Report

2024-07-04 Stefano Pogutz, Francesco Perrini, Jan Hans Georg Pachner, Rafael Sardà, Federico Fumagalli

Protecting the Ocean for a Sustainable Planet

The health of the ocean is in critical condition, and it is deteriorating at a rate and in ways scientists say are unprecedented in the history of our planet. Huge amounts of plastics and chemicals are dumped into the environment every year in all parts of the world. Overexploitation of fish stocks has pushed fisheries of several species beyond the threshold of sustainability, with serious implications for the proper functioning of food chains and the integrity of the ocean floor. Acidification, stemming from the substantial volumes of carbon dioxide produced by industrial and consumer activities, ...

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2024-07-01 Donato Masciandaro

Artificial Intelligence, Stock Markets, and “Newton's Lesson”

Stock markets are in good health, but AI-related stocks are performing even better: within the generally positive trend of stock prices, the performance of companies associated with so-called artificial intelligence stands out. It is undeniable that the applications of technologies for the production and distribution of information and knowledge, summarized under the term "artificial intelligence," are influencing the decisions of companies and sectors, and will have macroeconomic impacts—yet to be fully explored systematically—that will affect productivity and the labor market, hence production ...

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2024-06-24 Andrea Beltratti, Alessia Bezzecchi

Green Houses: the Economic and Environmental Impact of Sustainable Living

Attention to the environment and sustainability has become a central theme in our daily lives, influencing various sectors, including construction. Green houses exemplify a classic "Tragedy of the Commons" problem, requiring public intervention to reduce negative externalities, primarily attributed to CO2 emissions. The issue stems from the poor quality of housing stock, built and maintained for decades without renovation, leading to associated energy inefficiency. Green house legislation directly intervenes by prescribing physical objectives, presenting itself as an alternative to taxation or ...

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2024-06-18 Gulnaz Rakhmatullina

Avatars and (Virtual) Consumption: New Frontiers in the Metaverse

With the increased popularity in recent years, metaverse worlds have created additional opportunities for companies to reach customers. We define metaverse worlds as permanent and immersive mixed-reality worlds where people can interact synchronously with other people and objects beyond the limitations of time and space by using avatars and immersion-supporting devices (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2009). In these worlds, users are represented by avatars, and avatar design alongside the user’s choice of self-representation strategies impacts the user’s identification with these avatars, which in turn ...

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2024-06-09 Gianmarco Ottaviano

Western Sanctions and Russia's Resilience: A Dead End?

According to the Russian Statistical Office, 2023 saw the gross domestic product grow by 3.6%, outpacing the average global economic growth. While data from Moscow should be evaluated cautiously, even the IMF revised its estimate to 3%, suggesting that Russia's economy has indeed grown faster than the global average. The oil and gas industry has been at the forefront of supporting Moscow's economic resilience, providing foreign currency to the Kremlin, expanding trade horizons, and generally shifting Russia's economic center of gravity toward Asia. To maintain a steady flow of foreign currency ...

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2024-06-06 Laura Gatti

Women in Innovation: Overcoming the Gender Gap for a Bright Future

In recent years, the presence of women in the fields of scientific research, life sciences, and startup management has gained attention and recognition. However, despite the vibrant and dynamic innovation landscape, gender equality remains a persistent challenge. Women, with their creativity, intuition, and determination, are gradually gaining ground in sectors historically dominated by men, but it is crucial to keep a spotlight on the gender gap and focus on gender perspectives to support its overcoming. Scientific Research, Life Sciences, and Academia In scientific research, women are increasingly ...

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2024-05-27 Sylvie Goulard

Beyond illusions, within limits: business and the sustainability challenge

Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, we have drawn on natural resources as if they were limitless. The air and water, the soil, the fish and the trees, all living things seemed at our disposal. Economic science has long suggested that wealth results from the combination of only two factors of production: capital and labor. As Jean-Baptiste Say wrote in 1803 in his book on Political Economy: “Natural resources are inexhaustible, because otherwise we would not obtain them for free. Since they cannot be multiplied or exhausted, they are not the subject of economic sciences”. We have ...

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2024-05-24 Nic Beech, Paul Hibbert and Katy Mason

A Learning Orientation to Improve Impact Across Sectors

‘If you want truly to understand something, try to change it.’ Kurt Lewin Over the past two decades, there has been a significant global focus on improving the impact of research on practice. Governments, research funders, academics, practitioners, and businesses all perceive value in enabling a stronger connection between research and practice to improve practical outcomes (Haley, 2021). For this to work effectively, there is a need to understand not only the roles that academics and practitioners play, but also how we can adapt to create new practices and processes. While more traditional ...

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2024-05-23 Luigi Rinzivillo

Generative AI: A Source of Wisdom

In "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," the journey and adventures of a young girl, Dorothy, are recounted as she navigates the magical Land of Oz after being swept there by a tornado that struck Kansas. The story describes Dorothy's travels with her "new friends" to meet the wizard who can grant each of their wishes. Although being displaced by a tornado is not a common experience, the feeling of being "swept away by a cyclone" is more common than one might think. A defining characteristic of our time is undoubtedly the rise of "artificial intelligence" (AI), the ability of a computer system (an algorithm) ...

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2024-05-10 Andrea Ciacci

The Strategic Value of Big Data Transition

Overwhelmed by massive data flows and compelled by the need to intercept the real customer needs in a competitive, swiftly changing world, firms must take rapid action to address economic needs by restructuring how they think and operate. Since big data is changing the intrinsic nature of strategy, firms need to shape their functions and processes to facilitate the big data transition, implementing data-driven business models and capitalizing on big data value. While big data provides significant opportunities to enhance a firm's potential in terms of competitiveness and innovativeness, it also ...

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