Welfare Italia Forum 2020

Welfare Italia Forum, the annual event organised by the think tank created thanks to the collaboration of the Unipol Group and Ambrosetti - The European House, will take place on 18 November 2020 digitally with live streaming, hosting public institutions and stakeholders to discuss the present and the future of welfare in Italy.

During the event, social and economic aspects resulting from the global crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will be investigated: the impact on employment, the increase in population groups that risk slipping into absolute poverty, the increased need for citizen protection, the urgent need for renewal of all sectors of the country, from healthcare to schools, and digitalisation in the private sector and in public administration.

As of now, the adopted social policy measures have guaranteed wage continuity and protected the most vulnerable groups by drawing on huge resources in 2020; but this cannot be sustained in the long term.

For this reason, it is strategically essential to confront the current situation to understand what paths lie ahead for Italy, both to overcome the inequalities that still separate the various regions in their ability to respond to their citizens' needs, and also to readdress the misalignment of welfare expenditure that benefits the pension system at the expense of the healthcare system.

A future in which the public space of action becomes increasingly integrated and strengthened by private intervention will be necessary in order to satisfy all the needs of the population.

This will be the topic of discussion from 10:00 to 13:00.

Among others, the participants will include Pierluigi Stefanini (Chairman of Unipol Group S.p.A.), Carlo Cimbri (General Manager Unipol Group S.p.A.), Roberto Gualtieri (Minister of Economy and Finance), Elena Bonetti (Minister for Equal Opportunities and Family), Walter Ricciardi (Advisor to the Health Minister for the relationships with international health organisations during the Covid-19 emergency; President of the Mission Board for Cancer, European Commission), Valerio De Molli (Managing Partner and CEO, The European House - Ambrosetti), Veronica De Romanis (Professor of European Economic Politics, Stanford University, Florence and LUISS Guido Carli, Rome), Giuseppe Guzzetti (former Chairman, Fondazione Cariplo; scientific advisor of the Think Tank “Welfare, Italia”).

Moderator: Antonio Polito, Deputy Director of Corriere della Sera.

Follow the streaming on YouTube channel of Welfare Italia.

“Welfare, Italia. Laboratorio per le nuove politiche sociali” ("Welfare, Italia. New social policies laboratory") is a project created in 2010 on the initiative of the Unipol Group with the aim of building a permanent platform for discussion on welfare, which can actively contribute to giving a new structure to Italy's healthcare and social care systems. The project is based on the sharing of ideas and reflections on the subject of welfare among the main stakeholders in the sector: decision-makers, representatives of the national and local government, social partners, pension and welfare funds, company representatives, universities, and the third sector.