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Professor Mariana Mazzucato awarded 2021 Pontignano Award
17 September 2021
Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) Professor Mariana Mazzucato has been awarded the Pontignano Award by the British Embassy in Rome and British Council Italy.
The 2021 Pontignano Award has been presented by the British Embassy in Rome and the British Council in Italy to Professor Mariana Mazzucato at an awards ceremony held today (17th September) in Rome.
The Pontignano Award is conferred annually to an individual who has made a significant contribution to UK-Italy relations at the Pontignano Conference, the most important annual event in the UK-Italy bilateral relationship, bringing together delegates from the worlds of education and academia; technology and innovation; culture and society; business and finance and the government and media.
This award recognizes Professor Mazzucato’s outstanding contributions to innovative economic thinking in the UK, Italy and globally. It particularly awards her role as Founding Director of the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at UCL and in shaping European industrial and innovation strategy.
Professor Mazzucato said of the award:
“I am deeply honoured to receive this year‘s Pontignano award. Italy and the UK face many of the same problems and opportunities— around climate change, inequality and lagging productivity. Working closely with the UK government since 2017 on its challenge based industrial strategy, with Prime Minister Conte on the Italian recovery programme, and in 2021 with the G7 Panel on Economic Resilience under the leadership of Lord Mark Sedwill ---has been truly inspirational.
If we are to achieve our goals on inclusive and sustainable growth it is crucial that economic theory and practice be rethought to be more goal oriented with new metrics around the common good and public purpose at the centre of how we think about budgets, procurement and public-private collaborations. Only in this way will we be able to improve equity in the global heath response, accelerate investment in climate mitigation and adaptation, and promote fair labour standards. The work of the G7 Panel offers timely recommendations for both countries as they seek to build economies in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that are more resilient.”