The Luiss Alumni Association continued to carry its important discussion series throughout these weeks of lockdown and global pandemic. Featuring expert guests from academia, institutions and the business worlds, ALL held weekly 1-Hour Talks bringing docents and experts from across the globe to take on the issues of our day. The talks took place in a webinar format allowing Luiss Alumni participants to engage with the speakers as well. 

The 1-Hour Talk series starting in March and continuing through April, brought experts to the fore, including:

• March 20th, 2020 – Giuseppe Italiano, Luiss Computer Science Professor – discussed the importance of data collection in handling the Coronavirus and the ways in which technology can be employed to combat a health crisis of this nature.
• March 30th, 2020 – Alfonso Celotto, Luiss Alumnus and former Cabinet Head and Legal Advisor for various Italian government ministries – took on the significance of having a bureaucracy that can perform even when stressed, such as that posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. In its wake, Celotto offered some theories for reforming and restructuring our complex bureaucracy, finetuning it into a well-oiled machine that can respond quickly to its citizens needs.
• April 2nd, 2020 – Antonio Cesarano, Luiss Alumnus, Chief Global Strategist of Intermonte SIM – brought an insider’s perspective to the recent moves made by Central Banks along with those of European authorities, and their impact on markets.
• April 9th, 2020 – Giovanni Orsina, Director of the Luiss School of Government – discussed the importance of democratic fundamentals in a moment in which civil liberties have been severely curtailed.
• April 14th, 2020 – Cosimo Pacciani, City Banker who formerly headed up risk assessment for the European Stability Mechanism (MES) – shed light on the evolution of financial tools available within the European Community and the ways they were employed throughout various crises. 
• April 23rd, 2020 – Fabiano Schivardi, Professor of Economics and Deputy Rector for Research at Luiss – presented in English the results of a very timely and interesting study aimed at determining the amount of public resources necessary to avoid that the impact of the current pandemia generates a lasting financial and mainstreet crisis on the Italian economy. To achieve such result, the study, based on the database of Italian corporates managed by Cerved, has estimated the debt and liquidity impact on each corporate caused by the current lockdown. Such estimate has then been compared with the measures introduced by the Government via the so called Liquidity Decree to facilitate access to new indebtedness by corporates and relieve their personnel costs via subsidies, proving the adequateness of such resources within the currently envisaged gradual reopening of economic activities.
• May 6th, 2020 – Nino Tronchetti Provera, Luiss Alumnus and Managing and Founding Partner of Ambienta SGR, discussed Sustainability and Private Equity. Nino has dealt with the implications of sustainability on all aspects of industrial production. Necessarily, in light of Ambienta’s role as the only private equity based in Italy with a truly international business model, he also discussed the challenges of starting a financial business within the Italian constrains, stressing the need for meritocracy, commitment and vision.
• May 12th, 2020 – Silvia Rovere, President of Assoimmobiliare (the Italian real estate association within the industrial association) discussed the impact of Covid 19 on the various real estate asset classes. She started with the immediate implications, such us shopping malls leases, and moved on to the more strategic ones induced by changes in our lifestyle, such as the function of offices in a smart working environment, to the growth in logistics or data center.
• May 20th, 2020 – Jonathan Pacifici, General Partner Sixth Millennium Venture Partners and President of the Millennium Venture Partners and President of the Jewish Economic Forum, has discussed “The Start-up Nation at the time of Covid-19”. It has been the first 1-Hour Talk arranged in cooperation with an ALL international Chapter Leader, Daniele Moscati who heads the Tel Aviv ALL representation. 11 years after the publication of Start-up Nation, the book that dealt with the Israeli VC and innovation miracle, Jonathan has explained the latest developments of the Israeli VC industry and why that success story continues. In light of his Italian background, Jonathan has drawn parallels with the Italian innovation context, giving his view on how to develop a similar innovation friendly environment in Italy.
• May 25th, 2020 – Giorgio Di Giorgio, Professor of Monetary Theory and Policy, Deputy Rector, Organisation and Faculty, Luiss, discussed “Not only monetary policy! What fiscal policy for the Euro area?”. Pofessor Di Giorgio gave a synthetic but comprehensive excursus on the evolution of monetary and fiscal policies of the Euro area over that last few years, focussing on the grounds for imbalances in developed countries, and specifically on the growing share of GDP of developing economies compared to developed ones, and on the causes for the specific Italian issues. He has proceeded to analyse the needs of the Euro area to manage to overcome the Covid based situation, to propose his own recipe to temporarily grant fiscal policy powers to the ECB. It has been an extremely timely speech as it took place on the day of the Merkel – Macron proposal for the European Recovery Fund.
• May 29th, 2020 – Alberto Negri, journalist, writer, war correspondent, discussed “Geopolitics Post Virus”. Alberto has outlined, with a single thread, the global geopolitical evolution through the successive historical instability phases, moving from the fall of the Shah of Persia, to the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, to the fall of Gaddafi, and arriving to today’s revolts in Hong Kong. From there he moved, still in a single narrative, to the conflict among the American, Chinese and Russian superpowers, with the events they give rise to, from the dispute on China Sea, to the US-China trade war and conflicts on Covid. Finally, analysing the emergence of secondary powers taking advantage of the multilateral structure of global politics, to impose their say, as Turkey is doing by taking part in wars in Libya and Syria.
• June 4th, 2020 – Matteo Maggiori, Finance Professor at Stanford and selected in 2019 as the best Italian under 40 economist, discussed “The international monetary system: debt in the post covid-19 world”, in English. Matteo, speaking from San Francisco, has analysed the role of the dollar as the financial safe heaven for the world’s financial markets which, in light of such role, has benefitted from financial inflows during the Lehman crisis and the current Covid-19 one. Matteo discussed the increase in the debt burden of US’ public sector which should make it less obvious that the USA maintains such role of safe heaven. Nonetheless he pointed to the absence of immediate alternatives (the rembimbi, still lacking the international relevance to allow it to take over the dollar’s role, and the euro, suffering for the lack of infrastructural design to fully make it assume the role of Europe’s currency). 
• June 17th, 2020 – Graham McMullin, Gary Leyden e Luca Ascani on “Innovation and Road to Recovery: a perspective from Dublin“. This 1-Hour Talk, arranged thanks to the Dublin Chapter Leader, Martina Cocciolillo, focused on the capabilities of the Dublin Tech-Hub, both from the perspective of the academia and businesses. Together with the panelists, we discussed the key role that research, development and innovation are playing for individuals, communities and society in Ireland and abroad in the road to recovery.
• July 15th, 2020 – Marco Buti, Chief of Staff for the European economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, on “Italy waking up. Challenges and opportunities for Italy”. This was the third ALL 1-Hour Talk arranged with the head of a foreign chapter, Chiara Bellani, Brussels Chapter Leader. Marco Buti, speaking from Brussels, gave an update on the measures already adopted by the Commission or still being negotiated, highlighting where they stand in the process, and their size compared to the previous Lehman and sovereign debt crisis. He then highlighted the position of the various member countries, giving a positive message on the future of Europe and on the meaning of the current phase as a step towards a greater integration among member countries.
• October 8th, 2020 – Lawyer Alessandro Belluzzo (President of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in the UK) and Professor Brunello Rosa (CEO Rosa & Roubini Associates) discussed the most relevant issues for the UK at this stage – Brexit and Covid-19 – and their consequences in the near future. Some of the most important aspects for companies (taxation, financial services and British macroeconomic policies) and for individuals (sectors in expansion, job opportunities, post-brexit entry methods and brains return to Italy) were explored. This was the fourth ALL 1-Hour Talk arranged with the head of a foreign chapter, Francesco De Angelis, London Chapter Leader.
• October 13^th, 2020 – Ilaria Dalla Riva on “Smart Working – The case of Vodafone Italia”. Head of Human Resources and Organisation – Vodafone Italia. 1-Hour Talk arranged in cooperation with our Milan Chapter. Being ready for the swift introduction of smart working in March was not an easy call. Ilaria, interviewed by our President, went through Vodafone experience, which introduced smart working back in 2012. The challenge was to introduce it in its call centres, the frontier of complexity, in light of Vodafone volumes, and being in the midst of the switch to digital for the entire country. Moving from Vodafone experience, Ilaria has given her view on the changes brought about in our lifestyle by technology and on the phigital mix in large organisations, and specifically with the entrance of native digital workers.
• October 26th, 2020 – “Brazil seen from Luiss Alumni: challenges and opportunities in the land of the future”, a 1-Hour Talk on Brazil, introduced by Luiss Vice President Paola Severino and with closing remarks by our President Andrea Battista, on the occasion of the publication of the book of our Alumnus Lorenzo Trapassi “The land of the future. Brasil from the crisis to economic growth”.  The discussion has been among a prestigious panel which, in addition to the author, included Marina Sereni, Italian Deputy Minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, Francesco Azzarello, Italian Ambassador in Brasilia, and Mario Girasole, Vice President of TIM Brazil. The moderator was our Alumnus Carlo Cauti, Chief Editor of Suno Research. This 1-Hour Talk with multiple speakers has debated the evolution of Brazilian politics over the presidencies of Lula, Rousseff, and the current Bolsonaro, the economic and political relationship between Brazil, Italy and the other international actors. All speeches have been extremely well informed and with an uncommon geopolitical view, and have explored the potential of economic development of the country and relations with Italy, particularly important in light of the huge number of Brazilians of Italian origin and the relevance of investments in the country by Italian companies, as well as the environmental implication of the country’s development model.
• November 11^th, 2020 – Gianpaolo Di Dio “The role of FII in the competitiveness of the Italian economy”. Senior Partner of Fondo Italiano d’Investimento SGR. In the 1-Hour Talk, introduced by ALL’s President, Gianpaolo, a Luiss Alumnus, has discussed FII’s 10 years’ experience. It has been an innovative path to build an Italian private equity player promoted by public sector entities and aimed at patiently supporting Italian companies in their growth both domestic and internationally. Among its main innovations, the idea of investing only in minority stakes, only in capital increases, and with the preferential exit strategy being selling back to the entrepreneur. Despite the semi-public nature of FII, the business model, as well as its mid-teens returns, have been similar to private sector peers, having invested in approx. 2% of companies been analysed. In its effort to cover market gaps, subsequent developments of FII have been in areas underinvested by private capitals, such as late stage venture capital. From the role of FII, conversation has later covered more systemic subjects such as the Italian entrepreneurial, regulatory and market context.
• November 19^th, 2020 – second 1-Hour Talk organized in collaboration with the Dublin Chapter. Furio Pietribiasi, CEO of Mediolanum International Funds Ltd and President of Mediolanum International Life DAC, the Irish companies of the Banca Mediolanum group, as well as President of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Ireland, spoke about “The Future of Living, Working and Banking“. Introduced by the ALL President, Andrea Battista, and moderated by Martina Cocciolillo, ALL Dublin Chapter Leader, the webinar offered various ideas on the financial, work and social scenarios triggered by the current contingency. In particular, new mega-trends were discussed, such as decentralized finance, smart cities and the enhancement of human capital in light of the new challenges posed by geo-flexibility, in Italy, Ireland and more generally in the international scene.
• November 24^th – Marcello Messori, Luiss Professor of Economics, discussed why the NG-EU funds represent an extraordinary opportunity for Italy. 
• January 20^th, 2021 –  Giovanni Galasso, Alumnus Luiss e Managing Director, Head of Private Equity EOS Investment Management, has debated on the topic of “Sustainability as a Growth Driver?“.
• February 17th, 2021 – “European regulation and sustainable development: the role of EIOPA“, a topic discussed by Fausto Parente, Alumnus Luiss and Executive Director EIOPA (Europan Insurance and Occupational Pension Authority), an authority that he has been supervising for 10 years with the aim of strengthening consumer protection and preserving financial stability.
• February 24th, 2021 – “The Israeli response model: a path out of the pandemic“, Professor Eyal Zimlichman, MD, MSc (MHCM), Deputy Director General, Chief Medical The frontiers of Cyber-Security between the public and private dimensionOfficer and Chief Innovation Officer at Sheba Medical Center, delved into Israel’s response to COVID-19 and management strategies for the health emergency that made the country a worldwide example.
• March 3rd, 2021 – Giampiero Bonfiglio, Head of Business Continuity Management Office Mediobanca discussed “The frontiers of Cyber-Security between the public and private dimension“.