2017 was our busiest year yet at the Bassetti Foundation. This review offers an overview of the year’s work on both the Italian National and broader European and international stage.

THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

– The SMART-Map Project
SMART-map (RoadMAPs to Societal Mobilisation for the Advancement of Responsible Industrial Technologies) is a coordination and support action financed by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Programme. The Bassetti Foundation is a key partner of the SMART-map consortium, working towards the goal of defining and implementing concrete roadmaps for the responsible development of industrial technologies and services in three key time-changing fields: precision medicine, synthetic biology and 3D printing in biomedicine.

2017 saw the implementation of the project move into full swing, with the Foundation hosting one of the Industrial Dialogues in Milan and participating in others across Europe. The project is currently moving into its second year and represents a pinnacle of research in the field.
Further details on the project and its partners are available here.

– VIRI Collaboration
The Foundation continued its partnership and contributions to the Virtual Institute for Responsible Innovation, currently in its third year. Both Foreign Correspondent Jonathan Hankins and Board Member Ottavia Bassetti attended the Annual Meeting, this year hosted by Arizona State University, Hankins presenting his current research on Poiesis Intensive Responsible Innovation.

The meeting was held in conjunction with the Fifth Annual Conference on Governance of Emerging Technologies: Law, Policy and Ethics, offering participants opportunities to present and participate in discussion directly following on from the VIRI meeting. A report on the VIRI meeting and GET conference is available here.

– Milan Polytechnic School of Design Course
2017 saw the third year of participation with the Design School of Milan Polytechnic.

On behalf of the Foundation, Francesco Samorè, Angela Simone and Tommaso Correale participated in the course that was aimed at fifth year students of the Design School Degree in Product Innovation. The Foundation participated with the module “Futuro anticipato: progettare intorno al corpo con le nanotecnologie” (The Future Brought Closer: design around the body with nanotechnology).

A Video presentation of the many lectures and workshops offered is available here, with each year’s involvement accompanied by a cycle of conferences that have been video recorded and are available throughout this website.

– Globalization, a Cycle of Seminars at the University of Milan
The Department of History of the University of Milan in collaboration with Globus and Locus, the journal “Glocalism: Journal of Culture, Politics and Innovation” and the Bassetti Foundation promoted a cycle of interdisciplinary seminars entitled Globalization: between story and political theory.

The series was conducted in Italian and English (as determined by the speaker), with videos (and synthesis) of each meeting available here.

– The Region of Lombardy Open Innovation Platform
Since its inception the Bassetti Foundation has maintained ties with the Regional Government of Lombardy, a fact that is reflected in the inclusion of Responsible Innovation terminology and approaches across the board of their publications. This collaboration led to the creation of a public consultation platform on Responsible Innovation hosted through the Region’s Open Innovation Platform.

This project involved a workshop and the creation of the Regional Forum for Innovation, made up of ten internationally renowned scholars including VIRI Founder David Guston. The Foundation participated in the selection proceedings and is integral to the design of the greater project.
Further information on the platform is available here, and the Forum is further described here, including an introduction to the members.

– A Series of Interviews by Gabriele Giacomini
2017 saw the publication of a series of interviews conducted through the year by Gabriele Giacomini. The series concentrated on the relationship between democracy and digitalization, with topics including (but not limited to) internet and political participation, fake news and changes in the structure of democracy.
The interviews are all transcribed (in Italian) here.

– Journal of Responsible Innovation
The Foundation continued its ongoing collaboration with the Journal of responsible Innovation. Foreign Correspondent Jonathan Hankins participated through his position on the Editorial Board, while reviewing each article in the year’s publications (Volume 4) on the Foundation website.

Read the reviews here, a page that also includes links to the reviews of the previous volumes.

– SEEG, Position on the External Advisory Board
October saw the re-launch of the Manchester Metropolitan University Sustainable and Ethical Enterprise Group, with the participation of the Bassetti Foundation through the presence of Jonathan Hankins.

Hankins represents the Foundation on the SEEG External Advisory Board, a collaboration that will run through the duration of the newly unveiled 3 year plan.

– Foundation Guests
During the year the Foundation was honoured to host a series of guests. The various events are all described on the Foundation website, with guests presenting their work and ideas and participating in meetings and events in several different formats. The following is an outline of those present.

Silvia Camporesi
Silvia Camporesi – Lecturer in Bioethics & Society at the Department of Social Science, Health & Medicine of King’s College London and Director of the Bioethics & Society Master’s program also at King’s College London – presented her ideas on Trust in expert knowledge in medicine and Technoscience in order to address the following questions:
From health to technoscience, and from medicine to politics: trust in expert knowledge is progressively falling. This is a global phenomena, sitting intertwined within a complex relational system whose themes are public communication and participation, individual and collective narratives and power. But how can we unwind this bundle? And how should we orient ourselves if we wish to adopt a responsible approach to the theme of trust in techno-scientific knowledge?
Video, photos and mmuch more available here.

President of Lombardy Region Roberto Maroni
Reflecting the relationship described earlier between the Foundation and the Regional Government of Lombardy, the Foundation hosted Roberto Maroni and Luca Del Gobbo for a wide ranging conversation with a host of invitees including Roberto Albonetti, Foundation founders Andreina and Piero Bassetti, its Vice President Gianfelice Rocca, and members of the Board.

Francesco Lescai
Francesco Lescai, Professor of genomics and Bioinformatics at the University of Aahrus and coordinator of the SMART-map project brought the argument of the promise and responsibility of precision medicine to life at the Foundation. Video and synthesis available here.

Raul Caruso
Raul Caruso, author of “Economia della Pace” participated in a dialogue entitled Peace, War, and the Innovation Clock. The dialogue was moderated by Guido Romeo, a renowned journalist specialized in innovation and related themes.

Jos Malda
Jos Malda is professor of Translational Regenerative Medicine and Head of Research at the Department of Orthopaedics, University Medical Center Utrecht.
Professor Malda presented the work he carries out at the University of Utrecht in biofabrication using 3D printing technology, addressing many issues surrounding biofabrication and design, describing the current situation in the field and the challenges faced in the 3D printing of living organisms.

Federica Lucivero
Federica Lucivero is senior researcher the the Ethox Centre of the Big Data Institute of Oxford University and coordinates the Digital Health at King’s College London. She participated in a dialogue entitled Health Apps, between medicine and lifestyle. Further details can be found here.

Renè Von schomberg
Renè Von Schomberg participated in a dialogue entitled Open Scholarship and responsible Innovation, raising many questions based upon his vast experience working within the Directorate General for Innovation at the EU. Video and photos as well as a summary of the event are available here.

– Other Participation
Members of the Bassetti Foundation staff and collaborators also participated in one off lectures, including at the Towards a Bio-based Economy: Science, Innovation, Economics, Education Summer School, jointly hosted by Milan’s Bicocca and Gothenburg’s Chalmers universities, and at the Granaio di Villa Greppi in Monticello Brianza where the Foundation participated in the School and Business Meets public conference.
These two examples are examples of a much broader range of conference and project participation, including offering expertise to other European Projects such as the ROSIE Intereg project and participation in numerous conferences across Europe and the world.

This overview is not exhaustive however, but we hope if offers an overview of the work that the Foundation carries out. A search of this website will reveal much more.
We wish all of our readers and collaborators the very best for the coming year, and look forward to continuing our various collaborations and studies.

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