"The World Upside Down and the Role of Europe", with Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister of Italy

About President Romano Prodi Romano Prodi was born in Scandiano (Reggio Emilia, Italy) in 1939. After graduating at the Faculty of Law of the Catholic University in Milan and at the London School of Economics, Prodi began his academic career at the Department of Economics and at the Faculty of Political science of the University of Bologna, where he worked as an assistant professor (1963), associate professor (1966) and lastly full professor (1971-1999) of industrial organisation and industrial policy. He helped establish the "Italian school of industrial policy” and acted for several years as editor of its quarterly journal, L'Industria, Rivista di Economia e Politica Industriale. In 1981 he founded Nomisma, the largest Italian institute of economic studies and chaired its scientific committee until 1995. From November 1978 to March 1979, Romano Prodi was Minister of Industry. From November 1982 to October 1989, he was chairman and CEO of the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction (IRI), the largest Italian public holding. In 1993 at its head, he saw through the privatization of a number of industrial, banking and service companies. In February 1995 he founded the "Olive tree" centre-left coalition in May 1996, he was appointed Prime Minister. He remained in office until October 1998. From 1999 to 2005 he was President of the European Commission. In 2006 Romano Prodi was elected leader of the centre-left coalition in Italy and after a victory in the 2006 elections he became Prime Minister, until May 8, 2008. Since then, he has been President of the Foundation for Worldwide Cooperation and held the role of Chairman of the United Nations-African Union High-level Panel for Peacekeeping in Africa from 2008 to 2010. He has held academic roles of Professor at-large at Brown University (USA), Professor of CEIBS (China Europe International Business School). From October 2012 to January 2014 he was Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Sahel and he is currently President of the Italy-Asean Association.