Articoli taggati con ‘coesione sociale’
Sharing Economy: All of Us in Wonderland
Obviously, innovation is seen as very fashionable these days. With no surprise, we can search for “top innovators under 30”, “top start-ups to watch” and “top-gadgets” that can improve the way we live. These characterize the private sector well as the risk-friendly, creative, and flexible incubator, where the tendency for “ready-to-play” wealthy investors and ambitious entrepreneurs to gravitate to Silicon Valley dreamland has become the driving force for the birth of innovative solutions. Since Professor Clayton Christensen began using the term “disruptive innovations”, which refers to the selling of cheaper products that can eventually disrupt an existing market, it seems that everyone is now “disrupting” and that every day is seen as an instance of innovation. Similar to Professor Christensen, the German sociologist and philosopher Jürgen Habermas pointed out that our complex societies are clearly susceptible to interferences and accidents and that these offer ideal opportunities for a creating prompt disruption of normal activities. It seems to be natural, then, that while millions of innovative applications based on principles of sharing have proven to be of high economic value the Sharing Economy platforms predict to generate revenues of 335 billion by 2025, shaking the future of many traditional economic sectors. For example, UBER, the Sharing Economy prodigy child for transportation network, possessing no cars and without officially employing has already managed to disrupt taxi industry in over three hundred cities worldwide, bringing about lawsuits and causing employee protests. Though, in this emerging scenario of disruptive innovations and the Sharing Economy, it is obvious that the effectiveness of the public sector is diminishing, leaving important services uncovered and without innovation hopelessly leaving the sector of society impaired. As described in the latest innovation report on European Public Sector Innovation, the public sector is stereotyped as an “outdated infrastructure that lags behind the needs of modern citizens and today’s businesses”.
La cultura per una crescita intelligente, sostenibile e solidale. Verso un uso strategico dei Fondi Strutturali 2014-2020 per la cultura
La cultura è al centro della sfera economica e politica del progetto europeo. Da un lato, la cultura produce ricchezza; dall’altro è anche fonte di creatività e innovazione, che favorisce il dialogo e la coesione sociale, nonché la trasmissione di valori di interesse comune. Oggi più che mai, la rinascita dell’Europa passa dalla cultura. È senz’altro necessario ridare nuovo slancio all’economia, ma lo sviluppo senza coesione sociale rischia di essere fallimentare nel lungo periodo. Solo la cultura può aiutare i cittadini europei a riguadagnare fiducia nell’UE e a ricostruire un senso di appartenenza fondato su valori comuni.
Manifesto degli economisti sgomenti. Capire e superare la crisi
22 soluzioni alternative per 10 false certezze: è questa la ricetta proposta da un folto gruppo di economisti – che si autodefiniscono “sgomenti” – per porre rimedio all’attuale crisi economica che rischia di travolgere tutto e tutti. I firmatari del manifesto, attraverso un linguaggio chiaro e diretto, rimettono al centro la necessità di aprire un vero dibattito democratico sulle scelte di politica economica che per troppo tempo sono state oggetto di una trattativa privata tra leader politici, mondo della finanza e sistema produttivo.
From Brussels 2000 to the plan culturel (cultuurplan). Localising a European initiative to cultural policies in Brussels
Brussels 2000 reflects a moment in contemporary Brussels when the divided Franco-Flemish Communities came together to plan and promote a common cultural agenda. Though few projects of Brussels 2000 remain, individual and institutional actors continue to collaborate, but without a shared cultural agenda, their attempts at fostering unity in the capital city remain ad hoc and in opposition to the current fragmented policy structure.
