Human Economic Forum
The international platform for thought, dialogue and collaboration, bringing different perspectives into a shared conversation about human development.
About the Human Economic Forum
Rethinking the purpose of the economy
The Human Economic Forum (HEF) is an international platform for dialogue and collaboration dedicated to human development, social sustainability, and economic and technological transformation.
Discover our approachIdentity and mission
HEF brings together academia, universities and research centres, businesses, institutions, social organisations, the media, and cultural and religious communities. Its purpose is to foster dialogue on the evolving relationship between the economy, technological innovation and the centrality of the person.
Through research, public debate, cultural production, the exploration of practical tools and the building of networks, HEF connects reflection with action. Its work goes beyond analysing the risks and opportunities of artificial intelligence: it translates that analysis into concrete tools intended to help institutions put its vision into practice.
How HEF is organised
Three complementary elements
The project brings together cultural, scientific and institutional dimensions through three complementary elements.
HEF Scientific Committee
An international group of scholars and experts contributing to the scientific dimension of the project.
Fondazione Borgo Campello ETS
The cultural organisation that hosts and promotes the project’s initiatives.
Our guiding framework
Principle, vision, criterion and objective
The principle
Human dignity
The inviolable dignity of the person is HEF’s overarching principle. Rather than one research topic among others, it is the ultimate standard against which every proposal, tool and initiative is considered.
The vision
Capitalism of Meaning
Capitalism of Meaning is the cultural framework within which HEF develops its thinking: a model that directs the economy, capital, innovation and technology towards human dignity, social cohesion and the common good.
The criterion
Social sustainability
HEF assesses economic and technological change through a society’s ability to sustain cohesion and trust, distribute benefits, costs and opportunities fairly, prevent negative social effects, and protect people’s dignity and participation.
The objective
Turn technological productivity into new social demand
HEF explores how productivity gains from artificial intelligence can do more than increase output and reduce costs: they can also generate greater demand for care, education, health, culture and human relationships, where the human contribution remains difficult to replace.
From vision to action
Three lines of action
HEF organises its research and proposals around three connected questions, developing tools intended for institutions, businesses and lawmakers.
Distributing newly generated value
How can part of the wealth and productivity generated by automation be shared? The Systemic Social Dividend is HEF’s principal economic proposal addressing this question.
Governing the transition
How can the human and social effects of technological and economic decisions be assessed and guided in advance? HEF develops a set of proposed tools — pre-governance, social taxonomy, the Social Sustainability Committee and the Architect of Meaning — as parts of a common framework for anticipating the transition.
Preserving democratic and cognitive autonomy
How can knowledge, computing capacity and cognitive power be prevented from becoming concentrated in a small number of private or non-European actors? European cognitive sovereignty is HEF’s principal strategic proposal for Europe.
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Discover HEF’s work
Explore the publications, people and occasions for dialogue through which HEF develops its research and proposals.