact same questions, and look back at a time capsule of her answers, from when she started the acceleration programme. Her startup grew from just an idea presented at a hackathon to a team of 7 person. See how Erica’s life changed over the last year.
War in Ukraine: Europe Must Face Its Security Challenges
Russia’s all-out attack on Ukraine is the biggest security crisis since the end of the Cold War and the war will have far-reaching consequences for the European continent, highlights Catherine De Vries, professor of Political Science at Bocconi. “The EU has a big role to play and cannot only reply to Russia with sanctions but has to safeguard its security,” she says. “This means an increase in defense spending and strengthening the eastern flank of the EU. And also supporting Ukrainian resistance, accepting refugees and sending troops to states bordering Ukraine. The EU should also work towards greater strategic autonomy – speeding up fiscal integration to strengthen economic power and the Green Deal to diversify away from Russian oil and gas.”
#RussiaUkraine: Sanctions targeted at members of Putin's elite could instill doubt about his conduct
Leaders in Europe and the US hoped that economic sanctions would have enough deterrent power to avert a Russian invasion of Ukraine. It did not. "One wonders at this point what the effectiveness of the sanctions will be," explains Livio Di Lonardo, assistant professor of political science at Bocconi. "These punitive sanctions are designed first and foremost to keep up the credibility of other future sanctions against Putin or other adversaries," Di Lonardo continues. But can sanctions have an immediate impact on current events? "In recent years, Putin has taken steps to protect the Russian economy from sanctions that he expected." The hope is that targeted sanctions against the narrow elite, which is crucial to Putin's survival in power, "can create an internal rift by changing the expectations of these elites. Thus convincing them that the course of action chosen by Putin will lead to a decrease in the economic benefits they have received over the years."
FTxBocconi Challenge 2022: young talents' vision for the new hybrid world
The 3rd edition of the competition organized by Financial Times and Bocconi saw 200 students and young professionals worldwide challenge each other with fresh ideas to innovate business and society in the new hybrid world. Held over five intense days of masterclasses, talks, networking and teamwork, FTxBocconi Talent Challenge 2022 culminated in the 200 participants, coming from over 50 countries, devising teams solutions for four challenges in the areas of Work, Health, Entertainment and Customer Experience - searching for innovative policies and business ideas, integrating physical and digital experiences.
www.viasarfatti25.unibocconi.eu/notizia.php?idArt=23848
From courses to the New Computing Sciences Department: the Digital Path of Bocconi University
In this interview, Rector Gianmario Verona talks about how Bocconi has worked over the last five years to enhance its digital infrastructure in research and teaching by calling in new professors and designing new academic programs. It is a path that in academic year 2021-2022 will be completed by the activation of the new Department of Computing Sciences, which can count on an international faculty team.
The Nobel to Pioneers of Natural Experiments in Economics
The Nobel prize in economics to David Card, Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens is an acknowledgement of their pioneering use of natural experiments in economics, comments Thomas Le Barbanchon, Labor economics professor at Bocconi. Card, for example, used such experimenting to study the effects of minimum wages, of migration and education. And Imbens to study the returns of education in terms of wages in the labor market.
The Fundamental Contribution of Card, Angrist and Imbens to the Economists' Toolbox
"The Nobel Prize to Card, Angrist and Imbens demonstrates the importance that data and accurate quantitative analysis have assumed today in modern economics," explains Francesco Decarolis, professor of economics at Bocconi. In particular, the work of the three scholars has contributed in fundamental ways to the analysis of causal impacts of certain policies and decisions, he underlines. "Card, for example, on impacts of labor market reforms. The merit of these three scholars is to have contributed to the tool box that economists have today to evaluate the impacts of policies and reforms and the applicability of this tool box is very broad.”
The Impact of the Natural Experiments of the Nobel Winners
The Nobel prize in economics to David Card, Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens is an acknowledgement of their contribution in the development of methods to establish economic relationships, comments Jerome Adda, Dean for Research at Bocconi. In particular, he explains, for their “development of natural experiments. That is, the study of instances such as natural disasters or changes in government that induce individuals or firms to do things they would not have done otherwise. And then comparing the outcomes with those not affected by such changes.” And, he underlines, “these techniques they pioneered are incorporated in much research here at Bocconi.”
The Nobel Awards Three Veritable Social Scientists
When he received the news of the Nobel Prize in economics to David Card, Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens, Bocconi economics professor Tito Boeri was "explaining to students some studies carried out by Angrist and Card and telling them how much they would deserve the prize.” The three winners, he says, “interpreted in the right way the role of social scientists using available information to draw analysis and data to really tell us about cause and effect. Their works span a wide range of such relevant issues, from the impact of minimum wages on employment, to the effects of migration on employment and the returns of education. It is a well deserved acknowledgement.”
Bocconi Sport Center Opening Ceremony
The exhibition of the ‘Farfalle’ national rhythmic gymnastics team, bronze at Tokyo 2020, the speeches of Giuseppe Sala, Valentina Vezzali, Giovanni Malagò and Luca Pancalli, the slam dunks of Danilo Gallinari and Da Move, the stories of the Olympic emotions of Ambra Sabatini, Michela Moioli and Eleonora Giorgi, the importance of sport for a university like Bocconi. The whole opening ceremony of the new Bocconi Sport Center in this video.
Coffee Chat with Cassandra Chambers
Cassandra Chambers, Professor at the Department of Management & Technology at Bocconi, is the last guest of the ‘Coffee Chats’ series, a FT Talent and Bocconi initiative. Six meetings, informal chats, with Bocconi professors and alumni, who are leading managers and entrepreneurs, giving advice and personal insights for young talents.
In this interview with Virginia Stagni, Business Development Manager at Financial Times & FT Talent Director, Chambers talks about what it means to be a leader, how this changes when working in a virtual space, and her tips for building resilience and dealing with failure.
FT Talent teamed up with Bocconi in 2019 to organize the global competition FTxBocconi Challenge. The second edition last February saw 150 talents from all around the world compete online with ideas on reshaping the business world leveraging on human capital, sustainability, diversity and inclusion. Cassandra Chambers was among the guest speakers of the event.
https://fttalent.ft.com/ftxbocconi2021/
#Bocconi4equality/Pride. A World Divided
"The attitude of public authorities of a state towards the Pride Day tends to be a fairly accurate litmus test of the more general level of protection in that society of human rights guaranteed by international law," Roger O'Keefe, professor of international law at the Department of Legal Studies at Bocconi University, explains in the #Bocconi4equality video. "There where everything takes place without problems means that more generally rights are safeguarded and guaranteed - instead in countries where the parade is banned it means that human rights guaranteed by international law are less protected and not observed. Indeed in many of these states being Lgbt is equivalent to a death sentence. We must not forget", continues O'Keefe, "those states in which many brave men and women insist on the observance by the state of those rights.”
Coffee Chat with Markus Venzin
Markus Venzin, Professor of Global Strategy and Dean for Innovation at Bocconi University, is the next guest of the Coffee Chats series, a FT Talent and Bocconi initiative. Six meetings, informal chats, with Bocconi professors and alumni, who are leading managers and entrepreneurs, who, with advice and personal insights, are an inspiration for young talents.
In this interview with Virginia Stagni, Business Development Manager at Financial Times & FT Talent Director, Venzin gives his view on what it means to have an innovative and entrepreneurial mindset, on how to build resilience, on his top tips for entrepreneurs to build a team and be a team player and also talks about B4i, the Bocconi accelerator, and the support it gives to startups.
FT Talent teamed up with Bocconi in 2019 to organize the global competition FTxBocconi Challenge. The second edition last February saw 150 talents from all around the world compete online with ideas on reshaping the business world leveraging on human capital, sustainability, diversity and inclusion. Markus Venzin was among the guest speakers of the event.
https://fttalent.ft.com/ftxbocconi2021/
#Bocconi4equality/Inclusive advertising increases tolerance (and vice versa)
One trillion dollars: that's how much the LGBT market in the US was worth in 2018. The interest of corporate marketing is therefore very strong. But do companies do inclusive advertising? And what are the reactions of the market? Stefano Prestini, academic fellow of the Department of Marketing at Bocconi, who carried out a study precisely to assess its impact on consumers, answers. It emerges that, in mainstream advertising (aimed at wide audiences), companies can make inclusive advertising without looking too much at the gender of the viewer. "Also because," explains Prestini, "the more advertising is done in an inclusive way, the greater the tolerance of society will become." And, in a virtuous circle, "the increase in society's tolerance will increase the performance of inclusive ads."
#Bocconi4equality/Promoting a truly inclusive workplace
The most recent studies show that LGBTQ+ workers are still constrained in the labor market, underlines Tracy Anderson, professor of Human Resource Management at Bocconi, in this video. “A study in the US shows that any involvement with LGBTQ+ organizations leads to a significant reduced likelihood of getting a job interview. And there is also evidence of job segregation, with gay men and lesbians sorting more into occupations with a higher level of independent working.” What is required is a greater effort to change culture, says Anderson. “This discrimination and stigma needs to be tackled. Companies need to include sexuality and gender identity in their diversity policies. And must also take action to ensure they really develop a truly inclusive workplace culture. Also through active engagement with LGBTQ+ employees and external groups.”
Coffee Chat with Alisee de Tonnac
Alisée de Tonnac, CEO & Co-Founder Seedstars and Bocconi alumna, is the next guest of the new Coffee Chats series, a FT Talent and Bocconi initiative. Six meetings, informal chats, with Bocconi professors and alumni, who are leading managers and entrepreneurs, who, with advice and personal insights, are an inspiration for young talents.
In this interview with Virginia Stagni, Business Development Manager at Financial Times & FT Talent Director, de Tonnac talks about the advice she would give to her younger self, her tips for building resilience and her advice for being an inclusive leader, especially in the emerging markets ecosystem.
FT Talent teamed up with Bocconi in 2019 to organize the global competition FTxBocconi Challenge. The second edition last February saw 150 talents from all around the world compete online with ideas on reshaping the business world leveraging on human capital, sustainability, diversity and inclusion. Alisée de Tonnac was among the guest speakers of the event.
https://fttalent.ft.com/ftxbocconi2021/
Coffee Chat with Davide Serra
Davide Serra, Founder and CEO Algebris Investments and Bocconi alumnus, is the next guest of the Coffee Chats series, a FT Talent and Bocconi initiative. Six meetings, informal chats, with Bocconi professors and alumni, who are leading managers and entrepreneurs, who, with advice and personal insights, are an inspiration for young talents.
In this interview with Virginia Stagni, Business Development Manager at Financial Times & FT Talent Director, Serra talks about the advice he would give to his younger self, the value of being passion driven, how to build resilience, the importance of diversity and what his passion for sports has taught him in his career.
FT Talent teamed up with Bocconi in 2019 to organize the global competition FTxBocconi Challenge. The second edition last February saw 150 talents from all around the world compete online with ideas on reshaping the business world leveraging on human capital, sustainability, diversity and inclusion. Davide Serra was among the guest speakers of the event.
https://fttalent.ft.com/ftxbocconi2021/
Coffee Chat with Diego Piacentini
Diego Piacentini, Board member and advisor, former Commissioner for Digital Transformation Italian Government, former SVP of International Consumer Business Amazon, and Bocconi Alumnus of the Year 2010, is the next guest of the new Coffee Chats series, a FT Talent and Bocconi initiative. Six meetings, informal chats, with Bocconi professors and alumni, who are leading managers and entrepreneurs, who, with advice and personal insights, are an inspiration for young talents.
In this interview with Virginia Stagni, Business Development Manager at Financial Times & FT Talent Director, Piacentini talks about the advice he would give to his younger self, how to build resilience, the importance of diversity and the future of news and media organisations.
FT Talent teamed up with Bocconi in 2019 to organize the global competition FTxBocconi Challenge. The second edition last February saw 150 talents from all around the world compete online with ideas on reshaping the business world leveraging on human capital, sustainability, diversity and inclusion. Diego Piacentini was among the guest speakers of the event.
https://fttalent.ft.com/ftxbocconi2021/
Coffee Chat with Federico Marchetti
Passione, determinazione, curiosità. Sono queste le caratteristiche da ricercare nei giovani talenti secondo Federico Marchetti, presidente e fondatore YOOX NET-A-PORTER Group e Alumnus Bocconi dell'anno 2014, primo ospite della nuova serie Coffee Chats, iniziativa di FT Talent e Bocconi. Sei incontri, chiacchiere informali, con docenti e alumni della Bocconi, manager e imprenditori di primo piano, che, con consigli e insight personali, possono essere fonte di ispirazione per i giovani talenti.
La collaborazione tra FT Talent e Bocconi è partita nel 2019 con l’organizzazione della prima FTxBocconi Challenge. La seconda edizione dello scorso febbraio ha visto 150 giovani da tutto il mondo competere online con idee per ripensare il mondo del business post pandemia facendo leva su capitale umano, sostenibilità, diversità e inclusione. Federico Marchetti è stato tra i relatori ospiti dell'evento.
In questa intervista con Virginia Stagni, Business Development Manager del Financial Times e FT Talent Director, Marchetti dà i suoi consigli personali ad aspiranti imprenditori e leader che cercano di costruire un business e creare team collaborativi più forti e parla di come aumentare la diversità e l'inclusione nelle industrie.
La serie continuerà con le chat con gli alumni Bocconi Diego Piacentini, senior advisor di KKR e già Senior Vice President di Amazon, Davide Serra, CEO di Algebris Investments, e Alisee de Tonnac, co-fondatrice di Seedstars, e con Markus Venzin, Dean of Innovation della Bocconi, e Cassandra Chambers, docente di management alla Bocconi.
The 1946 Referendum and the 21 Women of the Constituent Assembly
The date of June 2, 1946, that of the Italian referendum on a republic or monarchy, is also significant because it was the first time women were able to exercise their right to vote. "In the Constituent Assembly there were 21 women belonging to almost all political alignments," says Graziella Romeo, Professor of Constitutional Law at Bocconi, "who did not just deal with issues that were traditionally inherent to the female sphere, such as the family, but also with other fundamental aspects such as work and, in particular, the recognition of working women. Because", continues Graziella Romeo, "it was necessary to acknowledge not only the political but also the productive contribution of women. A fundamental figure in this period", the professor continues, "was Maria Maddalena Rossi, who took particular care of women who had suffered violence during the war".