On Saturday 4 September, the twelfth meeting of the Italiacamp Association was held at the Milano Luiss Hub: “Fuori luogo – new connections of the next normal.”

During the event, a discussion was held on how to respond to the challenge of the next normal, the “next normality” with the approach that has characterised the activities of Italiacamp since its inception: going out of the box and going beyond, imagining new directions and dimensions of action.

The event was opened by Serena Scarpello, President of the Italiacamp Association and Fabrizio Sammarco, founder and CEO of Italiacamp. The former spoke of the importance of organising this event at a time when “Milan is beginning its rebirth, a signal that can be a good omen also for Italiacamp.” Mr. Sammarco, on the other hand, focused his speech on the importance of connections between people, both for Italiacamp and for society as a whole: “Today here in Milan we are all together again and this gives us a measure of how much we are able to create connections by adapting relations to new needs.”

The event continued with a talk coordinated by Ernesto Di Giovanni (Utopia Partner and Italiacamp Association Councillor) in which the guests discussed the trends of the “next normality” in strategic areas such as sport, science and mobility.

According to Cristiana Capotondi, Actress, Head of the National Women’s Football Team and Board Member of Italiacamp Association, “The occasion of the arrival of the Next Generation EU funds is a crucial opportunity for the world of women and for women in sport: a game to be played to give strength to the female world.” Guido Fienga, CEO of AS Roma and member of Italiacamp’s Board of Directors, focused on football, a sector that has suffered a lot and continues to suffer, but which has never stopped and which, in order to restart, will increasingly need to define itself as a social platform: “Football is proposing itself as a sector capable of restarting a driving force of investment but also allowing physical regrouping after almost two years. If we want to return to a new normality and feel close to each other, nothing can allow this more than football.”

Maria Grazia Magro, Head of Strategy & Scientific Affairs at Human Technopole and Councillor of the Italiacamp Association, spoke about the effect of the pandemic on research and on the expectations that citizens all over the world have placed in the responses of science: “The coalition of intentions that the COVID pandemic has stimulated against itself has been unparalleled. Suddenly, the whole world united in a single voice asking the scientific community for an effort. Technology and innovation in the medical field were fundamental in setting in motion a machine that quickly achieved the goal everyone had hoped for.”

Mobility was one of the sectors most affected and disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, both during the lockdown phase and during the long restart. Federica Santini, President of Trenord and Director of the Italiacamp Association, spoke about the future of transport: “The priority now is to innovate mobility by putting the citizen’s safety first, even before his well-being. This can be done in a timely and effective manner by exploiting the potential of cybersecurity and digital technology.” On the same subject, Andrea Incondi, CEO of Flixbus Italy: “If we had been asked what the worst nightmare could be for a company that deals with mobility, we would not have been able to imagine what happened. Our first priority was to ensure the highest level of safety, trying to communicate this as much as possible. Then, we had to adapt our offer to a collapsed demand. But this phase was also an opportunity to rethink our Next Normal.”

The day ended with the “Fuori Salone” talk in which the guests, coordinated by Serena Scarpello, anticipated the themes of the Salone del Mobile.

Lorenza Baroncelli, Artistic Director of the Triennale di Milano and Councillor of the Italiacamp Association, focused on the relationship between innovation and sustainability in urban regeneration: “The city of the future follows the need for green and digital transition, with the opportunity to combine sustainability and innovation at the service of urban regeneration.”  Pasquale Junior Natuzzi, Chief Creative Officer Natuzzi Italia, spoke about Salone del Mobile and rebirth: “With a touch of superstition, I can say that you can breathe in a lot of creativity, a desire to get together again and see what the design community has to express. All those who have collaborated on the Supersalone have the will to make the heart of Made in Italy beat faster again.” Mauro Porcini, Senior Vice President and Chief Design Officer of PepsiCo, outlined its role with a look abroad: “We need a catalyst for restarting, and this Salone has a bit of that purpose. From America, I see that Italy and Milan are sending out a good message of restart and rebirth to the whole world.”

After almost two years of the “new normality” imposed by COVID-19, in order to better understand and interpret the “next”, not to suffer “what will happen next”, Italiacamp wants to put back at the centre the connections among people, companies and institutions, connections that can create new value and impact for the community.