Europe's charitable foundations want to join forces also with the public and private sector to boost innovation and sustainbility and reduce inequality to strengthen communities, according to Fondazione Cariplo president Giovanni Azzone.
"A goal of philanthropic foundations is to strengthen our communities," Azzone told Adnkronos news agency in an interview.
"To do this, we want to create innovation 'ecosystems' through which we can support the capacity of our communities to create shared value. To do this we need to compare different experiences," said Azzone
Azzone opened 'Breaking bad (habits) - How can foundations move from silos to shaping future innovation ecosystems?' the two-day Research Forum 2024 brainstorming event promoted by Philea, the Brussels-based body to which European foundations, including co-organiser Fondazione Cariplo, belong.
Fondazione Cariplo is among Europe's leading philanthropic organizations which are being represented by over 120 people at the Milan event being held at Cariplo Factory innovation hub's premises in the city through Friday.
Sustainability and innovation are the main focus of the event, which aims to forge recommendations for the sector allowing it to reinforce philathropic support to bridge current innovation gaps and propose potential incentives to improve cooperation between fondations and other organisations.
"The key theme is innovation, and it should be defined in different ways based on the characteristics of individual countries and communities," said Azzone.
"The idea is not to have a single 'recipe' for everyone, but a shared methodology which to tackle problems," he went on.
"Foundations can represent a kind of cultural mediator that can connect the public and private spheres, which together with the private sector are the cornerstones of future innovation," Azzone underlined.
Inequality and the environment are the main challenges facing the philanthropic work of foundations, Azzone said.
"We need to create employoment and innovate, to includes as many people as possible in the labour market," he stated.
"But at the same time we need to address the issue of economic inequality and hence the fundamental rights of housing and food," he said.
Lastly, "very close attention" must be paid to the environment, Azzone said.
"This is still an issue of inequality between generations. We must prevent those who populate the earth today from harming the chances of those who will inhabit it in the future."
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