Maurizio di Robilant is Founder and Chairman of RobilantAssociati, the first Italian branding agency. Founded by him in 1984, today it is the leading company in the sector in Italy.

After years of experience in business consultancy on branding, and years devoted to supporting products Made in Italy, its companies and its excellences, in 2014 he decided to put his expertise at the service of the country by designing the project that underlies the founding of the Italia Land of Beauty Foundation: building a competitive identity for Italy, contributing to the country’s re-launch, transforming its extraordinary beauty potentials into a strategic resource for economic and social development: to make Italy the Land of Beauty!

After graduating in modern literature, she moved to New York where she set up the American office of Friends of FAI – Fondo Ambiente Italiano, the Italian Environmental Fund. She then obtained her Professional Certificate in Arts Administration at New York University and worked at the Department of Culture for the City of Milan, where she managed promotion and enhancement.

In 2014, she was a co-founder of the 5VIE district in Milan, a cultural and territorial marketing project. With this experience, she specialises in developing territorial policies and approaches for the world of design. She has participated in numerous editions of the Milan Design Week with projects with a cultural content applied to the territory.

A graduate of philosophy and consultant on innovation, design and business strategies, he was born in 1947, and lives and works in Milan. Over time, he has specialised in research into innovation scenarios in Italian companies and in Made in Italy initiatives. He collaborates with the Italia Land of Beauty Foundation, which he helped to found, with the aim of enhancing and supporting the system of the country and its resources. He is a partner of Schola Italica, a company connected to the Bassetti Foundation, which strives to spread the values of Italian spirit in Italy and the world. He was councilman for territorial policies for the City of Milan from 1988 to 1992. He has been a professional journalist since 1979.

After graduating in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Florence, he was a researcher at the Agnelli Foundation and adjunct professor of Social Research Methodology at the University of Pavia. From 1985 to 2003, he was partner and vice-chairman of Eurisko. He was vice-chairman of GfK Italia until 2019 and head of the social investigations division in which he continually promoted research, seminars and training activities on issues related to ethical, social and environmental responsibility of companies, third sector marketing and communication of social and environmental sustainability. Since 2004, he has been a lecturer in Social Marketing at the Catholic University of Milan. In 2006, he received the “Sodalitas Social Award” for his contribution to spreading the culture of social responsibility among Italian companies. He is a member of the National Council of WWF Italy, the Scientific Committee of the Oikos Institute, and Athena, the network of university professors who support Pubblicità Progresso.

A graduate in political economy, for over 30 years he has been supervising and analysing the world of ICT and the evolution towards the “digital economy”. In 1979, he founded Reseau, the first Italian consulting company working in the ICT sector. After working for Telecom Italia as head of the group’s strategies, in 1998 he founded the company Between, which he managed until 2014. He was also the promoter of the international telecommunications conference that was held for 10 years (1986-1995) at the Cini Foundation (VE). Recognised as the main event in that field, the conference brought together the most important exponents of the ICT/Digital sector every year. From 2008 to 2014 he organised the Capri conference, also recognised as the most important annual event in Italy in the digital world. He is currently a Board Member of Jakala SpA.

Born in 1974, she grew up travelling the world with her family and after completing high school in San Paolo, graduated in Political Economy from Bocconi University. With a Master’s degree in Management of Non-Governmental Organisations from the London School of Economics, she works as a consultant and teacher between England and Italy on macroeconomics, gender differences, and project financing. She founded Elesta Travel in 2014, a tour operator specialising in cultural travel in Italy.

Managing Director of the European Office of IFPI. Born in Crema in 1977, he obtained a degree in law from the State University of Milan. He now lives in Brussels, where since 2017 he has held the position of Managing Director of the European Office of IFPI, the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry at a global level.

Architect, Designer and Curator. Born in 1975, Michele Brunello founded the DONTSTOP architectural studio with Marco Brega in 2011. In 2016, he founded the Sino European Innovation Institute in Milan, where he has been working as creative director. Previously, he was a partner at Stefano Boeri Architetti and co-founded the start-up SBA in Shanghai. With DONTSTOP he realises projects in Italy and abroad, focusing on design and innovation themes, and also collaborates with various universities. He is curator of the Across Chinese Cities programme at the Venice Biennale and XPort within the international Design Week system.

Senior portfolio manager, head of ESG and Impact Investing at Investcorp-Tages. Born in 1975, she first moved from Friuli to Milan to study Political Economy at Bocconi University. She then went to London, where she further specialised in econometric and development economics studies at the London School of Economics. For over 20 years, she has been managing alternative investments in Italian and British financial companies. Since 2018, she has been coordinating the ESG and Impact Investing activities at Investcorp-Tages.

Journalist and art historian. Born in 1972, she took a degree in literature from the State University of Milan. She has been a journalist since 2002, writing about tourism, art and lifestyle. Some of her main collaborations are with the magazines Dove (RCS), to which she has steadily contributed since the beginning of her journalism career, and Arte, Antiquariato and Bell’Italia (Cairo editore). With the publisher White Star, she published “Ritratti di grandi donne del nostro tempo (Portraits of great women of our time)”, an illustrated book about the most influential women of the 20th century, translated into six languages.

Founder Nordwand srl. Born in 1973, following a degree in law, he pursued his passion and focused on international relations. In 2017, he founded Nordwand, a company specialised in creating events of an exceptional scale through the enhancement of the industrial architectural heritage of our country. For years he has handled Public Affairs for international luxury companies.

Exhibition Specialist. Born in 1976, a graduate of Aesthetic Philosophy, Fulvia has been involved in communication, development and event production since the 2000s, focusing on the theme of urban regeneration. She was co-founder and vice-chairwoman of the Made in Lambrate cultural association. Today she is freelance and the Exhibition Director for Superstudio Events.

Art Historian and Curator. Born in 1983, she trained as an Art Historian and curator. After having worked at a number of art galleries and cultural institutions in Madrid, Brussels and New York, in 2009 she founded the contemporary art gallery THE POOL NYC in New York, with offices in Milan and Venice, all of whose scheduled exhibitions she still manages and curates. She has taught classes and given lectures at La Sapienza in Rome and at NYU in New York.

Curator & Design Advisor. Born in 1975, Federica Sala took a degree in Literature with a specialisation in Theatre and Performing Arts. She is an independent curator and design advisor with 25 years’ experience in the design sector. She has worked with museums, private foundations, historical archives, companies, designers and magazines to conceive, develop and produce content related to the world of design and art.

Riccardo Crenna

Architect and consultant, co-founder of Simple Flair and

Simona Flacco

Architect and creative director, co-founder of Simple Flair

Simona Flacco and Riccardo Crenna, born respectively in 1987 and 1986, are both architects as well as partners in work and in life. In 2010, they founded Simple Flair, a company that develops and produces innovative solutions with a contemporary aesthetic to stand out in the digital age. They are also founders of Studio Modulo, the signature for their design interiors and fittings, and Riviera, a new creative space in Milan.

Director and Set Designer of Theater and Opera. Fabio Cherstich (Udine, 1984) is a Director and Set Designer of both Theater and Opera. He worked in several theaters nationally and internationally amongst which the Mariinsky Theatre of St Petersburg, the Teatro Massimo of Palermo, the Teatro dell’Opera of Rome, the Opera d’Avignon, Opera de Marseille and the Theatre Maillon of Strasburg. He is author and director of the project of Opera on the road “Operacamion” defined by the NY Times as “Putting ‘Don Giovanni’ on a Truck, and Returning Opera to Its Roots”.
Since 2012 he has been working with Andrèe Ruth Shammah to the Teatro Franco Parenti of Milan and has been teaching aesthetic and history of contemporary direction to the Scuola d’Arte Drammatica Paolo Grassi, to the school of Cinema of Milano and to the Libera Università di Comunicazione IULM.

Orazio Spoto has a degree in Political Sciences and a master in new technologies for communication. He has been working since 2000 in the digital sector. In 2011 he co-founded the Instagramers Italy community of which he’s also president. In 2018 he founded Newmi SRL sb, a BCorp certified benefit society. In 2020 he published his book Instagram Community and Creatività, published by Flaccovio Editore. As a corporate instructor he collaborates with the principal realities in the sector as well as with the Università Cattolica focusing on a strategic use of the social networks, mainly Instagram. He’s passionate about architectural photography, contemporary history and resistance based sports.