The SOS Telefono Azzurro Foundation, in collaboration with the Polytechnic of Milan, will propose a day of debate on Monday 5 February dedicated to the digital future of children, entitled “Even a child can get there”. The event, scheduled on the occasion of Safer Internet Day 2024will be held from 9am to 5.30pm in the main hall of the Polytechnic in Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32. «Our objective is to help lay the foundations for high-impact actions on multiple levels – institutional, corporate and educational – that protect the rights of children and adolescents online”, is the comment of Ernesto Caffo, president of Telefono Azzurro. «In fact, we believe that it is responsibility of institutions, companies and communities to protect minors from the risks of the web and new artificial intelligence technologies. It is necessary to intervene not simply in terms of security and control, but it is necessary to implement educational actions capable of guaranteeing the complete protection of the minor and at the same time making the minor aware of the risks present on the internet and therefore able to avoid them. ».
It is a priority for the SOS Telefono Azzurro Foundation «identify greater protections for children and adolescents, placing their value and dignity at the center of debate and action. These are values that Telefono Azzurro, since 1987, has wanted to place at the center of the debate which will involve academic experts, institutions and companies for two days to address the topic in a transversal manner”.
If Safer Internet Day is an opportunity to raise public awareness about the conscious and responsible use of the Internet, for Telefono Azzurro «it is essential to also address future challenges such as, for example, those linked to artificial intelligence and risks for children and boys. On Monday 5 February, in addition to the presentation of the results of the new survey carried out by Bva-Doxa for Telefono Azzurro, which involved minors and parents regarding the use and critical issues of the network, there are scheduled six round tables on different topics: from digital innovation for the new generations to data security, from communication to education in the digital age to the risks of the network for the new generations, artificial intelligence and big data and responsibility and ethics in the digital world. The common thread that will link all interventions will be the child and his safety, which must always be at the center of action. During the morning, Telefono Azzurro and the Polytechnic of Milan will also launch a joint observatory.”
However, it will not be a journey without challenges and will require an ethical and responsible approach from all the actors involved: communities, institutions, companies. Technology companies will have to prioritize safe products, always addressing potential risks for society and for children; the institutions will have to take care of the shortcomings from a legislative point of view on new technologies, while the entire educational community will have to be able to offer the new generations the tools necessary to face the challenges related to digital.
The panel scheduled from 2.30pm to 3.30pm, entitled “Network excess and perception of reality: challenges and risks for young generations”, will be moderated by the editor-in-chief of VITA, Giampaolo Cerriand includes the interventions of: Anna Maria Tarantulapresident of the Centesimus Annus Foundation; Flavia Mazzarellapresident of Bper Banca; Alfredo Maria Garibaldisenior partner Artificial intelligence & data at Deloitte; Massimiliano Capitaniocommissioner Agcom – Authority for communications guarantees; Tommaso Fabbrifull professor of Business Organization at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia; Daniela Villani, associate professor in General Psychology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. To participate in person you must register using the appropriate form, which you can download by clicking here. The events, which will also be broadcast in streaming, are made possible thanks to the support of Bper Bank.