Festival della Tecnologia

The Festival della Tecnologia presented a series of wide-ranging national and international appointments aimed at proposing a broad reflection on the relationship between technology and society and at strengthening the dialogue between universities and civil society.

On the 160th anniversary from its foundation, from November 7th to November 10th 2019, under the coordination of Prof. Juan Carlos De Martin, Politecnico di Torino hosted the first edition of Festival della Tecnologia, a series of wide-ranging national and international appointments aimed at proposing a broad reflection on the relationship between technology and society and at strengthening the dialogue between universities and civil society. In times of social, cultural and technologic turbulence, Festival della Tecnologia has been conceived, from the beginning, as one of the first events specifically devoted to a dialectic reflection on technology, its role on society and on the related future challenges.

The Festival is aimed at describing technology through society and people through technology, with the adoption of multiple languages: from science to literature, cinema, art, music, sport. Politecnico di Torino promoted the Festival not only as its own direct expression but also as the expression of a vast and widespread network of partners (https://2019.festivaltecnologia.it/collaborazioni), including national and international research institutes, as well as public institutions, private companies, experts and high-level guests. Each of these contributions enriched a vast program with initiatives that have extended from all PoliTo campuses and venues to the entire city, realizing a widespread and shared Festival (https://2019.festivaltecnologia.it/sedi). One core objective of the Festival is that of opening Politecnico di Torino to a transversal public, maximizing its impact on society and promoting debates and in-depth analyses of nowadays most relevant challenges. Festival della Tecnologia wants to be a contribution of Politecnico di Torino to the City of Torino, to Piedmont and to Italy: a key element of its civic role and of its strategy of shared knowledge. The Festival is therefore aimed at promoting the image of Torino as the city of technology.

Festival della Tecnologia embraced Politecnico di Torino and the entire city with various events (https://2019.festivaltecnologia.it/programma), starting from the inauguration of November the 7th, that has seen the extraordinary participation of Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. The reflection on technology’s impact on our society has been developed through an innovative and shared format, that proposed an open, transversal and informative Festival. Panels, lectures, laboratories, concerts, plays and exhibitions involved scientists, writers, musicians, philosophers, journalists and actors with the specific purpose of analyzing the relationship between technology and society through the adoption of diverse languages and artistic forms: literature, music, environment, cinema, art, etc. The Nexa Center, one of key partner of Festival della Tecnologia, contributed to this large event collaborating to the organization of several meetings which involved its large community of scholars and researchers.

Festival della Tecnologia was a great success with over 50,000 estimated attendees in 4 days, 160 meetings, 23 locations involved, more than 50 collaborations activated, 30 meetings spread throughout the territory (Turin, Alba, Ivrea and Vercelli), 14.000 students of Politecnico di Torino that attended the meetings and a significant presence on national press (https://2019.festivaltecnologia.it/rassegna-stampa). Precisely due to its success and the large interest aroused, Festival della Tecnologia becomes, now, a biennial appointment, alternating with another major event promoted by the City of Torino, Biennale Democrazia, with which Biennale Tecnologia has a natural closeness of objectives and purposes. The first edition of Biennale Tecnologia (https://www.biennaletecnologia.it/) will take place from 12 to 15 November 2020. The new program is being defined.