Innovation—the implementation of novel ideas and creative solutions—is the cornerstone of the global effort to transition to a cleaner, more sustainable future. Innovation, in this sense, means not only technological innovation, but economic, social, and lifestyle changes as well. Confronting the biggest problems faced by the global population in centuries—climate change, pandemic, and the economic fallout of both—demands a radical change in technologies, new services and business models, new ways of working, moving and living together, and a reimagined institutional architecture to coordinate and ensure this transformation.
Digitalization has a manifold role in the paradigm shift underway. This megatrend has certainly revolutionized the global economy, but it has also had a profound impact on nearly every other sphere of human activity. In the fight for a more sustainable future, digital technologies can help by allowing us to communicate, manage data and share information on the massive scale required for global coordination efforts. Digital technologies can also support sustainability in other ways, for example through the facilitation of the “sharing economy” and by cutting down on travel required for business activities. But digitalization also has an environmental toll all its own, as data centers require tremendous amounts of energy to power, and extracting the rare-earth elements that comprise many IT components is devastating to local environments.
Navigating the balance between digitalization and sustainability will require the implementation of new and creative solutions—in a word, innovation.
The Diaspora Webinar Series hosted at Luiss, in partnership with the Le Reseau Diaspora organization is an apt forum to discuss the innovation-digitalization-sustainability nexus. Universities like Luiss continue to be on the forefront of societal transformation by fostering innovative research, monitoring the safety, efficacy and ethical implications of new technologies and preparing the next generation with the analytic and intellectual tools to confront the future. The Diaspora Webinar Series itself is a platform for knowledge sharing, and for exploring the pathways for partnerships between countries that could grow out of the relationships between universities and their students coming from abroad.
Diaspora communities also factor into the innovation-digitalization-sustainability nexus in another important way: the economic and cultural connections they maintain help drive innovation in their countries of origin, potentially mitigating the effects of brain drain. The phenomenon of brain drain—one of the frequently discussed downsides of globalization—refers to the long-term or permanent migration of highly skilled or educated professionals to more attractive markets, thus damaging the innovative capacity of the sending society. In the increasingly knowledge-based economy, the loss of specialized technological know-how is all the more detrimental to a society’s functioning overall. Recent research suggests that diasporas—defined as populations who live outside of, but still maintain ties with, a country of origin— benefit their home countries in a manner well beyond the economic remittances they are often celebrated for. According to the UNTAD, emigrants substantially contribute to the accumulation of human capital and technological capabilities at home through the operation of so-called “diaspora knowledge networks”. These networks serve as “brain banks” abroad, and can become a source of knowledge sharing and tech transfer with their home country, thus potentially transforming brain drain into “brain gain”. Says the UNTAD, “technology appears to diffuse more efficiently through culturally and nationally linked groups.”
The April 29th webinar, Innovation, Digitalization and Sustainability for Social and Ecological Transition, promises to be one of the most interesting in the series so far, as experts discuss a range of pressing topics that impact us all, in an international atmosphere in the spirit of a genuinely open and collaborative dialogue.
The event, which begins at 3:30 pm CET (GMT +1) will be introduced by Marco Francesco Mazzù (Recruiting Leader and Professor of Marketing & Digital at Luiss) and moderated by Fabrizio Lobasso (Deputy Director of Sub-Saharan Africa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation). Keynote speakers will include Philip Thigo (Senior Director for Africa at the Thunderbird School of Global Management), Christine Baguela Soro (Ceo of DigieWomen School), Francesca Bartorilla (Legal Contract Manager, Accenture Plc) Diana Battaggia (General manager of Unido). Professor Christian Iaione, who is the director of the new Master’s in Law, Digital Innovation and Sustainability (LDIS) at Luiss will also give a talk, along with the xLabs student representative for the LDIS major.
Participation in this event is free, to register just click here.