Imagining the future of cities

The partnership between Eni Joule and SmartCityLab Milano was approved at a meeting on the future of cities. Representatives from the business world, experts and academics discussed how technology, sustainability and innovation could help to create more inclusive, efficient cities that can anticipate people's needs.

The event, entitled 'Building the Future of Urban Living: Smart Cities, Mobility and New Supply Chains', took place on 23 June at the SmartCityLab headquarters in Milan. It was attended by Roberto Poli (President of the Italian Foundation for Future Studies), Antonio Funiciello (Head of Identity Management at Eni) and Fausto Raciti (Senior Advisor for Public Policy at SmartCityLab Milano). Mattia Voltaggio (Head of Joule, Eni's School of Entrepreneurship) and Chiara Parmiani (Futurist and Head of Service Design & Business Agility at Plenitude) moderated the discussion.

'An important anthropological transformation is already underway before our eyes,' explained Roberto Poli, President of the Italian Foundation for Future Studies. ‘Statistics confirm that girls study more and achieve better results than boys. This will lead to significant changes in the long term. In the United States, for example, it has already been found that women earn as much as, if not more than, their male partners. This will impact consumption because women spend their money differently to men. For instance, they invest much more in their own education and that of their children. This is a change that will surely come to Italy and impact the lives of us all. What I want to make clear with these examples,’ concluded Poli, ‘is that we must strive to see things that do not yet exist. If we understand them in advance, however, they will allow us to make conscious choices and prepare our cities for change’.

According to Antonio Funiciello, Head of Identity Management at Eni, 'A transformation phase cannot be managed through defined schemes. It is necessary to continuously reinvent oneself and seek the creative function of leadership. Alongside many colleagues present here today, I work for a company that was founded 100 years ago. In recent years, it has undergone radical transformation while maintaining its identity and remaining contemporary. It has succeeded,’ Funiciello stressed, ‘by always questioning itself and implementing continuous renovations’.

The day ended with a workshop led by ROAD (Rome Advanced District) on the role of artificial intelligence in business organisation.