THE CHALLENGES
Blockchain & smartgrid
Fintech and society.
Alongside financial developments, involving the large-scale dissemination of crypto-currencies, the blockchain technology is paving the way to new interpretations of the exchange and certification of information and value in a decentralised way.
The European Commission is showing interest in some test projects in the context of “Blockchains for Social Good”. Several players are already involved in the field of social innovation in Piedmont.
LESSONS FROM THE PAST: NETWORKS OF TRUST, A GUARANTEE FOR THE TERRITORY
The most recent technological developments and the increasingly widespread use of the Internet are changing our lives, affecting, in particular, two important aspects of collective life: decentralisation of functions and trust. As regards the relation between man and technology, important suggestions and reflections for future scenarios come from research carried out by Olivetti, which was pioneering both in terms of time and in terms of thought. Giorgio Perotto, the brilliant engineer who, at the beginning of the Sixties, designed the first personal computer in human history, Programma 101, wrote the following: “I believe that Adriano Olivetti’s interest for electronics came from the fact that he did not see it as mere technology, but rather as a tool capable of spreading horizontally to serve the needs of all the other sectors. Olivetti, before any other company, was about to have the keys to open the doors to the new world of distributed, democratic, and human friendly information technology.” The human being at the centre of future developments, as measure and reference for technology in the construction of a tomorrow to be invented: a dialogue between scientific and humanistic culture, between technique and purely Olivettian spirit, to be started again for a smooth transition to the future.