During the pandemic, the Club of Florence's internationally attended annual workshops could not take place either. After a first attempt in October 2022, we finally made it in February 2023. We met at the Museo Zauli in Faenza, where we took the work of ceramic artist Carlo Zauli 'Broken circle' as a metaphor to discuss about 'black (and white) swan' events and how to sustainably keep responsibility and ethical principles running. Most speakers and participants joined Faenza, some were connected virtually, from Northern Europe and from overseas. Thanks to the technology required for streaming and the permission of the authors, we can make the presentations available to you here.

Roberto Poli (PhD Utrecht) is Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Trento and holds the UNESCO Chair on Anticipatory Systems. Poli teaches Social Foresight and Epistemology of the Social Sciences; he directs the Master in Social Foresight, currently in its ninth edition. Poli is a fellow of the STIAS - Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study. He is the President of AFI-Association of Italian Futurists, and Skopìa, a company offering professional anticipation services. Poli is a member of the editorial committees of many journals (including Futures and European Journal of Future Research), and has published 7 volumes; the last is Working with the future, Milan, Bocconi University Press 2019. He is editor-in-chief of the Handbook of Anticipation (Springer). Poli has edited more than 20 volumes or special issues of journals and published more than 250 scientific papers.

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Martin Ivarson is an innovation strategist at the Open Innovation Arena at Volvo Cars. With a background as an M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and Management and various roles involving digital strategic innovation, he focuses on mobility trends and futures including the role of data fueled business and society development. Lately, Martin has been focusing on the idea of foreseeing and shaping different futures with the intent to suggest various approaches for Volvo to be part of the solution to preferred scenarios. Martin is also fascinated by the concepts of black swans and antifragility in all this.


Dimitrios Merkouris - Born and raised in Greece, and moving to Sweden in 2008, Dimitrios has a huge passion for business development, and he loves to peer over the horizon and discuss ideas, taking the world we all know and turning it around so we can view it from a strange but strangely enlightening angle. He has a global commercial experience in automotive, with a profound love for developing individuals, and diverse teams where everyone was empowered to take their own responsibility, challenge the ecosystem as we know it, and take purpose-driven decisions. Dimitrios is also the founder of DM Professionals, focusing on coaching and supporting the integration of people with a foreign background in Sweden, he is a soccer referee at a national level but most of all, he is proud to be a husband, and father of two. Today, he is the Head of the AccZero initiative at Volvo Cars, an initiative with the purpose to democratize the right to traffic safety, for everyone!

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Thomas Clarke is an international Research Professor and a  Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). He researches, consults and writes in the fields of corporate governance and sustainability. He has completed major international research projects on rethinking the company, the transformation of business in China, changing business paradigms, innovation, the changing roles of boards and directors, international corporate governance, board evaluation, professions in capital markets, the knowledge economy of the Asia Pacific, sustainable finance, the international business pivot towards sustainability. He has consulted with the PRS Ltd, Strategic Partnership, DBM Ltd, British Council, Prince?s Trust, SAP, AICD, CPA Australia, Boardroom Partners, Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI), United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST), and Stewart Investors. He has published many books including editing The Oxford Handbook of the Corporation, Oxford University Press 2019; and Corporate Governance: Cycles of Innovation, Crisis and Reform, Sage 2022.

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Martín Dâvila is Full Professor of Economics and Finance and Researcher in the Faculty of Economics at the Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla. His research focus is on International Finance, Industrial Organization, Game Theory and Corporate Governance. In 1991 he graduated from the Universidad de las Américas and holds a BSc. in Industrial Chemical Engineering, in 1998 he graduated from the Universidad de las Américas and holds a MSc. in Economics, and in 2008 he graduated from Universidad Popular Autónoma de Puebla and holds a PhD. in Financial Economics, with the principal theme in Corporate Governance.

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Mauro Bombacigno Born in Mirandola(MO). 60 years old, working in the Financial Industry since (almost) ever. Presently head of ESG Intaly fot the BNP Paribas Group, with responsibility in developing the Italian activities in the Environ- mental, Social and Governance arena as well as the implementation of the Sustain- able Business Development Plan (SBDP) Member of the Group Network of Sustainability Experts (NEST). Previously head of Group Origination Italy - a task force of the Group aiming at developing joint solutions for Institutional, Corporate and Individual clients, leveraging on the various (25) entities of BNP Paribas operating in Italy. Director within the Corporate & Institutional Banking Division with coverage responsibility of strategic clients, with main focus on the investment banking activities. Before joining BNP Paribas, I served as Head of Corporate coverage for Rabobank (5 years), setting up the Italian branch of this Dutch Financial entity. Previously, senior advisor with Accenture and Relationship manager with Mediocredito Lombardo, now Intesa. Degree in Business Administration (Bocconi University). Certified intensive training Positive Impact- Business (Cambridge University).

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Hendrik Schmidt is Senior Investment Stewardship Specialist in the Corporate Governance Center of DWS and since 2016 is responsible for the regions: Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the UK. He represents DWS regularly at Annual General Meetings of and in C-level engagements with portfolio-companies as well as in conferences. Mr Schmidt is member of several corporate governance bodies, incl. the DVFA-Commission on Governance & Stewardship, BVI Working Group Corporate Governance and the Stewardship Committee of the Investment Association. He publishes regularly on corporate governance topics and is co-author of the "DVFA Scorecard for Corporate Governance", "DVFA Stewardship Guidelines" and the "Guidelines for a sustainable executive remuneration". Mr Schmidt is co-editor and co-author of the book "Corporate Governance in Germany". In 2020, Hendrik Schmidt was named recipient of the Modern Governance 100 in acknowledgement for his work and contributions to drive good governance. He holds degrees from Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (BSc.) and HHL - Leipzig Graduate School of Management (MSc.) and is a Certified ESG Analyst (EFFAS/DVFA).

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