President

Giovanni Azzone

Milanese, Giovanni Azzone was Full Professor of Business Economics and Organization at the Politecnico di Milano, where he served as Rector from 2010 to 2016.

He has held numerous positions in renowned institutions, nonprofit organisations and in the private sector. Giovanni Azzone is the Chairman of IFOM, the Institute of Molecular Oncology founded by FIRC - Italian Foundation for Cancer Research, member of the Board of the Conservatorio di Milano and member of the Ethics Committee of AssoCunsult-Confindustria. He has served, among other, as member of the Board of Triennale di Milano and of AIRC - Associazione per la Ricerca sul Cancro. He has held several positions for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, ISTAT- Italian National Institute of Statistics and for the Lombardy Region. He served as President of the Fondazione Comunitaria di Milano, established in 2018 on the initiative of Fondazione Cariplo, and member of Advisory Committee of Fondazione B.E.I.C. – Biblioteca Europea di Informazione e Cultura, representing the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism.

His research work has been mainly in the field of organisational analysis, accounting and management control in private and public organisations - and sustainability-related issues - with numerous monographs and dozens of articles published also in international journals.

His analysis, linked to the use and study of data, include a variety of topics at heart of the four program areas of Fondazione Cariplo, namely the “precision welfare” - that is public services needed to address emerging needs, also as a consequence of demographic trends (such as the rise of the median age of the population, with an increasing number of elderly while the proportion of younger age groups is declining) - and the potential of infrastructures for the development of cities, in the light of the opportunities presented by digitalisation and big data. As a keen observer of the territory, Professor Azzone has delved into the analysis of the vulnerabilities of our communities and the factors underpinning their resilience: from social cohesion and environmental sustainability to economic steadiness and security.