Bottom-Up Initiatives for Sustainable Mountain Development in Italy: An Interregional Explorative Survey

In recent years, citizen-led initiatives have emerged to complement top-down development policies, particularly to pursue sustainability objectives and benefit traditionally left-behind communities and places. Existing research on this phenomenon in Italian mountain areas suggests a primary emphasis on revitalizing the natural environment, preserving local culture and traditions, and delivering social services to address the absence of public facilities. However, there is still a lack of understanding regarding their profiles, key features, social and environmental impacts, and challenges at the national level. As part of a broader research project, this empirical work contributes to the literature on bottom-up sustainability-oriented initiatives in mountain regions by conducting an explorative interregional online survey. We gathered original data on 196 initiatives from the mountain areas of the Italian regions of Basilicata, Lombardia, Marche, Sicilia, and Veneto. The findings indicate that our sample shares common traits, visions, and values, making a positive contribution to the sustainable development of their respective territories. However, these initiatives must contend with internal and external challenges to enhance their resilience and impact. Importantly, the research may support policymakers at various levels in the design of public policies that harness the full potential of bottom-up initiatives, ultimately enhancing the development and sustainability of these lands

Mitochondrial Neurogastrointestinal Encephalomyopathy (MNGIE): Position Paper on Diagnosis, Prognosis and Treatment by the MNGIE International Network

Mitochondrial Neurogastrointestinal Encephalomyopathy (MNGIE) is a rare autosomal recessive disease caused by TYMP mutations and thymidine phosphorylase (TP) deficiency. Thymidine and deoxyuridine accumulate impairing the mitochondrial DNA maintenance and integrity. Clinically, patients show severe and progressive gastrointestinal and neurological manifestations. The onset typically occurs in the second decade of life and mean age at death is 37 years. Signs and symptoms of MNGIE are heterogeneous and confirmatory diagnostic tests are not routinely performed by most laboratories, accounting for common misdiagnosis. Factors predictive of progression and appropriate tests for monitoring are still undefined. Several treatment options showed promising results in restoring the biochemical imbalance of MNGIE. The lack of controlled studies with appropriate follow‐up accounts for the limited evidence informing diagnostic and therapeutic choices. The International Consensus Conference (ICC) on MNGIE, held in Bologna, Italy, on March 30th‐31st, 2019, aimed at an evidence‐based consensus on diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of MNGIE among experts, patients, caregivers and other stakeholders involved in caring the condition. The conference was conducted according to the National Institute of Health Consensus Conference methodology. A consensus development panel formulated a set of statements and proposed a research agenda. Specifically, the ICC produced recommendations on: (1) diagnostic pathway; (2) prognosis and the main predictors of disease progression; (3) efficacy and safety of treatments; and (4) research priorities on diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. The Bologna ICC on diagnosis, management and treatment of MNGIE provided evidence‐based guidance for clinicians incorporating patients' values and preferences

Trans-city data integration platforms: an explorative study on Smart Dublin and Torino City Lab

This paper contributes to the literature on living labs, innovation ecosystems, and the transformation to smart and sustainable cities by exploring the use of a trans-city data integration platform on the smart city programs Smart Dublin and Turin City Lab. Research on living labs and innovation ecosystems is growing and showing increasing interest in the urban scale and the development of smart cities. For the density and interconnectedness of actors and resources, smart cities are believed the perfect grounds for technological and social experimentation, and they may catalyze the transformation toward smart, sustainable, and inclusive societies. Crucially, this requires systematically collecting massive amounts of data from a multiplicity of local stakeholders. While research has often highlighted the opportunities and challenges related to this data collection at the city level, almost no study has yet investigated the potential of aggregating and integrating data from multiple cities via a common infrastructure. This explorative study aims at addressing this gap. Focusing on the smart city programs of Dublin and Turin, it fosters the conceptualization of trans-city data integration platforms and explores their applicability to two real-life smart city living labs. This was achieved by adopting the Quadruple Helix model of innovation, and then by qualitatively analyzing the two smart city programs and 53 subprojects. It was found that initiatives from Smart Dublin and the Torino City Lab display thematic overlaps and complementarities. Hence, this contributes to the existing literature by showing that a common infrastructure for data collection may be developed. Moreover, it informs policy makers and practitioners on the importance of collecting data that could be easily integrated also across geographies, so as to lead to major advantages of scale in the future

Identifying Synergies and Barriers to the Adoption of Disruptive Technologies for Sustainable Societies - An Innovation Ecosystem Perspective

This paper contributes to the literature on the adoption of disruptive technologies for the transition to more sustainable societies by mapping businesses’ uptake in the Italian region of Piedmont from the perspective of innovation ecosystems. Despite their relevance for sustainability and competitiveness, evidence on the European Union indicates major weaknesses in the adoption of crucial disruptive technologies, recommending a stronger focus on the local and regional levels. This could be achieved via the perspective of innovation ecosystems so as to identify and strengthen industrial synergies in technology adoption, but current systematic research in this vein is limited by a lack of consistent and publically available data. Aiming to fill this gap, this study developed a highly scalable approach to map business actors and their uptake of emerging technologies. First, textual information on over 17,000 organizations operating in Piedmont was retrieved from the social network LinkedIn. Second, elementary text-mining techniques were used to verify their engagement with 5G Networks, Advanced Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Drive, Blockchain, and Drones. Third, uptakes within and across industries were statistically assessed. This identified 1273 businesses pertaining to 115 different sectors that already engaged with at least one of the above mentioned technological innovations, displayed some industrial synergies and complementarities, and confirmed key barriers to their uptake. Additional data would strengthen these results. Nonetheless, this study already provides preliminary evidence on technology adoption from the perspective of innovation ecosystems and a proof of concept for the use LinkedIn for ecosystem mapping