Inauguration of the academic year 2021/2022

10. Consegna del sigillo IULM al Prof. Daniele C. Struppa

11. Conclusione Cerimonia

2. Inizio Inaugurazione Anno Accademico 2021/22

3. Saluto del Sindaco di Milano, Dott. Giuseppe Sala

4. Dott. Giuseppe Sala

5. Presidente del Consiglio di Amministrazione, Prof. Giovanni Puglisi

6. Prof. Gianni Canova, Rettore "Per non dissipare i segni"

7. Auditorium

8. Saluto del Rappresentante degli studenti in Consiglio di Amministrazione, Dott. Enzo Cartaregia

9. Prof. Daniele C. Struppa, President of Chapman University "Prospettive di infinito"

Guests at the inauguration ceremony included journalist and popular scientific expert Piero Angela, who gave a video testimony entitled Communication, Science and Cultural Democracy, and Professor Daniele Struppa, President of Chapman University, who arrived in Italy from the United States a few days ago and gave a speech on the stage of the Auditorium in IULM 6 entitled Perspectives of Infinity.

The Rector of IULM University, Professor Gianni Canova, used images from a 1940 film starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, A Chump at Oxford, to metaphorically illustrate the concepts of semiotic dispersion and information dissipation. Starting from the search for the way out of a labyrinth - which in the film is achieved thanks to a small cardboard hand planted in the ground and showing the way - he analysed the misunderstandings and misinterpretations of which we have all been victims in the last two years, lost and disoriented in the Covid labyrinth. "We have found ourselves navigating by sight, without a map or compass, but what is more serious is that it has often been some of us - academics, intellectuals, scholars, researchers - who have practised information dissipation, squandering and defusing the signs, going so far as to undermine the credibility of the scientific community and of our own work in the universities," the Rector remarked.

In spite of the uncertain scenario in which we live, the balance of the last year at IULM is positive: from the increasing enrolments to the publication of the new Strategic Plan, from the inauguration of the Rome office to the IULM 8 project that will complete the Campus, but also the new gym, IULM Food Academy, IULM Studios and soon IULM AI LAB, the laboratory dedicated to Artificial Intelligence research, will be opened. Finally, Prof. Canova recalled some challenges to which IULM intends to give its contribution: the first one is obviously dictated by the news of these days. The University has in fact joined the initiative of the Network of Italian Universities for Peace: "we would like this gesture to signify a commitment to put the resources of our research and teaching activities at the service of a critical understanding of the conflicts between human beings in their real dimension, but also of the study and elaboration of ways of responding to and managing conflicts other than those of violence and oppression," said Canova. On the subject of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Rector also said: "we have a few dozen Ukrainian students who are at IULM right now. The board of directors is summoned this afternoon and we will decide how to help them. We will take steps to help any refugees, students or even professors who come away from Ukrainian universities. It is the duty of Italy, Lombardy and Milan, after the invasion of the country, to welcome them with generosity and a spirit of brotherhood and solidarity".

The second challenge for the University is to build a true cultural democracy, since Italy continues to be the country with the lowest number of graduates in the entire European Union. The third challenge is to break away from the compartmentalisation of knowledge, to have the courage to cross borders. "Philosophy and economics, psychology and cinematography, statistics and sociology, theatre and tourism, fashion and creative industries. This is among the things we are trying to do, which we are already committed to doing with the students who choose us," concluded Professor Canova.

Piero Angela also spoke about cultural democracy and the importance of communication. "I have realised that there is a lack of scientific culture, the past is taught at school and, even when mathematics is taught, the method of science, the pervasiveness, the philosophical role of technology are not explained", the popular science expert and journalist told the audience of students and authorities attending the ceremony, concluding with a wish for the students: "Work well, take your studies seriously, but also look outwards and always seek excellence, because values and the search for excellence are the key to any job".

Professor Daniele Struppa's lecture focused on the reinterpretation of artistic production, especially painting, in the 14th and 15th centuries through mathematics, illustrating in particular how the painters of the time struggled with the need to include the infinite in their paintings in order to offer representations that appeared realistic and human and, in this way, developed a new way of doing mathematics and representing the infinite on their canvas. "The human spirit is invincible and even in the darkest moments (and it seems to many of us that we are now living in one of those moments) its strength and ability to tackle seemingly impossible problems never fails," recalled Daniele Struppa. "We must look at what we have done, as men, in our past, and find in this memory the courage to continue to face the challenges we face."

Enzo Cartaregia, the student representative on the Board of Directors, also took the floor, recalling the values of IULM University (knowledge, knowing how to be, knowing how to do) and emphasising how committed the University has been over the past few months, those of the Covid-19 pandemic, to resuming teaching in presence and in safety and to guaranteeing students university life: "Our generation needs to propose another vaccine to the country: that of good communication, capable of equipping our public debate with words of truth, just as vaccines have armed our bodies for living with the virus".

Programme:

Speech by the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Prof. Giovanni Puglisi

Greeting by the Mayor of Milan, Dr. Giuseppe Sala

Prof. Gianni Canova, Rector, Not to Dissipate the Signs

Dr. Piero Angela, Communication, Science and Cultural Democracy

Greeting from the Student Representative on the Board of Directors, Dr. Enzo Cartaregia

Prof. Daniele C. Struppa, President of Chapman University, Perspectives of Infinity