Micillo: synergies between universities, tech & finance drive economic growth

Mauro Micillo, Head of Intesa Sanpaolo's IMI Corporate & Investment Banking Division, received the “2024 Alumnus of the Year Award” from the Alumni Association of the University of Brescia, the university from which he graduated with full marks in Economics and Business Studies in 1994.

On the occasion of the award ceremony, Micillo gave a lectio magistralis dedicated to: “Perspectives and synergies in the fields of education and Corporate & Investment Banking in the era of AI and Big Tech, to support growth and competitiveness”.

Some highlights from his speech are reproduced below:

• Training, starting with that of the younger generations, plays a key role in ensuring the skills needed to equip both the industrial and financial systems with the talent required to compete in increasingly challenging global scenarios. It provides the skills of (and for) the future, which enable the use of technology to support advanced decisions that, in turn, support innovation
• In this era of AI and Big Tech, it is becoming increasingly important to cultivate synergies between the academic and financial worlds, in order to have the necessary levers to cope with change and to direct large investments into priority and strategic areas
• Corporate & Investment Banking plays a key role in this process, due to its ability to mobilise private resources (market capital) in favour of the real economy, while enhancing public resources and facilitating the development of virtuous partnerships with institutions
• The ability to cultivate synergies between universities, technology and the financial world can create a flywheel effect for a more prosperous economy. The commitment of banks and institutions can help strengthen the European growth model and the single market, making Europe more competitive and putting it at the forefront of technology and energy.

Read the full text of the Lectio "Perspectives and synergies in the fields of education and Corporate & Investment Banking in the era of AI and Big Tech, to support growth and competitiveness" (Italian only available) by Mauro Micillo.

The ceremony for the 2024 Alumnus of the Year Award took place on Friday, 13 December 2024.