Our planet is home to enormous plant diversity. 85% of everything alive, by weight, is made up of plants. We animals, all together, represent a measly 0.3%. Despite representing the whole of life, plants are unknown and ignored by most people. Breaking out of this 'plant blindness' is crucial for the future of our planet and represents a huge challenge and opportunity for every sector of our business. Especially some businesses, such as tourism, which by their nature are inclined to make people look at the world with new eyes.
Plant neurobiologist
A plant neurobiologist and a passionate populariser, The New Yorker classed him as one of their world changers, or rather ‘people who are destined to change our lives’. The founder of plant neurobiology, he is one of the world's leading authorities committed to studying and disseminating a new truth about plants: intelligent, sensitive beings capable of choosing, learning and remembering. A professor at the University of Florence and full professor at the Accademia dei Georgofili, he also heads the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology (LINV, www.linv.org), with branches in Florence, Kitakyushu, Bonn and Paris. In 2010 he became the first Italian scientist to be invited as a speaker for TED GLOBAL. The video of the talk, held in Oxford, has over 1 million views on the TED website. ‘Brilliant Green’, his award-winning best-seller, was released in 2013 by Italian publisher Giunti, illustrating how plants have personalities, exchange information, interact with animals, adopt targeted strategies, have a social life and make the best use of energy resources. It has been translated into 19 languages with the English version published by Island Press. In 2014, he founded PNAT (www.pnat.net), a University of Florence start-up creating plant-inspired technology. Through PNAT he created the Jellyfish Barge, a self-contained, completely sustainable, floating greenhouse, which was unveiled at EXPO 2015 and won several international awards. He co-wrote ‘Biodiversi’ with Carlo Petrini, a dialogue that urges us to rethink life on the Planet and form a new pact between humankind and the Earth. His project ‘Botanica’ is an encounter between music, plants and science, produced and created with Deproducers.
Scientific Director LifeGate
After graduating with honours in Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Milan, he started his professional career as a researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL). He earned three Master’s Degrees in “Architecture and Sustainable Development” (EPFL, 6 months), “Energy” (EPFL and London Imperial College, 2 years), “Entrepreneurship and Management” (EPFL and MIT, 6 months). Founder and CEO of a university spin-off for the energy requalification of large real estate developments, he was a consultant on sustainability issues for the Louvre Museum (Paris) and for cinema operator UGC (Paris). Since 2002, he has been working as Scientific Director of LifeGate S.p.A, a point of reference for sustainability in Italy. He is founder and director of Zero Impact®, the world’s first project for the reduction and offsetting of CO2 emissions, involving over 1,000 companies and 400 million products with projects in 5 developing countries. From 2003 to 2007 he supervised the launch of the LifeGate Energy division. Keen on innovation and new technologies, he has been member of the boards of research institutes including ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, 3,500 people), CESI (400 people), and ERSE (3,500 people). He was member of the committee for the EU Eco-label and Eco-audit. From 2013 to 2016 he has been serving as head of the Digital Expo project for Expo Milano 2015. Since 2016 he is managing director of LifeGate Energy srl and member of the board of LifeGate spa, LifeGate Energy spa, LifeGate Energy People srl, LifeGate consulting and Media srl. Awards and recognitions: among others, the Swiss-American award NETS (New Entrepreneurs for Technology and Science, currently known as “Venture Leaders”); appointment as NETS Ambassador for training high tech start-ups; and the Rotary Foundation’s Paul Harris Fellow.
CEO, Fiera Milano Media
A graduate in Law from the University of Genoa, Antonelli is a cultural producer in various fields. From 1993 to 2003 he was artistic director of Caterina Caselli's Sugar Music (in time to invent the hits of Bocelli and Elisa). From 2006 to 2011 he was editor-in-chief of the Italian edition of Rolling Stone magazine (previously, from 2003, he was its editorial director). From August 2011 to June 2013 he directed the Italian edition of Wired and invented the Wired Next Fest festival. In July 2013, he became editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine GQ where he launched the first edition of the GQ Freak Out festival. He also has significant experience in the world of museums, as a consultant to the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa and as curator of the Villa Croce Museum of Contemporary Art in Genoa. In 2011, with Luca Guadagnino, he founded the film company First Sun (for which he is among the producers of “I am Love” in 2010 - nominated for an Academy Award - and “Suspiria” in 2018, as well as serving as general counsel for “Call Me by My Name” in 2017 - nominated in 2018 and winner of the Academy Award for Best Non-Original Screenplay). Among his various professional activities, Antonelli has published essays and articles in Italian and international magazines (including Flash Art, Domus, Abitare, Vogue Italia, the French Purple, the German O32°C and the Dutch Fantastic Man). He has also taught Sociology of Consumption at the University of Bologna and the University of Genoa. Since 2018, he has been CEO of Fiera Milano Media SpA.
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