Posts by Michele Covolan

The first meeting of “The Days of the blue economy” will be held on Wednesday, November 30, 2016, at 11:00 am at Castello del Valentino, in Sala dei Gigli. The subject of these meetings is how to overcome the crisis by using the resources of the territory and by the imitating the nature. The systemic Approach, proposed by the Department of Architecture and Design of the Politecnico di Torino and the Consulta Europea Regionale, promotes a number of meetings to discuss these issues and to develop plans based on the Blue Economy.

The Days of the Blue Economy, organized a year after the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the DAD and the Consulta Regionale Europea, are created to compare different actors on current themes of environmental, economic and social sustainability, that involve and affect Piedmont.

The so-called Blue Economy, whose founder is the economist Gunter Pauli, is based on the imitation of nature and its ability not to generate waste. It proposes a model that allows to make profits, to create new employment, environmental quality and system culture; It enhances the quality of the territory and helps solve environmental and social problems. This economic theory includes the concept of systemic approach / design developed by the research group of Systemic Design of the Politecnico di Torino, founded by Professor Luigi Bistagnino. He says:”It’s a new way to approach the project, the production processes and get even sustainable products, where the output of a system is always the input of another. The main targets are the so-called “zero” emissions, the implementation of a new economic model of production and the creation of a community, that is strongly and consciously connected to the territory, and where the existence of the individual is related to that of others. All work together to create a vital network, that is highly active and resilient. The ensemble enhances the parties.”

The MoU also includes the application of a policy document of the Systemic Approach, that affects the territory, the community, the products and services. An economic and productive systemic model needs new assessment parameters, that must be based on the quality of processes and products, and not on quantity. The policy document provides the assessment criteria to evaluate the relationship between the various productive activities.

The production takes place in a local and network context, in a collaboration between production processes (agricultural and industrial), nature, local context and community. This combination created a broader and more complex project, which concerns both the entire production chain, and the activities related to it.

The application of the policy document of the Systemic Approach proposes that the whole process is assessed and regulated by a Scientific Committee composed of experts in the Systemic Design and members of bodies, who represent the productive system.

The final meeting is scheduled on December 19, at 2.00 pm, at the Great Hall of Lingotto, Gunter Pauli will also take part in the event. It will be also the occasion to present the book Micromacro, edited by Luigi Bistagnino with the contribution from other experts.

If you want to check the program, please visit the website: https://goo.gl/hfshKD

Public domain #Open festival will take place in Turin from November 29 to December 3, 2016. It’s an initiative that aims to raise people’s awareness of the concept of public domain and of Open Culture, to promote literacy and to foster the development of related skills.

There will be 5 days of conferences, meetings, workshops, exhibitions, performances, theatrical readings for a total of nearly 50 events, that concern different fields of art, photography, music, literature, theater, cinema, and more. It’s an occasion for everyone to understand the meaning of the public domain (and cultures related to the Open) and to appreciate the ethical and economic value in every field of human knowledge.

Public domain #Open festival is the result of the collaboration among the library systems of the University of Turin, of the Politecnico di Torino, of Public Libraries of Turin and of the Teatro Nuovo Foundation.

All events are free.

The events of the opening day of 29^th November 2016, “The public domain between the reform of copyright and the common good” (hours 9 – 1.30 pm) and “The WIKI World for libraries, why librarians should use the wiki tools” (15- hour 17) will be streamed live from the Cavallerizza Reale (via Verdi, 9) on the intranet channel Unito Media, the University’s multimedia platform.

Sree Sreenivasan will be guest of honour at the University of Turin on 24^th November at 5.00 pm.

The Chief Digital Officer of New York City will tell us his 3-year experience as Digital Communication Officer of the Metropolitan Museum, explaining how the strategy of social media and digital tools for visitors have been reshaped.

Before being chosen by the Mayor of New York, Bill De Blasio, not only did Sree Sreenivasan work as Digital Communication Officer of the Metropolitan Museum, but he also worked at the School of Journalism at the Colombia University for more than 20 years.
Moreover he was nominated for Most Creative People 2015 by the Fast Company magazine, and also as the Most Influential CDO 2016.

The meeting, which will take place at Room 1 of Campus Einaudi (Lungo Dora Siena 68/a), will be presented by Enrico Pasini, managing director of Library, Archive and Museum System of the University of Turin and President of Scientific Committee of the Museum System and by Anna Masera, director of the Master in Journalism of the University of Turin. Maria Beatrice Failla, professor of Museology and Coordinator of the Unit of Turin of the PRIN project (Research Projects of National Interest) “Life of works, from sources to digital” will moderate the debate.

The seminar is organized by the Museum System of the University of Turin in collaboration with directors, curators and communications managers of different museum foundations, including Fondazione Torino Musei, Musei Reali, Museo Egizio, Museo del Cinema, Reggia di Venaria, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Pinacoteca Giovanni and Marella Agnelli. They’re going to liven up the final debate.

You will also have the opportunity to participate in the debate and to talk with Sree Sreenivasan and with the museums of Turin through social media, by using the hashtag #sreeturin.

On Monday, November 28, at 10:00 am, at the Great Hall of Cavallerizza Reale (Via Verdi, 9 – Torino), there will be the ceremony of inauguration of the Academic Year 2016/2017 of the University of Turin.

Rector Gianmaria Ajani, General Director Loredana Segreto, and Irene Raverta, President of the Student Council of the University of Turin will take part in the ceremony. Tito Boeri of the Bocconi University, INPS President, will deliver the inaugural lecture.

University, innovation and new jobs are the topics of the Inauguration of the Academic Year 2016/2017 of the University of Turin. University education works on a long-term vision, by linking its action to the research, that is the main driver of innovation. As well as addressing social and economic issues, the University of Turin must be able to identify the challenges of delevoped societies, in order to help define responses in terms of solutions and skills of its graduates. The skills for new jobs are the core issue of the Academic year’s inauguration of the University, which wants to have a more and more active relationship towards the territories.

In the afternoon (at 2.30 pm), some researchers of the Univeristy will take part in the panel discussion, moderated by Germano Paini, including Tito Boeri, Federico Butera of the IRSO Foundation, Marco Mancini, Minister of Education, Universities and Research, Mario Rasetti of ISI Foundation and Paul Sestito of Bank of Italy.

On Tuesday, November 22, 2016, at 5.30 pm, at the Great Hall of the Rectorate Palace, there will be the inauguration of the exhibition entitled “In the Supreme interest of the Science and the Nation. The University of Turin in the Great War“.

It is organized by the University of Turin on the occasion of the celebrations for the centenary of the First World War. The exhibition features a large collection of documents and tools from the historical Archive, Libraries and the Scientific and Technological Archive of the University of Turin on the theme of the Great War.The purpose of the exhibition is to enhance the contribution of innovation that the University’s scientific research gave, at that time, to the war. It was aimed to predominantly humanitarian purposes and the preservation of the integrity of the military force, made up mostly by men, who had to confront the first technologies of the industrialized war. The exhibition also highlights the tensions in the Institution, and the sacrifice of its young people, who were recruited as officials in positions closer to the daily drama of the troops, but also the contrast with the neutralist working-class town and a first collective women’s emancipation movement, who had to perform jobs, that were considered and defended as exclusively male roles in the culture of that time.

The exhibition will be open to the public with free admission from 23^rd November 2016 to 31^st March 2017 in the Rectorate Palace and the University Historical Library “Arturo Graf”.