milano hub – results of 2021 call for proposals speech by alessandra perrazzelli deputy governor of the bank of italy 28 february 2022 welcome everyone. i am very pleased to be here today to present the results of milano hub ’ s inaugural 2021 call for proposals on artificial intelligence and to announce the names of the 10 projects that - after a rigorous review process - will participate in the bank of italy ’ s innovation centre. how did we get here? we received 40 projects submitted by 62 different operators : financial intermediaries, start - ups, service providers, universities, industry associations, research centres, consulting firms and law firms ( slide 1 ). the call was answered by young start - ups ( less than two years old ) and by italian and foreign banking, finance, insurance and commercial groups, including some listed companies. universities also feature prominently : 22 per cent of the projects submitted hail at least in part from the world of academia. the response to the call for proposals has been very positive. it has served as a further source of stimulation for the bank of italy in helping the financial system to face the challenges posed by the technological innovation process. the results of the call only go to show that innovation knows no boundaries, drawing together participants from across the financial ecosystem, regardless of size. this is also confirmed by the discussions we have had with the market through our other two innovation incubators : the fintech channel and the regulatory sandbox. in 11 cases, the applications were submitted jointly by two or more applicants, often from different economic sectors ( slide 2 ). these are projects that require the input of a variety of professionals, or that involve operators with traditional business models turning to fintech companies or specialized service providers for their know - how to improve processes and to adapt products. breaking it down geographically ( slide 3 ), 66 per cent of the projects come from the north of italy, 18 per cent from the centre, and 11 per cent from the south and the islands ; the remaining 5 per cent were submitted by foreign applicants. our interaction with these operators has shown that, while the distribution is uneven, nonetheless throughout the country there are plenty of even small entities with a significant wealth of knowledge and high - quality human capital that we should be tapping into increasingly. the projects submitted ( slide 4 ) stand out for their high quality and variety. this fully reflects the dynamism and complexity of the artificial intelligence sector, which is undergoing a period of strong expansion throughout the world.

, let alone central bankers, care about it? the short response is : because they belong to mankind. another one, is that there cannot be macroeconomic, price or financial stability on a dead planet. but let me be a bit more specific. you probably already know that central banks and supervisors created a network in 2017 to “ contribute to the development of environment and climate risk management in the financial sector ”. the ngfs ( network for greening the financial system ), created by 8 members, now counts with 121 members in addition to 19 observers, and the banque de france proudly hosts its secretariat. xiv in march, the ngfs acknowledged that biodiversity loss and nature loss are also a source of macroeconomic and financial instability. xv this statement followed some groundbreaking work conducted by researchers from ngfs members along with the inspire research networkxvi, as well as other research conducted by researchers at a few central banks including the dutch page 5 sur 12 central bankxvii ( dnb ), the banque de france, as well as the central banks of malaysia and brazil jointly with the world bankxviii. at the banque de france, we published a study called “ a “ silent spring ” for the financial system? ”, xix which explored the dependencies and impacts of the french financial system on biodiversity. xx importantly, the study was interdisciplinary and involved several researchers and experts from various institutions. xxi as i will discuss later, i believe that this interdisciplinary approach is essential to address the challenges of the anthropocene. these different studies enable us to understand that nature - related financial risks can be split between physical and transition risks, much like climate - related financial risks. physical risks stem from the dependency of economic activities on ecosystem services and their vulnerability in the case of disruption. for instance, the loss of pollination could affect agricultural output and lead to food shortages or higher consumer prices, while new pandemics could disrupt entire value chains. transition risks result from the negative impacts of some economic activities on biodiversity, which makes them vulnerable to transition policies. for instance, it is hoped that the cop15 that will take place in december in montreal will lead to an international agreement to protect 30 % of land and sea areas by 2030. regional and national policies are also expected : the eu green deal contains several goals related to biodiversity, such as the need to increase organic farming practices from 9 % to 25 % cultivated areas. all these policies could have profound implications for different