Theme: Frontiers

Nowadays the world is changing more and more rapidly and research points towards new directions. As students, we are asked not to settle down and take the world for granted, but to build upon what we are given and face new challenges. Once your horizon becomes your standing point, another one is waiting just in front of you. This is the principle inspiring our theme, ‘Frontiers’, an end that becomes a beginning.

Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna
Piazza Martiri della Libertà 33
Pisa, Toscana, 56127
Italy

Alberto Di Minin

Professor

Alberto Di Minin is an Associate Professor of Management at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced studies in Pisa (Italy). He is also Research Fellow with the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE), University of California – Berkeley and Social Innovation Fellow with the Meridian International Center of Washington, DC. He is currently the Italian Representative on the SMEs & Access to Finance Programme Committee, for Horizon 2020, with the European Commission. He teaches innovation management and innovation policy, he is the Co-Director of the Executive Doctorate in Business Administration Program at the Sant’Anna, the Director of the Confucius Institute of Pisa, and the Director of the Galilei Institute in Chongqing University. His research deals with Open Innovation, appropriation of innovation and science and technology policy. He also works on technology transfer, intellectual property and R&D management.

Alessandro Fusacchia

Politico, Scrittore

Alessandro Fusacchia è nato e cresciuto a Rieti fino alla metà degli anni ’90. Da allora ha vissuto a Gorizia, Parigi, Bruges, Firenze, Ginevra, Bruxelles, Roma. Negli ultimi dieci anni ha lavorato per istituzioni europee e ministeri italiani – passando dalle startup alla scuola e all’università; ha co-fondato un’associazione chiamata RENA; ha scritto tre romanzi, l’ultimo si intitola «I solitari». Da qualche mese è diventato papà. Si impegna perché non accetta più che l’Italia si accontenti. Perché pensa che oggi più che mai l’Europa abbia bisogno di ciascuno di noi.

Andrea Loreni

Funambulist

Roberto Battiston, director of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), explains the most recent developments in the field of nanosatellites, and their potential impact in tackling some of the most relevant world contemporary issues. Dal 2006 si dedica alla ricerca della verità artistica camminando su cavi tesi a grandi altezze. L’intuizione dell’assoluto avuta sul cavo lo spinge alla meditazione Zen, pratica che approfondisce sotto la guida di Shodo Harada Roshi al monastero di Sogen-ji a Okayama, in Giappone. Performer internazionale, ha percorso chilometri su cavo teso nei cieli di numerose località e città italiane, tra cui Torino, Bologna, Roma, Venezia, Firenze, Genova, Brescia, Trieste, e all’estero camminando nei cieli di Locarno, di Belgrado, di Mod'in e Haifa, in Israele. Attualmente Andrea è immerso nell’organizzazione e realizzazione del progetto 'Zen e funambolismo. Alla ricerca dell'essere autentico'.

Antonello Cherubini

PhD Student

Antonello Cherubini is a PhD student in Airborne Wind Energy at Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa (Italy). He graduated in mechanical engineering in Politecnico di Milano in 2012 and he worked and studied in many places around the world. He is passionate about politics, and he believes that education is the best way to make the world a better place.

Cecilia Laschi

Industrial Bioengineering Full Professor

Cecilia Laschi is Full Professor of Biorobotics at the BioRobotics Institute of the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa (Italy), where she serves as Rector’s delegate to Research. Her research interests are in the field of biorobotics and she is currently working on soft robotics, humanoid robotics, and neurodevelopmental engineering. She worked in the first projects on neurorobotics and she is now in the NeuroRobotic Platform of the Human Brain Project Flagship. She also worked on the investigation of human-robot interaction in assistive and personal robots. She pioneered soft robotics, as the coordinator of the European ICT-FET OCTOPUS Integrating Project, leading to one of the first soft robots, and she coordinates the European ICT-FET Open Coordination Action.

Christian Esposito

Student - Entrepreneur

Christian Esposito is an Economics and Management student at Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa (Italy). Young entrepreneur, co-founder of Musa (start up developing an interactive game to make learning music easy and fun for everybody). Winner of the Crea Academy (Lisbon) and the S2P Polihub Accelerator (Milan).

Eric Ezechieli

Purpose Driven Entrepreneur

Purpose Driven Entrepreneur. Cofounder and Evolution Officer of Nativa, a purpose driven design company, first Certified B Corp® and Benefit Corporation in Europe. Chairman of The Natural Step International. Cofounder of Singularity University Italy and organiser of the SingularityU Italy Summit 2017. Most Valuable Player 2016 of the global B Corp movement for introducing the new business legislation recognising the Società Benefit in Italy. Eric leverages first principles design to create purpose-driven, regenerative organisations. He advises and coaches leadership in corporations, NGOs, and the public sector to design economic activities that have a positive impact on people and biosphere. Lecturer and teacher in universities, keynote speaker in multiple leaders' forums. Alumnus of Singularity University, Stanford, Rocky Mountain Institute, Schumacher College, and Bocconi. Ski mountaineer & long distance triathlete.

Francesca Chialà

Motivational Speaker, Business Coach, Executive Trainer

Member of the Board of Directors at "Teatro dell'Opera di Roma". Motivational Speaker, Business Coach, Executive Trainer and Consultant on Creativity & Innovation Management, Leadership, Team Building, Sales, Digital Marketing, Change Management, Social Learning, Storytelling, Public Speaking, Diversity

Francesco Del Greco

CIO

After several years in Stonesoft Oy working as a Security Engineer, Francesco joined GE in 2002, as Acquisition and Integration IT lead. After a quality role as a OTR Black Belt, he has been Marketing CIO and Engineering CIO. Most recently, Francesco was the TMS Global Service CIO, Supporting the Transactional and Contractual businesses as well as Global Operations (Parts Fulfillment, Repairs and Global Field). In these roles, he was responsible for the Field Force Automation program, Contractual Service Automation and the so called Services 2.0. Francesco has a degree in Mathematics from the University of Florence and a PhD in Software Engineering and Information Science from the University of Rome.

Giovanni Comandé

Full Professor of Private Comparative Law, Scuola Superiore S. Anna Pisa, Italy. Director of the Lider-Lab. Scientific director of several research projects funded by the Italian Ministry of Science and Education, the Italian National Council of Research, the European Science Foundation, the European Union, Public Administrations, public and private companies and organizations.

Giovanni Rufini

Gianni (Giovanni) Rufini was born in Rome, Italy in 1954. He is an expert of international humanitarian aid and the Director General of Amnesty International in Italy. Former Director of VOICE (1997-2001), Subject Matter Expert for NATO (2007-13); senior trainer for the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism (2005-present). He is also a researcher, a lecturer for several universities worldwide, and a columnist on humanitarian and human rights issues.

Marco Paolini

Actor

Marco Paolini è attore, autore e regista. Nel 1999 ha fondato Jolefilm, la società con cui produce tutti i suoi spettacoli e con cui sviluppa la passione per il cinema e il documentario. Noto al grande pubblico per Il racconto del Vajont si distingue quale autore e interprete di narrazioni di forte impatto civile (I-TIGI racconto per Ustica, Parlamento chimico, Il Sergente, Bhopal 2 dicembre ’84, U 238, Miserabili) e per la capacità di raccontare il cambiamento della società attraverso i dialetti e la poesia sviluppata con il ciclo dei Bestiari. Appassionato di mappe, di treni e di viaggio, traccia i suoi racconti con un’attenzione speciale al paesaggio, al suo mutarsi e alla storia (come nel Milione). Artigiano e manutentore del mestiere di raccontare storie, sa portare quest’arte antica al grande pubblico con dirette televisive (tra cui ITIS Galileo e Ausmerzen. Vite indegne di essere visssute). Per la stagione 2016/2017 sarà in scena con un nuovo Album, dal titolo Numero Primo.

Paolo Petrocelli

Imprenditore Culturale

Da violinista e musicologo a manager ed imprenditore culturale. Paolo Petrocelli ha maturato un’esperienza pluriennale nel campo del management culturale, artistico e musicale in ambito nazionale ed internazionale. Già membro del Consiglio di Amministrazione del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma e della Fondazione Accademia Musicale Chigiana di Siena, Paolo Petrocelli è Co-Fondatore e Presidente del Comitato Giovani UNESCO, Fondatore e Presidente di EMMA for Peace (Euro-Mediterranean Music Academy), Membro del Consiglio di Amministrazione del Conservatorio di Venezia, Cultural and Music Diplomacy Officer per il World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, Direttore dello Sviluppo della Fondazione Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Assistente del Sovrintendente del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma per lo Sviluppo Internazionale. Appassionato educatore, è docente presso la LUISS e la John Cabot University ed è Direttore del Master of Cultural Management presso Rome Business School.

Roberto Battiston

ASI President

Battiston earned his degree in Physics at Scuola Normale Superiore in 1979, thereafter achieving a successful academic career in the field of Experimental Physics, being recognized as one of the leading experts in cosmic rays. Prior to being nominated director of the ASI he was Full Professor at the University of Trento as well as a member of the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN).