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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION SOCIETY

Sustainable and digital mobility: why Anas’s infrastructure is becoming smart platforms

The transition towards more sustainable mobility is not just about reducing emissions or developing new modes of transport. It increasingly depends on the ability to rethink infrastructure as smart platforms:...
Artificial thinking between AnarchIA and EconomIA

There is no such thing as the future of work

“Work is anything one is obliged to do. Play is anything one is not obliged to do.” Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1876. In other words: why, in...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION

The DEM at the University of Trento: working with the Foundation to co-create value

The Department of Economics and Management (DEM) at the University of Trento has joined the network of the Foundation for Digital Sustainability. This new addition enriches the Foundation’s extensive network...
ENVIRONMENT

The battle for the other gas. When there’s no helium, microchips, hospitals and satellites...

A third of global production depends on Qatar and the Persian Gulf routes. A crisis that is not very visible, which (does not) pass through the Strait of Hormuz but...
SOCIETY

AI and the Art of Caring for Forgotten Hearts: a conversation with the author

For a long time, we have pursued precision, efficiency and perfection. We have come to believe that this was the yardstick by which our worth was measured. Then came artificial...
SOCIETY Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Alexander Fleming: a laboratory accident, penicillin and the antibiotic revolution 

You learn from your mistakes, and sometimes you even win a Nobel Prize – all it takes is a bit of observation Today, our time machine takes us back to...
ENVIRONMENT

Beneath Italy’s feet: the forgotten treasure of critical raw materials

Lithium, copper, tungsten, graphite and rare earths: ISPRA map reveals that the country possesses strategic resources decisive for energy transition, industry and European autonomy For years, Italy has told itself...
In-House IT SOCIETY

PA in-house companies as a lever for digital sustainability

When the first in-house companies of the public administration approached the Foundation for Digital Sustainability, they did so with a non-episodic curiosity and with a precise awareness: the issue of...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION SOCIETY

Roma Tre: A Cultural Plan for Digital Sustainability

Culture is an indispensable element when it comes to digital sustainability. It is the solid base on which to build a transformation that is as important as it is complex....
Artificial thinking between AnarchIA and EconomIA SOCIETY

From the Palantir to the phantom traffic jam

Because the problem is not the All-Seeing Eye. It is the highway that blocks itself. For years we have been reporting on artificial intelligence through the eyes. Big Brother. The...
SOCIETY

Four strings for a world that cannot play

I have been working on the subject of communities (digital and otherwise) for over twenty years, and I have learnt enough to know that constructing shared meaning is one of...
SOCIETY Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Cyril Burt, studies on hereditary intelligence and how to invent twins … and scientists

The encounter between a crackpot theory and Nazi eugenic theories When we speak of scientists, we imagine authoritative researchers working in futuristic laboratories, busy collecting accurate data and developing original...
ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY

Digital Sustainability? It must be measurable: the ANAS vision

Digital transformation is not a simple introduction of new technologies: it is a revolution in meaning. It is radically changing the way in which activities are conducted and managed, so...
SOCIETY

UNI 11621-8: professional profiles that make IA governable

With the publication of UNI 11621-8, Italy takes a concrete step towards a structured management of Artificial Intelligence. Clear competences, defined roles and verifiable responsibilities now become a key factor...
Artificial thinking between AnarchIA and EconomIA SOCIETY

The permanent party. Neil Postman was McLuhan’s pupil. He understood him better than anyone...

McLuhan said: the medium is the message. Postman added: yes! And the message is changing us into something we did not choose to become, it was not pessimism it was...
Digital Psychology SOCIETY

Between Plato, Narcissus and the reality principle: what the new AI models teach us

What does ‘understanding’ really mean for a machine, in particular for AI, which is, at present, the machine of machines? In recent months, a number of apparently very technical papers...
THE FATIGUE OF THINKING: a semi-serious investigation into myths, superheroes and wandering neurons

Turing and Daedalus: work that deciphers and constructs

Designing the future with intelligence, ethics and vision At the heart of digital work are two figures who have never met, but who can now converse. Alan Turing, the mathematician...
SOCIETY

Artificial Intelligence, Digital Sustainability and Technical Standardisation

There is a question we should ask ourselves whenever we talk about digital sustainability: how do we know if a digital project is truly sustainable? Not in the rhetorical sense...
Artificial thinking between AnarchIA and EconomIA SOCIETY

From global village to global plunder

McLuhan predicted the global village. The global village has arrived. And in the global village nobody reads it anymore. A lecturer tells his students that men have become selfish. “Yesterday,...
SOCIETY Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

The Hindawi scandal: the dark side of open-access scientific publishing

How the Wiley Group, the most prestigious publisher of scientific journals, risked its reputation In recent years, the scientific community has witnessed a disturbing phenomenon that is undermining trust in...
THE FATIGUE OF THINKING: a semi-serious investigation into myths, superheroes and wandering neurons

Poseidon and Aquaman: who really rules the water in the digital age?

Water is everywhere. In taps, in rivers, in servers. It runs under cities, in the cracks of infrastructure, in the rusty pipes of the suburbs. But also in cables, in...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION SOCIETY

Digital Sustainability Day 2026: from words to deeds

The fifth edition of Digital Sustainability Day, the Foundation for Digital Sustainability’s annual event, has also come to a close. The 2026 edition, which took place again this year in...
SOCIETY

From algocracy to technocivism: digital citizenship of labour and legal governance of algorithms beyond...

The emergence of algocracy – understood as the government of algorithms in production and organisational processes – brings about a structural transformation of employer power. This is because it does...
Artificial thinking between AnarchIA and EconomIA SOCIETY

The rhythm of God (and a shot economist)

Nikolai Kondratiev had a problem. Kondratiev, not Houston. Because Houston had a technical problem, solvable, with a crew still alive. Kondratiev had a system problem. The kind of problem you...
SOCIETY Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Dmitry Mendeleev puts them all in line (the building blocks of the Universe)

What happened on the day of the greatest discovery in chemistry Earth, Water, Air, Fire. Two and a half millennia ago, Aristotle had solved the problem of cataloguing all known...
SOCIETY THE FATIGUE OF THINKING: a semi-serious investigation into myths, superheroes and wandering neurons

The Rod of Asclepius is Digital: Health, Ethics and Innovation for the 2030 Agenda

There is a symbol that has accompanied medicine for thousands of years: the staff of Asclepius, with the coiled serpent. We find it on pharmacy logos, in hospital corridors, in...
In-House IT SOCIETY

Beyond digitisation: In-houses as agents of sustainable digital culture

There is a metaphor that Robert Pirsig consigned to 20th century culture that has lost none of its relevance. In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, he distinguishes two...
Artificial thinking between AnarchIA and EconomIA SOCIETY

Shipwreck is included in the price

(i.e.: the S-curve knows everything except what matters) …Note to those who skipped previous issues. This is the third instalment of a column on my bad teachers – those who...
SOCIETY Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Elena Ceaucescu: the great chemist who didn’t know what sulphuric acid was

Easy to be the most prestigious scientist in the world if you are the wife of a dictator If you think the worst of science is plagiarism, data manipulation or...
SOCIETY THE FATIGUE OF THINKING: a semi-serious investigation into myths, superheroes and wandering neurons

Antigone and Lady Loki. Two archetypes, one tension: to preserve or to transform?

At the heart of the digital transition, justice is no longer administered only in the courts. It is written in code, decided in protocols, hidden in filters. Institutions are no...
Digital Psychology SOCIETY

The new theologies of Silicon Valley

Prophets of the future, theologians of the Antichrist and patrons of the present Peter Thiel in Rome is not an obvious image, and for this very reason it has aroused...
Artificial thinking between AnarchIA and EconomIA SOCIETY

Government 2.0 or Powerpoint 2.0?

(i.e.: the ladle tasting itself while the soup remains bland) He who serves a revolution is ploughing into the sea. Simón Bolívar, quoted by Ted Kaczynski The ladle and the...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION SOCIETY

The role of digital trust in a changing world: interview with Danilo Cattaneo

Trust plays a strategic role in the context of digital transformation, representing an enabling factor for truly impactful change. And it is, in this perspective, an element strongly interlinked with...
ENVIRONMENT THE FATIGUE OF THINKING: a semi-serious investigation into myths, superheroes and wandering neurons

Neptune and Nemo in the digital age

Who protects the invisible oceans? In the time of digital transition, while artificial intelligence promises efficiency and progress, there is a realm that remains at the margins of the debate:...
Artificial thinking between AnarchIA and EconomIA

The technology bluff 2.0: why we keep falling for it

(i.e.: how we mistook the dragon for the maiden, and are still here celebrating) This article is written looking over his shoulder. Ellul already wrote it in 1988. If it...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY

Sustainable energy and digital, a relationship to be built

The relationship between Italians and energy efficiency technologies is a complicated one. There is mistrust, a low level of knowledge, often indifference towards tools that – like Smart Meters –...
SOCIETY Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

The Cardiff giant and the hoax that conquered America

George Hull and the plaster statue he carved and buried in a mine It is 1868, America is undergoing a phase of strong industrial and scientific growth, everyone is jumping...
In-House IT SOCIETY

The role of In-house in supporting strategic functions that cannot be outsourced

In-house companies are always faced with a dilemma: self-production or market. It is a dilemma related both to the production factors they have at their disposal, their capacity for growth,...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION SOCIETY

A Cultural Operation for Digital Sustainability: Rai’s Approach

Digital, environment, economy, society: elements linked together in a large jigsaw puzzle that must be handled with care. And to do so requires awareness and skills, but above all a...
Digital Psychology SOCIETY

Mental health chatbots between patients’ expectations and the caution of the few psychiatrists

It is a trivial observation that chatbot conversation has entered the everyday life of many of us, not only for solving practical tasks, but also for reflecting on personal issues...
Artificial thinking between AnarchIA and EconomIA SOCIETY

The King Midas of efficiency (and why we starve surrounded by gold)

Or: when abundance becomes the curse and the beggar does not know when he can eat salmon You can prohibit water, not thirst.– Eduardo Galeano If I don’t have money,...
SOCIETY Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Enrico Fermi and the energy of the nucleus

The evolution of atomic power plants, from their origins to the modular reactor revolution When we think ofnuclear energy, our minds often go back to the fears aroused by the...
THE FATIGUE OF THINKING: a semi-serious investigation into myths, superheroes and wandering neurons

Towards the Digital Sustainability Enterprise

Strategic alliances, ethics and technology serving the planet In the grand narrative of the Sustainable Development Goals, SDG 17 (Partnership for the Goals ) is the thread that holds all...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY

The Plures vision: towards a digital structure for the circular economy

Digital sustainability means placing the role of technology in a context of three hundred and sixty degrees of sustainable development. It is in this way that it is possible to...
Artificial thinking between AnarchIA and EconomIA

When the government plays with two hands (and forgets Common Sense)

Namely: The Ambidextrous Isis who should put the pieces together but prefers to create phantom traffic jams “The highest degree of esoteric teachings is simple common sense.” – A.R. Orage,...
THE FATIGUE OF THINKING: a semi-serious investigation into myths, superheroes and wandering neurons

X-Men and digital sustainability: mutants versus algorithmic bias

In the vast superhero universe, few groups embody the theme of inclusion as much as the X-Men. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the 1960s, Marvel’s mutants have...
Artificial thinking between AnarchIA and EconomIA

The Phantom GDP Engorgement

That is: how artificial intelligence convinced us to slow down where there is no accident “When vessels break, sparks fall trapped in the shells. Tikkun is not to repair the...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Mitochondria: the energy powerhouses of life

This is where the energy that is needed to power cells and enable biological evolution is transformed In the world of cells, there are energy centres that are tiny in...
THE FATIGUE OF THINKING: a semi-serious investigation into myths, superheroes and wandering neurons

The mothers of the algorithm and the monster. Ada and Mary: The Code and...

An impossible but necessary encounter They never knew each other. Yet, today more than ever, Ada Lovelace and Mary Shelley seem destined to talk to each other. The former, daughter...
Artificial thinking between AnarchIA and EconomIA SOCIETY

AI, Pinocchio and the Fiscal Paradise of the Soul

Or: how artificial intelligence figured out the trick of emotional capitalism The wrong question (which we love to ask) Pinocchio never questions the presence of a soul. He does not...
SOCIETY Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

The Tasaday tribe: Between mythology, deception and scientific truth

The discovery, the scam, and the final twist It is 1971. While Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev exchange fierce accusations and the Cold War reaches its climax, a discovery worthy...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION SOCIETY

The wish for 2026? To govern the effects of transformation

Every start of the year brings with it an unavoidable exercise: looking ahead without forgetting what we have learnt. The year 2026 opens in a context in which digital transformation...
In-House IT SOCIETY

Strategic Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement

Due to their mission, ICT in-house companies play a delicate and fundamental role in engaging public and private stakeholders, and in facilitating the creation and structuring of effective and transparent...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION ECONOMY SOCIETY

Technology is synonymous with inclusion: CISCO’s approach to Digital Sustainability

A fundamental enabler of sustainability. This, in short, is digital technology for Cisco Italy: and we are not just talking about environmental sustainability, but also social sustainability. Because technology, if...
SOCIETY THE FATIGUE OF THINKING: a semi-serious investigation into myths, superheroes and wandering neurons

Believe Cassandra, follow Morpheus

Two prophets for conscious consumption in the information age We live digitally immersed. Every day we produce data, buy devices, navigate in invisible but energy-intensive clouds. Yet we rarely ask...
ECONOMY Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Before oil they used… whales

A brief history of fossil energy The discovery of oil: a resource that illuminated the past but obscures the future When we think of oil, we immediately associate it with...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION ECONOMY ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY

Inside the fourth edition of the States General of Digital Sustainability

Two days of gathering and sharing, but also and above all of dialogue and open discussion on issues of strategic importance. Two days dedicated to reasoning on how best to...
SOCIETY Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Lorenza Colzato: cognitive psychologist genius of creativity or queen of creative thinking?

When those who study how inventive thinking, an indispensable element in the scientific process towards a more sustainable world, is formed, they … cheat To face and overcome the challenges...
ENVIRONMENT ZERO CARBON

Natural gas, a strategic bridge to the energy transition

Natural gas is the third largest energy source in the world and, in Italy too, continues to play a key role, accounting for about one third of the national energy...
SOCIETY

Communicating to regenerate: the role of digital sustainability in communication

How much weight, really, does what we publish online have? We are not talking about likes or views, but about environmental, social, cognitive impact. In a hyperconnected world, every digital...
THE FATIGUE OF THINKING: a semi-serious investigation into myths, superheroes and wandering neurons

Anansi and the Smart City: Building Networks for Sustainable Communities

At the heart of digital cities, amidst invisible sensors, silent algorithms and streams of data flowing like urban veins, we need more than technology. It needs relational intelligence. It needs...
ECONOMY

Horizon Business Game: in Padua, the bridge between classroom and enterprise where you learn...

The “Horizon Business Game”, devised by the University of Padua’s Economics Network and realised with the support of the university and partners, in collaboration with the Foundation for Digital Sustainability’s...
Artificial thinking between AnarchIA and EconomIA ECONOMY SOCIETY

The curse of the radial tyre: why you must destroy what you love

What a long, strange trip it’s been’ sang the Grateful Dead. And they were right: the journey of innovation is never a straight, well-paved highway. Rather, it is a lysergic...
SOCIETY

Medical rescue in the heart of the mountains: innovation and research for cave rescue

The CNSAS Medical Commission tests new technologies in the Grotta A Male in L’Aquila Three intense days of practical tests, research and collaboration between medical and cave rescue technicians: from...
In-House IT Social Sustainability

Alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The objectives for sustainable development are many and not always immediately relevant to the activities of an ICT in-house. In the following, an attempt is made to illustrate what the...
ZERO CARBON

From Renewables to Fusion: sustainable energy accompanying digitisation

The digital transformation has radically changed our world. Every aspect of our daily lives is now digitally mediated, enabling us to communicate, work, study and consume goods and services with...
Senza categoria THE FATIGUE OF THINKING: a semi-serious investigation into myths, superheroes and wandering neurons

Ganesh in the data jungle: protecting life on Earth in the digital age

With his elephant head and serene smile, Ganesh is not just a deity: he is a presence that accompanies us in times of transition, when chaos seems to take over....
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION

A digital bridge between citizens and institutions: the PagoPA vision

Today, sustainability must be the guiding principle of every choice, especially when it comes to digital transformation. Because technology must be an accelerator, not an obstacle to development. It must...
Senza categoria Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Electric cars: stuff from over a century ago. The history of the first cars

How it all started before the combustion engine, why today the electric revolution is not coming and we are still here talking about it When we talk about electric cars,...
ZERO CARBON

Marine sustainability through biofuels

The maritime sector is responsible for around 3% of globalCO2 emissions, and the path towards its decarbonisation – aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050 – is certainly not without its...
Artificial thinking between AnarchIA and EconomIA

The Last Disobedience

The real revolutionary act is not to destroy the system. It is to refuse to play its game while you are still in it. Rebels who question power emerge in...
Cultural Sustainability

Sustainability? We killed it

In five years as a Foundation for Digital Sustainability, I have seen many, many Sustainability Officers. There are the enthusiastic ones, who take a huge issue on their shoulders and...
Cultural Sustainability

Two scientific articles show UFOs captured by telescopes: what did astronomers really photograph in...

Between 1949 and 1957, tens of thousands of mysterious flashes appeared on the plates of the Palomar Observatory. Today, a new digital analysis – published in Nature and the Journal...
THE FATIGUE OF THINKING: a semi-serious investigation into myths, superheroes and wandering neurons

From Athena to Batgirl: Rewriting the digital justice code: SDG 5 and the battle...

From wisdom gods to code heroines, we see how SDG 5 – Gender Equality – invites us to rewrite the invisible foundations of technology At the heart of the 2030...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Who’s fishing with the Net: the staggering increase in online scams

The development of the Internet has revolutionised the way we live, work and connect with the world. But, as in any self-respecting revolution, there are those who have taken advantage...
In-House IT

Building value, cultivating equity. PA in the age of digital sustainability

The digital transformation of the Public Administration is no longer just a technical or infrastructural issue: it is a lever of public, sustainable value, capable of generating economic and social...
Artificial thinking between AnarchIA and EconomIA

When the Gods Stopped Talking Digital archons and the last bicameral mind

‘God is dead’: an expression that spans the centuries, from Nietzsche to Guccini, via the Nomads, and that continues to echo in multiple contexts. Nietzsche used it to describe the...
ZERO CARBON

The electric and digital way to decarbonise the seas

Maritime transport is a key pillar of global trade and, at the same time, a non-negligible source of emissions. Estimates indicate that ships are responsible for around 2% of global...
Digital Psychology

Trust suspended. The Italian generations and artificial intelligence between openness and vigilance

Data from the Sustainable AI Report reveal a cautious Italy: neither seduced nor hostile, but in search of a reliable relationship with technology. A psychoanalytic reading reveals that what is...
THE FATIGUE OF THINKING: a semi-serious investigation into myths, superheroes and wandering neurons

Hermes and related education

In the digital world, education is no longer a physical place: it is a flow in motion. A knowledge that moves, adapts, reinvents itself. In this article, we explore SDG...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Wind turbines: the story of how to capture the wind starts much earlier than...

The exploitation of wind energy began together with human civilisation; today it is a decisive element in the decarbonisation of energy and sustainability Wind energy, which we recognise today in...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION

Digital Sustainability: what do Italians expect from Artificial Intelligence?

According to Italians, isartificial intelligence an opportunity or a threat for our future? The elements to try and answer this complex question can be found in the results of the...
TECHNOLOGY

Technology and innovation for cave rescue: successful CTS 2025 Open Day at Antro del...

Three days of discussion, experimentation and training saw 56 caving rescue technicians from all over Italy take part from 10 to 12 October. The occasion was theOpen Day CTS 2025,...
Artificial thinking between AnarchIA and EconomIA

Price’s Law in the Age of Autogenesis

When 10% of the machines do 90% of the work (and the horses disappear) In 1963, Derek J. de Solla Price discovered some ruthless mathematics: in any human field, half...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION

Anas, the Mobility of the Future passes through Digital Sustainability: interview with Mauro Giancaspro

Anas, the company that, for almost a century, has built, managed and maintained the roads that connect every place in the country, has joined the network of the Foundation for...
THE FATIGUE OF THINKING: a semi-serious investigation into myths, superheroes and wandering neurons

Wakanda and the Future We Want: Data, Rights, Clean Energy

Every click consumes energy. Digital is not light: you need electricity, servers, infrastructure. Therefore, SDG 7 – clean and accessible energy – is also a digital challenge: let us, like...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Carlo Maria Croce: medical genius or serial fraudster?

Between ambition and controversy in the fight against cancer. How a quack can undermine trust in science and slow the path to a world where appropriate cures are available to...
ZERO CARBON

Towards Data Centre Sustainability in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

The digital transformation is changing, and is destined to change more and more, many aspects of our lives: the way we work, communicate, connect with each other in the most...
Digital Psychology

Between Prometheus and Azure: AI is not ethical. We are (or not)

“Man has become a kind of god-prosthesis: when he makes use of all his auxiliary organs he is truly magnificent; but he does not carry them with him and often...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION

UNI/PdR 147:2025, published the new version of the Reference Practice for Digital Sustainability

Digital technology must be developed according to sustainability criteria and, at the same time, represent an essential tool for building a sustainable future. This is the assumption that encapsulates the...
Social Sustainability

A Manifesto for the Sustainability of Public Communication

The presentation at the Press Room of the Chamber of Deputies, on 17 July, of the Manifesto for the DigitalSustainability of Communication by the Foundation forDigital Sustainability – which drafted...
THE FATIGUE OF THINKING: a semi-serious investigation into myths, superheroes and wandering neurons

Robin Hood is offline: who controls the digital fire?

Redistribution, open source and the new technological feudalism: a re-reading of SDG#1 through the myth of Robin Hood Robin Hood was not just an outlaw: he was a rebel with...
Artificial thinking between AnarchIA and EconomIA

The Revolt of the Satisfied in the Age of Haste: When revolutions are made...

“Lo mal fabbro blames lo ferro”. Dante- banquet Once revolutions were made by the poor who took to the streets and overturned the system. Now revolutions are made by the...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

The dawn of solar energy

Today they are everywhere, from the roofs of our homes to large installations, from the space station to our smartwatches. But let’s go back almost 200 years and trace the...
In-House IT

The Role of In-Houses between Public Demand and Private Supply

In the context of digital transformation, accelerated today by Artificial Intelligence, In-House companies play a crucial strategic role. Indeed, they are not limited to collecting the needs of public administrations,...
ZERO CARBON

The satellite model, a sustainability accelerator for businesses

Today, sustainability is no longer an accessory variable, but an indispensable condition for the very survival of companies. Regulatory pressure, growing stakeholder attention and the urgency of environmental problems have...
Artificial thinking between AnarchIA and EconomIA

The event horizon of civilisation

From automation to autonomy: when puppets cut the strings Every civilisation has a moment when everything it knew stops working as expected. It is not just a change, it is...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

The Philosopher’s Stone and transmutation of the elements: not just magic, it can be...

From Paracelsus to nuclear energy: the incredible story of transmutation of the elements. And why it is important to follow the scientific method while keeping the charlatans off our path...
ZERO CARBON

Between fission, fusion and digital: can nuclear energy save the climate?

In the global debate on the ecological transition,nuclear energy has returned to centre stage. After having long been marginalised by high costs, safety concerns and public opposition, three main factors...
Digital Psychology

Recovery

“Have you already resumed?” – with the inevitable variations of ‘resumed well, slowly, without stress, in harmony with yourself, the world, the universe’ – is one of the most frequent...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Where does all this CO₂ come from? The carbon cycle and why it is...

The carbon cycle as they don’t tell it at school: a journey through life, climate and sustainability The carbon cycle is one of the most important and fascinating processes governing...
In-House IT

In-House Operational Flexibility to Respond to PA Needs

ICT in-house companies are characterised by a number of fundamental and indispensable elements, also based on operational flexibility, in order to meet the needs of their public member organisations. The...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION

Digital Sustainability, when networking makes a difference: interview with Giulia Genuardi

If digitisation is the tool that can enable a sustainable transition, it is knowledge, open and shared, that can really steer it towards sustainability. And this knowledge must be built...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Pons, Fleischmann and Cold Fusion: the dream of infinite (or almost infinite) energy

Not a dazzling light but a colossal blunder: an example where the dream of finding a simple solution to the problem of sustainability turns out to be… just a dream....
ZERO CARBON

Cultivating the future: how digitisation can counteract climate change

Increasing risks of droughts, floods, heat waves and other extreme weather events: climate change is one of the most urgent and complex challenges facing the world, and its impacts can...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION

Sustainable Environment: We are lagging behind on Digital Sustainability

What do Italian citizens of different generations think about the role of digital technology in tackling the main environmental challenges? This is the question at the basis of the new...
ZERO CARBON

Shared energy, sustainable future: the potential of Energy Communities

On the path to a sustainable future, every actor in society is called upon to play their part. The climate crisis, the need to reduce emissions, force us to radically...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION

For sustainable digital communication: the new Manifesto of the Foundation for Digital Sustainability is...

This Thursday, at the Press Room of the Chamber of Deputies and at the initiative of theHon. Enzo Amich, the Foundation for Digital Sustainability presented the most recent of its...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Edison Vs. Westinghouse, direct current Vs. alternating current

An example of competition and collaboration: two opposites but both decisive for the development of scientific knowledge and for realising the technological innovations that will lead us towards a more...
Environmental Sustainability

Cave rescue: CNSAS tests two new wireless communication technologies

A significant exercise by the Speleological Technical Commission (CTS) of the Corpo Nazionale Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico (CNSAS), which took place in the Antro del Corchia, in the municipality of...
Digital Psychology

Daedalus, the Labyrinth and Artificial Intelligence: Between Technology, the Unconscious and Wires

What is the labyrinth? It would seem a banal question to which we all think we have a ready answer. In reality, the meaning of the term is multiple, its...
Cultural Sustainability

Governing the intersection of AI, cybersecurity and sustainability: a systemic priority

The most pressing challenges of our time share one essential trait: they are systemic. They do not manifest themselves in isolation, but emerge as networks of interdependencies that cut across...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION

Pasubio Tecnologia joins the Foundation’s In-House Group: interview with Laura Locci

Emphasising the importance of in-house companies in the sustainable digital transformation of the public administration, inviting them to take a proactive role in promoting digital sustainability: it is with this...
In-House IT

The Role of In-Houses in Equal Access to PA Digital Services

An in-house company aims to maximise the effectiveness of the action of its controlling administration. This approach is a far cry from that of a company whose aim is to...
Environmental Sustainability

Investments and advanced technologies to discover and exploit mineral resources, between sustainability and economic...

On 1 July, the National Mineral Exploration Programme (PNE) was approved, a strategic plan to launch 14 research projects throughout Italy, from north to south. The initiative, promoted by the...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

The science of behaviour by Diederik Stapel: when vegans are better (or maybe not)

Not all scientific errors are made in good faith. Sometimes someone is ‘too’ convinced of his theories and goes so far as to falsify data, damaging not only himself but...
Digital Psychology

God, AI and the mare: attachment, artificial intelligence and the need to be heard

Laura is 28 years old and works in the grey office of a public administration. She discovered ChatGPT during an emotional crisis. Every night, before falling asleep, she opens the...
ZERO CARBON

Young people and climate change: the role of education for the future of the...

In the collective imagination, young people represent the hope for a more sustainable future. A generation naturally inclined to take care of the planet. The reality, however, is much more...
ENVIRONMENT Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Thomas Alva Edison illuminates the night with the light bulb

The story of a great inventor who achieved success through study, perseverance and the ability to communicate his ideas. The ideal recipe for those who want to help lead the...
In-House IT

In-House, the digital (and sustainable) heart of PA

The public administration has a central and irreplaceable role in the country’s digital transformation. Not only as an institutional player, but as a structural enabler of what we now, with...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION

Towards the States General of Digital Sustainability 2025: the community meeting at the Centrale...

Charged with energy and new visions, the journey towards the 2025 edition of the Stati Generali della Sostenibilità Digitale continues. On Thursday afternoon, in fact, one of the traditional intermediate...
Cultural Sustainability

Digital and sustainable PA: Italy testing the generation gap

In recent years, the Italian public administration has launched innovative digital tools such as SPID, PEC, PagoPA and the Electronic Identity Card, aiming not only to streamline practices but also...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Elizabeth Holmes and the great promise of Theranos

Start-ups are a key element in the development of new technologies towards a more sustainable world. But Elizabeth Holmes, CEO of Theranos, fooled all the investors with a machine that…...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION Cultural Sustainability

From Gen Z to Baby Boomers: What is the relationship of Italians with Digital...

How familiar are Italian citizens with the concept of sustainability, and how do they perceive the main environmental – and other – problems we face? What importance do they attribute...
ZERO CARBON

When digital supports efficient energy management

As photographed by recent ISPRA data, the emission categories of the energy sector contribute more than 80% of total greenhouse gas emissions in our country: about one fifth of national...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION

Monopolele: of music, dreams, technologies and communities of visions

When I think of digital sustainability, I don’t just think of servers, platforms or algorithms. I think of the capacity of technologies to build bridges, generate communities, create social value....
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION

Cybersecurity and sustainability: Gyala’s approach for a resilient digital future

Sustainability is not the end of digital transformation, but a structural and enabling principle, and the same applies to cybersecurity, a topic that has a strong interconnection with sustainability. Gyala,...
ZERO CARBON

Circular economy and digital transformation: a winning synergy for decarbonisation

In recent years, the issue of environmental sustainability has assumed a central role on the global agenda. The need – and the urgency – is to contain the effects of...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

The Higgs Boson and how the hole in the Standard Model was plugged

The Standard Model: the unifying theory describing all the forces in the Universe had a hole in it. But Peter Higgs and François Englert deserved the Nobel Prize for the...
Cultural Sustainability Digital Psychology

Artificial empathy and the crisis of trust: how to distinguish true from false in...

At the heart of the third millennium, a silent but profound crisis has arisen: the loss of epistemic confidence. Peter Fonagy has outlined its fundamental features, linking it to the...
Economic Sustainability Environmental Sustainability

The day the lights went out: the Iberian blackout between renewables, grid fragility and...

The electricity collapse in Spain and Portugal reignites the debate on the energy trilemma between sustainability, security and accessibility: a technical and political challenge for the EU of the future....
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION Environmental Sustainability

Daniela Leotta: E.ON Italia joins the Foundation for System Building on Digital Sustainability

Digital is the key tool for sustainable transformation, and this is especially true for a complex and crucial sector such as energy. But for this potential not to remain purely...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

The first human cloning: Brigitte Boisselier and… the Raelian sect

Sometimes science clashes with fraudsters, sometimes even with entire religious sects. Here is the story of the first human cloning and how the affair has increased distrust in science and...
Environmental Sustainability ZERO CARBON

From Green Deal to Fit for 55: Europe at the test of energy transition

Towards a new European energy model At the heart of the European political agenda for many years now is a vision that aims to create a sustainable, fair and resilient...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Bíró and Bich, who left their mark on the history of writing

An inventor and an entrepreneur popularised a writing instrument that we now consider trivial and obsolete compared to our touch screens. But this enabled mass schooling and the spread of...
Environmental Sustainability ZERO CARBON

Eni’s HPC6: a supercomputer for the energy transition

With the term High Performance Computing(HPC), we refer to those technologies used to create computing systems capable of providing very high performance. It is certainly not a recent technology: interest...
Digital Psychology Social Sustainability

Digital and Sustainability: Navigating the Ambivalences of the Digital Unconscious

A psychoanalytical reading of the latest data of the Observatory for Digital Sustainability reveals the inner contradictions that hold back the sustainable evolution of digital and the conscious use of...
Social Sustainability

AI for Prevention and Early Diagnosis: A Step Towards Greater Health Protection

Health is a universal right, yet even today, many people do not have access to timely and effective treatment. Artificial intelligence (AI) stands as a revolutionary technology that can bridge...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Conspiracists: the incredible journeys of the mind (but with no return ticket)

Why conspiracists reject science convinced that the world is dominated by secret criminal organisations. And how they obstruct the path to sustainability. You meet someone who, after some small talk,...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION Cultural Sustainability

Digital Sustainability Day 2025: Generations Compared on Digital Sustainability

The fourth edition of Digital Sustainability Day took place on Tuesday atRome’s Sapienza University: the annual event that the Foundation for Digital Sustainability organises to mark the anniversary of its...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION Cultural Sustainability

Tiziana Tornaghi: the transformation of the country passes through the collaboration of the entire...

To push the development and adoption of technological solutions with enormous potential for sustainability, and to contribute, together with other important players in this field, to the digital and sustainable...
Environmental Sustainability ZERO CARBON

Digital Sustainability and the Energy Trilemma: Key Integration for the Future of Energy

Digital transformation and environmental sustainability are today interconnected challenges. It is no coincidence that the European Union speaks of a double transition, digital and green, placing them both at the...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Capturing energy: the world’s oldest profession (although some think it is another)

A sustainable world must ensure abundant, clean and accessible energy for all. It is the oldest challenge facing all living beings. Imagine waking up in a world without energy. There...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION Cultural Sustainability

Is digital commerce sustainable? The Foundation’s new research

Do Italians see e-commerce as an opportunity or a threat? Are the purchasing platforms available to us today able to enable more sustainable economic models? And then again, how much...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION Cultural Sustainability

In-house Decalogue for Digital Sustainability presented

In-house IT companies in the public sector were created to contribute to the Public Administration ‘s objectives with greater flexibility in administrative, recruitment and procurement processes, and they attract talent...
Cultural Sustainability Podcast

Digital Sustainability: The first podcast series and the journey towards digital awareness

The first series of the Digital Sustainability podcast concludes with the eighth episode. In these eight episodes, we have tried to explore the fundamental concepts that define digital sustainability, offering...
Cultural Sustainability

Privacy and the boundaries of the digital self

Digital and social media in particular have redefined, as we often write and even more often experience in person, the boundaries between public and private, recombining traditionally separate areas of...
Economic Sustainability Podcast

The digital sustainability of artificial intelligence: the podcast

| Spreaker | Spotify | Apple Podcast | Amazon Music | Artificial intelligence is destined to have an impact on our society comparable to that of the invention of fire,...
Cultural Sustainability Social Sustainability

The risks of a modern Manhattan Project for artificial warfare

Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Warfare Scholars who will tell the story of the future – we do not know whether it will be flesh-and-blood humans or artificial intelligence...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

Jan Hendrik Schön: the genius who promised to revolutionise science

Unscrupulous fraudsters, such as Jan Hendrik Schön, can undermine popular trust in science, the main tool that will enable us to meet the challenge of sustainability In the early 2000s,...
Economic Sustainability Podcast

Rethinking growth: can digital make it sustainable?

| Spreaker | Spotify | Apple Podcast | Amazon Music | Economic growth has always been seen as synonymous with progress and prosperity. But is this exactly the case? Are...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION Cultural Sustainability

Online Privacy, a pillar for Digital Sustainability

We are in a historical moment in which the digital permeates every aspect of our existence, mediating our working relationships, our social relations and, in general, a large part of...
Environmental Sustainability Podcast

The ecological footprint of digital: how much does technology really weigh?

| Spreaker | Spotify | Apple Podcast | Amazon Music | We often think of digital as something intangible, but is this really the case? In this episode of Digital...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

The dark side of science: when the scientific method is betrayed

We have presented the scientific method as the engine of progress, as the pivotal element guiding the rational path of research and innovation. But, like every great human endeavour, science...
Environmental Sustainability Podcast

Sustainability and complexity: why there are no simple solutions

| Spreaker | Spotify | Apple podcast | Amazon Music | Every choice we make, in every sphere, has consequences that propagate in often unpredictable ways. It is the logic...
Cultural Sustainability

Hallucinations, confabulations or bullshit? Why AI invents, and how we talk about its mistakes

Imagine a lawyer who confidently presents a brief in court full of detailed legal precedents, solemn citations, names of authoritative judges. Then he discovers that everything is false: the cases...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION Economic Sustainability

Eleonora Di Maria: why with VSIX we have joined the Foundation

Commitment to digital sustainability also passes through infrastructures and technological solutions for connectivity that are able to support business growth, education and social cohesion in every community. It is realities...
Cultural Sustainability Podcast

Agenda 2030: utopia or reality? Find out with “Digital Sustainability: The Podcast”.

| Spreaker | Spotify | Apple Podcast | Amazon Music | The journey of discovery of digital sustainability continues with our podcast. After introducing the topic of digital sustainability and...
ZERO CARBON

The role of smart grids in renewable energy integration

Smart grids, or smart grids, represent one of the most significant innovations in the energy sector in recent decades. These grids integrate advanced digital technologies into electricity distribution and management,...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

The Challenger disaster: Richard Feynman and the O-ring on the rocks

The challenge of sustainability can be met by combining curiosity and systemic reasoning, a Nobel Prize winner explains how On 28 January 1986, millions of people around the world watched,...
Podcast Social Sustainability

Digitisation is not digital transformation. Why? In the Digital Sustainability Podcast!

First of all, a big thank you to those who listened to the first episode of Digital Sustainability – The Podcast! Those who didn’t can find it on all major...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION Sustainable Tourism

What is the role of digital towards a more sustainable tourism?

Tourism is a fundamental pillar of the Italian economy. In fact, the sector contributes about 11% of the national added value and, according to Istat data, supports as many as...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION Economic Sustainability Social Sustainability

Digital Sovereignty: a strategic element between cyber security and sustainability

An in-depth look at the results of the third area of the report ‘Sustainability and Cyber Security’, carried out by the Foundation for Digital Sustainability with the contribution of Gyala:...
Podcast Social Sustainability

Digital Sustainability: the podcast

Digital sustainability is the way to systemically balance the potentially negative impacts of technology with the opportunities it offers for sustainable development. With the Foundation for Digital Sustainability, we have...
Stories of ideas, discoveries, inventions ... and blunders

The scientific method: The engine of sustainable progress

The scientific method is the tool that has enabled humanity to understand and make intelligent use of the world around it. It is not a linear or obstacle-free path, but...
Il metodo scientifico: Il motore del progresso sostenibile - TechEconomy2030
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION

5 Lessons from Lara Lazzeroni’s book: CSR 2.0 and Digital Sustainability

One of the greatest values of the Foundation for Digital Sustainability lies in the fact that people of great value, both human and professional, have been and are concentrated around...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION

Data Protection Day: Italy, where are we?

In an increasingly digital, increasingly connected world, where personal data is collected, analysed and shared at a dizzying pace, safeguarding and protecting this information means defending the fundamental rights of...
Social Sustainability

From greenwashing to greenhushing: a shadow on ESG strategies

A silent retreat is redefining corporate sustainability. Meanwhile, ESG funds find themselves caught between financial pressure and uncertain environmental policies The surprising results of the recent US presidential election have...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION Economic Sustainability Environmental Sustainability FUTURE MOBILITY

Sustainable mobility in Italy between large and small centres

Transport emissions continue to rise: more private cars, more goods on the road. The solutions to decarbonise transport are there, but the real challenge is to completely rethink the way...
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION In Backlight

The Future of Tech Economy 2030: Serving Digital Sustainability

A Journey of Transformation and Innovation The journey of Tech Economy 2030 continues, evolving once again. Twelve years have passed since 2012, the year Tech Economy began its journey, already...
ZERO CARBON

Blockchain and consumption reduction: how technology redefines the energy sector

Blockchain is emerging as one of the most innovative and versatile technologies of our time, capable of profoundly transforming all the key sectors of our economy, including the energy sector....
FOCUS ZERO CARBON

The energy of the stars

by Bob Mumgaard September 2021: Our group watched the screen with anticipation as our fusion magnet technology raced toward the 20 Tesla milestone. We knew that the success of that...
ZERO CARBON

5 Innovative Technologies to Accelerate the Energy Transition

The energy transition today is one of the most complex and crucial priorities and challenges of our time. Reducing carbon emissions and accelerating the adoption of renewable sources is not...
Come risparmiare energia elettrica: consigli per ridurre le bollette
Digital Transformation SOCIETY

mySMART Diary: when Artificial Intelligence is (really) sustainable

Using technology to help people. This is precisely the aim behind mySMART Diary, the first web app at international level, realised by the Foundation for Digital Sustainability in collaboration with...
mySMART Diary: when Artificial Intelligence is (really) sustainable
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION SOCIETY

Presented mySMART Diary: an ally for therapists in the treatment of eating disorders

In recent years, eating disorders have been on the rise, increasingly affecting young people between the ages of 12 and 14. In Italy alone, an estimated three million people suffer...
Presented mySMART Diary: an ally for therapists in the treatment of eating disorders
ENVIRONMENT FOCUS SOCIETY ZERO CARBON

Circular economy to tackle poverty

Inclusive economic growth is what we expect from the future. This is why the first sustainability goal focuses on fighting poverty-not only economic poverty but also inequality, the lack of...
Economia circolare per far fronte alla povertà
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION SOCIETY

Digital Sustainability Award: best theses on Digital Sustainability awarded

After a long presentation roadshow, which touched upon several Italian universities in 2023, the first edition of the Digital Sustainability Award has come to an end. An Award dedicated to...
Digital Sustainability Award: Best Digital Sustainability Theses Awarded
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION ECONOMY SOCIETY

Digital Sustainability Day: the story of the third birthday of the Foundation for Digital...

On 18 April, during the week ofEarth Day, the Digital Sustainability Day took place: the main meeting in Italy – hosted by theSapienza University in Rome – dedicated to the...
Digital Sustainability Day: the story of the third birthday of the Foundation for Digital Sustainability
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION ENVIRONMENT

For the Digital Sustainability of the Water Sector: presented the Position Paper of the...

Water is a precious commodity, an essential element for life. Ensuring its availability and sustainable management is at the heart of the basic principles of the2030 Agenda and, to achieve...
For the Digital Sustainability of the Water Sector: presented the Position Paper of the Foundation for Digital Sustainability
Digital Transformation SOCIETY

Foundation for Digital Sustainability presents the ‘Artificial Intelligence Manifesto for Digital Sustainability’.

Yesterday afternoon, the Foundation for Digital Sustainability – the first recognised research foundation in Italy dedicated to investigating issues of digital sustainability – announced the launch of the ‘Manifesto for...
Foundation for Digital Sustainability presents the 'Artificial Intelligence Manifesto for Digital Sustainability'.
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY

Earth Day 2022: DiSI is born. A self-referential post

Today, all over the world, we celebrateEarth Day. But we at the Foundation for Digital Sustainability are also celebrating a year of work. Certainly a strange year, the one that...
Earth Day 2022: DiSI is born. A self-referential post
CHRONICLES FROM THE FOUNDATION ENVIRONMENT

Earth Day 2021: The Digital Transformation Institute – Research Foundation for Digital Sustainability is...

Today we celebrate Earth Day. One month and two days after the spring equinox, for the past 51 years, 193 countries have stopped to reflect on the health of our...
Earth Day 2021: The Digital Transformation Institute - Research Foundation for Digital Sustainability is born
Cultural Sustainability Economic Sustainability Environmental Sustainability In Backlight Social Sustainability Visions

Thank you TechEconomy, goodbye. Welcome TechEconomy2030!

I still remember well when, eight years ago now, I published a post on Facebook that read more or less like this: “anyone want to participate in a new project?“....
©2025 Fondazione per la sostenibilità digitale

Tech Economy 2030 è una testata giornalistica registrata. Registrazione al tribunale di Roma nr. 147 del 20 Luglio 2021

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