Looking ahead to 2023, The Economist wrote that “today’s world is much more unstable and unpredictability is the new normal”. And this uncertainty impacts the outlook and prospects for the younger generations as they prepare to head out into the world of work and society. In this new Story Scanner podcast, Michael Spence, Nobel Prize laureate in Economics in 2001 and Distinguished Professor of Economics at Bocconi, gives his view on what lies ahead and discusses together with Julia Dhert, MBA student at SDA Bocconi, and Alessia Pulvirenti, who studies Economic & Social Sciences at Bocconi, what they see as the pressing issues for their generation. The economic outlook, the future of work and the workplace, digital transformation, promoting inclusive growth and demographic factors are among the many issues discussed.

Looking ahead to 2023, The Economist wrote that “in retrospect, the pandemic marked the end of a period of relative stability and predictability in geopolitics and economics - today’s world is much more unstable and unpredictability is the new normal”. Society today is experiencing a series of megatrends which are bringing slow but persistent change – megatrends which range from climate change to demographic trends like the aging population – and which are being accelerated by shocks such as pandemics, war, financial crisis and geopolitical upheavals. And this uncertainty impacts strongly on the ability to make decisions on the future, especially for younger generations and their choices. In the new Story Scanner podcast, Francesco Billari, Rector of Bocconi University, discusses together with 3 students of the Bocconi Student Media Center -Matteo Pozzi, of Radio Bocconi, Bojan Zeric, of Tra i Leoni, and Matilde Jorio, of Bocconi TV - the major issues that younger generations will face in 2023.

The world order is in deep transformation, impacted by the war in Ukraine and deeper trends like deglobalization, crisis of democracy and rising nationalism. This new order is moving in the direction of a world divided in two blocs, under the leadership of the US and China respectively. And Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has effectively destroyed the European peace order. All this will profoundly impact the EU’s security and strategy policy and its role on the global stage….

In this episode of StoryScanner podcast, Carlo Altomonte, professor of politics and economics of the European Union at Bocconi University, discusses Europe’s response to the war in Ukraine, if it is a wake-up call for Europe to forge a true common foreign policy and carve out a greater role in security and defence policy for itself, and the other crucial issues the EU has to face on the international stage.

Cryptocurrencies are in a period of depressed prices, with experts pointing to a potential recession, rising interest rates, the war in Ukraine, and high inflation as reasons for the slump. Bitcoin’s price has seen a nearly 70% drop in value since its all-time high in November 2021. The last ‘Crypto Winter’ lasted three years - can cryptocurrencies survive such another prolonged contraction or will they bounce back?...

In this episode of StoryScanner podcast, Massimo Amato, professor and director of the Observatory on Monetary Innovation, New Technologies & Society (MINTS) at Bocconi, discusses whether cryptocurrencies are an innovative and revolutionary system of payment or a dangerous and untrustworthy investment, what lies ahead, if stability is a mirage and if regulation is the answer to provide greater transparency and protection for investors and consumers.

The space economy is expanding enormously, with the participation of an ever-increasing number of actors, and today stands at a value of about 400 billion dollars, destined to become a 'trillion economy' within a few years. With advances in technology and growth in funding, both public and private, a host of opportunities for activities have opened up – from services deriving from satellite technology, to space mining, to the development of innovative space exploration and communications technologies, to even talk of space tourism… In this Story Scanner episode, Simonetta Di Pippo, former director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs and new director of the Space Economy Evolution Lab (SEE Lab) at SDA Bocconi, talks about why the space economy is such a hot topic at the moment and the opportunities it has opened up, but also the challenges such as the sustainability of the ecosystem and governance of space. Whilst Giovanni Sylos Labini, CEO of Planetek Italia, gives some insight from a company working in the space economy field.

Used for multiple purposes, from charitable projects through to music bands to fund a new album, crowdfunding has really taken off in recent years by startup companies or growing businesses as a way of accessing alternative funds. Some studies show that crowdfunding is in fact becoming a substitute for venture capital investments at the seed stage. Other studies estimate the global crowdfunding market reached a value of US$ 13.35 billion in 2021 and that it will continue to grow 15% annually in the next years.
In this episode of Story Scanner podcast, Charles Williams, professor of business strategy at Bocconi, tells us about this rise of crowdfunding and the crowdfunding forms that entrepreneurs are turning to. He also talks about a recent study of his on the importance of how early-stage entrepreneurs tell their story to potential funders, looking at how crowdfunding audiences react to different narratives. Whilst Benedetto Pirro, Bocconi alumnus and cofounder of Crowdfundme, a crowdinvesting platform, tells us what trends he is seeing in the world of crowdfunding and how entrepreneurs should best prepare for a crowdfunding project.

Banking, budgeting, saving, debt and investing underpin many important financial decisions we make in our lives and ‘financial literacy’ is the ability to understand and make use of a variety of financial skills to make informed decisions and help us avoid making poor financial decisions, and thus achieve financial stability. And making informed financial decisions is more important than ever with individuals today more responsible for their personal finances and with financial services and markets rapidly changing, with developments in technology and new and more complex financial products. But indications are that widespread financial literacy is still lagging. A 2020 survey by the OECD’s International Network on Financial Education, for example, indicated that about half of the EU adult population does not have a good enough understanding of basic financial concepts. In this Story Scanner podcast, Annamaria Lusardi, a Bocconi alumna, Professor of Economics at George Washington University and director of Italy’s Financial Education Committee and Francesco Saita, professor of Financial Markets and Institutions at Bocconi, talk about the state of financial literacy around the world, why today knowing the ABC of finance is as important as knowing how to read and write, the most efficient measures and actions to help raise and promote financial literacy and how to close the financial literacy gender gap.

In the life of each of us there often comes a moment that, looked at in retrospect, appears to be a moment of change, a real turning point. When this happens in the professional sphere, the path often requires the acquisition of new and different skills and in this step lifelong learning plays a vital role, whether it is reskilling or upskilling. Back in 2017 The Economist indicated lifelong learning as the new "economic imperative" - an obligatory path for the generations that would have to face the changes onset by factors such as digital transformation which amplify the need for an accelerated reconversion of human capital and that the Covid pandemic has now only further accelerated. In this episode of Story Scanner podcast, Giuseppe Soda, Dean of SDA Bocconi school of management, talks about the role and relevance of continuous education in today’s world and the requirements it should respond to. Whilst Isabella Castiglioni, founder of DeepTrace Technologies, and Pau Rodríguez, CEO of Methinks AI, talk about the role continuous education had in the turning points in their professional lives.

For many startups, a lucrative exit is the final goal: the culmination of a journey that started with an innovative idea and has gone through rounds of financing, milestones, periods of despair and moments of euphoria. And timing the entrepreneurial exit is a make-or-break decision in most cases - with startuppers facing a dilemma between selling early at a lower price or investing in the development of their invention into a proper innovation and selling later at a higher price.. but only if they survive… In this episode of Story Scanner podcast, Bocconi professor Andrea Fosfuri, talks about his study, published in Management Science, that analyses how startups decide when to sell, which startups can best afford to wait and which have to commit to the early, less lucrative market. Federico Isenburg, Bocconi alumnus and CEO of Nutribees, talks about his experience of first exiting a startup and then buying into one. Whilst Nico Valenti Gatto, Operating Director of B4i, gives his viewpoint on if and how very early stage entrepreneurs should think about an exit and what buyers should consider when they approach a startup.

There is now light at the end of the Covid19 pandemic tunnel as we benefit, thanks to
science and research, from greater understanding of the virus and from vaccines and
improved models of care and treatment. This episode of Story Scanner looks at what we
have learnt, the role of research and how we can be better equipped to face future
pandemics. Jérôme Adda, Dean for Research at Bocconi University, talks about the
importance of research and science in the last 18 months and of his studies looking into
comparative cost-effectiveness analysis of public policies during Covid19 and other
epidemics. Aleksandra Torbica, Director of CERGAS Bocconi and special advisor to
the Chair of the WHO Regional Office for Europe’s Pan-European Commission on
Health and Sustainable Development talks about the main findings and
recommendations of the Commission‘s report  ‘Drawing light from the pandemic: a new
strategy for Health and Sustainable Development’.