The Ambassador of the Italian Republic, Pietro Benassi, and the Chairman of illycaffè and Fondazione Altagamma, Andrea Illy, have the pleasure to invite you Friday, March 16th 2018, 10 am, to the conference A Taste of Happiness
· Keynote by Andrea Illy, Chairman of illycaffè and Fondazione Altagamma
· Keynote by Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research – PIK
· Open conversation with Andrea Illy and: Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Associate editor of the World Happiness Report and Associate Professor of Economics and Strategy, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford and Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research – PIK
· Moderated by: Louis Lewitan, Coach and Author
· Final Keynote by Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director, Center for Sustainable Development, Columbia University and Special Advisor to UN Secretary-General on the Sustainable Development Goals (videoconference)
· Get together with lunch-buffet
While income is a crucial contributor to well-being, it is far from being everything. Since 1990, UNDP has been reporting on human development, and using the Human Development Index to assess and compare countries’ progress. This composite index includes indicators for education and health alongside income per capita, in order to give a more balanced picture. This has helped broaden the conversation about development progress beyond what is sometimes described as the tyranny of the GDP indicator.
The quality of growth is increasingly considered the proper measure of social progress and the goal of public policy. In June 2016, the OECD committed itself to “redefine the growth narrative to put people’s well-being at the center of government efforts”. Measuring happiness also promotes conversations about what the objective of development is. We need measures of both objective and subjective wellbeing, by comparing life satisfaction and human development, to form a more complete understanding of how development ultimately affects people’s lives and wellbeing. So it’s important to measure perceptions, but also to collect firm data.
The first World Happiness Report was published in April, 2012, in support of the UN High Level Meeting on happiness and well-being. Since then we have come a long way. Now International Day of Happiness, March 20th, provides a focal point for events spreading the influence of global happiness research. The launch of this report at the United Nations on International Day of Happiness is to be preceded by a World Happiness Summit in Miami, and followed by a three-day meeting on happiness research and policy at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. Thanks to long-term support from the Ernesto Illy Foundation, the World Happiness Report will be issued on an annual basis. The 2018 report will focus on the issue of migration.
Italy is a forerunner in measuring well-being. In 2017, the Italian Government included in its medium-term budgetary plan twelve indicators of fair and sustainable well-being, to go ‘beyond the GDP’. The Economic and Financial Document, in addition to the standard figures, such as GDP, inflation, deficit and debt, will include other indicators, such as the average disposable income per capita, the index of inequality, the growth of CO2 emissions, the efficiency of civil justice, the absolute poverty index.
Are creative arts conducive to better social well-being and sustainability? What is the “success story” behind Made in Italy, the third most popular brand worldwide after Coca Cola and Visa? How has the “Italian Way of life” generated “metaproducts”, demanded not only for their functional and tangible characteristics, but also for their iconic capacity to convey a collective identity and aspirational lifestyle? We will discuss these issues together with Andrea Illy, President of Illy Caffé and Altagamma Foundation, which gathers since 1992 the High-End Italian Cultural and Creative Companies, recognized globally as ambassadors of Italian style.
For registration please click here.
