Horizon Europe projects 
Venice School of Management

The Venice School of Management (the Department of Management of Ca' Foscari Univeristy) is a partner in this ambitious four-year research and innovation project funded by the European Commission's Horizon Europe, which aims to create a European community of artisans interested in exploring the future of craftsmanship together. Hephaestus was the protector of artisans and technical knowledge. From his teachings, mythology tells us, we learned the knowledge making that has enabled us to live at peace with nature and shape our history, culture and future. The project will extend these teachings to our times.
Globalized markets, technological advances and changes in production have put traditional craft techniques at risk of extinction. The project aims to research, preserve and, at the same time, innovate artistic crafts to promote a creative and sustainable culture-based economy.
The HEPHAESTUS project is a collaboration of five universities and craft associations. We have identified five regional ecosystems with a long tradition of craftsmanship-Dals Långed, Venice, Bornholm, the Bassano del Grappa area, and the Faroe Islands-in which to do research and design strategies that will have long-term impact.

The vision of the BoSS project is to demonstrate and archive solutions for climate neutrality with a particular focus on coastal cities as an interface to healthy seas, ocean and water bodies envisioning a new triangle of sustainability, inclusion, and design focused on the most important global natural space. The BoSS will offer opportunities to engage with communities for an environmentally sustainable, socially fair, and aesthetically appealing transition. Seven lighthouse demonstrators, located in four different regions and acquatic ecosystems in Portugal (estuary), Italy (lagoon and gulf), Sweden/Germany (strait/north sea/river), and the Netherlands/Belgium (delta) will showcase the transformational and uptake impact at the EU level serving as lighthouse pilots for the implementation of Horizon Europe mission objectives and showcase innovative solutions.

Current diagnoses that democracy is in crisis at the beginning of the 21st century share a common argumentative reference point: the (implicit) reference to the dysfunctional constitution of the political public sphere which is currently undergoing structural change. The rise of social media platforms is considered as one of its main constituents. While social media make the public arena more open and thus more responsive, these platforms also lead to new mechanisms of fragmentation and exclusion, an erosion of norms in public debate and a loss of trust in traditional institutions.
The project will reconsider the diagnoses of this crisis by (1) providing better empirical evidence for the impact of social media on society with respect to political debates, (2) understanding the main casual mechanisms of this impact and (3) developing tools that improve the capacity of social media to contribute to the functioning of the public arena in a liberal democracy, i.e., deliberation, legitimation and the self-perception of the democratic subject.

Democracy is under threat from capitalism. Excessive lobbying, violations of basic human rights, and collusion with repressive governments are just some of the ways that companies can undermine democratic processes both at home and abroad. But businesses and their leaders can also help promote democracy. Whether through their influence on authoritarian regimes, their respect for minorities, or the production of democracy-enhancing products and services, companies big and small can play a part in enabling democratic participation and restoring the rights and entitlements of citizens. The problem is that we have too much of the former and not enough of the latter. Capitalism and democracy need to be rebalanced. Rebalance project is a collaboration between seven European universities and an international NGO that seek to provide new insights, resources, events, and learning materials to help foster a rebalancing of capitalism and democracy. The project is funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe funding programme and Innovate UK.

ODyCCEuS (Opinion Dynamics and Cultural Conflict in European Spaces), funded by the European Horizon 2020 program, aims to study how social and cultural conflicts arise and spread, based on the analysis of language and its use in web and social media. Within the project is the creation of an 'open' digital platform, Penelope, which will enable the integration of tools for data collection and integration, analysis and (geo)visualization. In addition, two participatory tools will be built, the Opinion Observatory and the Opinion Facilitator, through which citizens, associations, and media will be able to visualize and share data and tools to map and monitor the places and terms of growing social crises and conflicts in real time.