INCA RESEARCH SEMINAR: Big Tech politics and infrastructures. Current developments and potential alternatives.
2024-10-22 14:00 (Europe/Madrid) | Aula seminari Santa Cristina (piazzetta G. Morandi 2), Bologna, Italy
On 22 October, organised by INCA partners UNIBO, SUPSI, and Fondazione IU Rusconi Ghigi, a seminar entitled “Big Tech Politics and Infrastructures: Current Developments and Potential Alternatives” will be held in Bologna.
In this afternoon of studies, some INCA researchers have invited Ana Valdivia and Vili Lehdonvirta to discuss with them the latest scientific developments on the project’s themes, with a particular focus on the topic of infrastructures and Big Tech politics, starting from the important works on the subject produced by the two scholars.
Full program:

14:30 Introduction to the event (Edoardo Mollona, UNIBO)
15:00 Infrastructures of the Digital

– Introduction: Mattia Frapporti (UNIBO)
– Talk by Ana Valdivia (Departmental Research Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence (AI),
Government & Policy at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII)
– Discussant: Niccolò Cuppini (University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern
Switzerland)

16:30 Coffee break
17:00 The Politics of Big Tech

– Introduction: Maurilio Pirone (UNIBO)
– Talk by Vili Lehdonvirta (Professor of Technology Policy, Aalto University, Finland)
– Discussant: Sandro Mezzadra (UNIBO)

Joint International Workshop in Lisbon: "Global Infrastructures: Aesthetic Power and Affective Networks in the (Post-)colonial Present"
2024-11-28 09:00 - 18:00 | Colégio Almada Negreiros, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, SE1 Seminar Room
On 28 November, Joint International Workshop will take place in Lisbon, organized by the Institute of Contemporary History of Lisbon and the University of Bologna, in collaboration with COLABOR, INCA, IN2PAST, and the University of Évora.
Several partners from INCA are participating in the event titled “Global Infrastructures: Aesthetic Power and Affective Networks in the (Post)Colonial Present.” Members from CoLABOR, Unibo, and SUPSI will serve as moderators and speakers during various activities throughout the event’s program.
The workshop aims to focus on infrastructures as semiotic and aesthetic vehicles. It promotes a collective investigation of the aesthetic and affective dimension of global infrastructures, with an emphasis on how it interacts with colonial projects, capitalist enterprises and cultural superstructures.
Click on the attached images to view the day’s program and learn more about the main guests and specific topics.

Launching of the Bologna Open Innovation Lab
2024-12-05 10:30 - 13:30 | Sala Tassinari, Palazzo D’Accursio, Bologna, Bologna, Italy
On December 5, the Bologna Open Innovation Lab will be launched during the 2nd Just Transitions Forum at the event titled ‘INCA Workshop: How to Support Policies and Partnerships for an Alternative to Large Digital Platforms.’
The event will consist of an opening seminar on the social and environmental impact of large digital platforms such as GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft) and the definition of potential alternatives, namely regarding platform workers’ health and safety conditions.
INCA coordinator Edoardo Mollona and other members of the team from the University of Bologna and Fondazione IU Rusconi Ghigi will participate in the event.
The event will take place at Sala Tassinari, Palazzo D’Accursio in Bologna from 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM. Participation is open to everyone, but registration is required. Please note that the event will be conducted in Italian.

INCA researchers at IX SISEC - PAVIA 2025 Conference
2025-01-29 - 2025-02-01 | Dipartimento di Scienze Politiche e Sociali, Università di Pavia, Corso Strada Nuova, 65, 27100, Pavia
On 29 January to 1 February, the IX SISEC conference will be held in Pavia (Italy) under the title ‘Visible and invisible in changing capitalism: enterprises, labour, territories and policies’.
The annual conference aims to be a place for reflection, deepening and contamination between different approaches, using these keys to understand the dynamics of contemporary capitalism from a plurality of points of view. The agenda of the event consists of an extensive programme with many talks on a variety of topics and among the speakers will be two UNIBO researchers from the INCA team.
On the one hand, on 29 January, Maurilio Pirone will give a presentation titled ‘Work multiplication and algorithmic control: Amazon as an ecosystem’.
On the other hand, on 30 January, Mattia Frapporti will speak on ‘The carbon foot-print of digital infrastructure. Research trajectories to be prepared to AI revolution’.

Launch of Bucharest city OIL
2025-02-06 | Bucharest, Romania
On February 6, the Bucharest city Open Innovation Lab (OIL) will be launched at an event organized by the Bucharest-Ilfov Regional Development Agency for the AI4Citizens project.
At the launch event, INCA members from Urbasofia will present the details of the OIL, which will focus on gaining a deeper understanding of the role Facebook plays in public discourse and the democratic process. The ultimate goal is to create guidelines for developing an inclusive and ethical alternative to Facebook, to ensure better communication and transparency between public administration, citizens and specialists.

INCA at the STS Hub 2025 Conference
2025-03-11 - 2025-03-14
From 11 to 14 March, INCA will participate in the STS Hub 2025 Conference in Berlin.
Under the title ‘Diffracting the Critical’ the event will bring together more than 600 academics from different disciplines, careers, cultures and identities and will feature multiple activities.
On 14 March, INCA member Maurilio Pirone (UNIBO) will present on the panel ‘The Conjunctural Critics on “Digital Platforms” as Urban Infrastructures’. His speech entitled ‘The Conjunctural Geographies of the Territorialisation of Platforms’ will focus on the forms and effects of the digital infrastructuralisation of urban spaces.
We will provide all the details of his contribution in our newsroom. In the meantime, you can find more information about the conference and its program at this link.

INCA Consortium Meeting in Lisbon
2025-04-09 - 2025-04-11 | Sala da Bica, Convento de São Pedro de Alcântara, Lisbon, Portugal
On 9-11 April, an INCA Consortium Meeting will be held in Lisbon.
The project is entering its final year of activities, and after dedicating the initial phase to theoretical analysis, we are now concentrating our efforts on field research and impact activities.
The upcoming meeting days in the Portuguese capital present an excellent opportunity to collaboratively share key research findings among research units and to explore further work possibilities.
With this goal in mind, a comprehensive agenda has been prepared, featuring presentations from team members and roundtable discussions focused on the three areas where big tech companies exert their influence: politics, economics, and culture.
We will keep you informed about the progress of the meeting and the results we achieve together!

Bucharest OIL workshop: “Co-design space: platform creation and process governance”
2025-05-22 09:00 - 12:00 | Arcub – sala Subsol, Bucharest, Romania
On May 22, as an activity of the Bucharest Open Innovation Lab, a workshop entitled “Co-design space: platform creation and process governance” will be held.
The event, organized by Urbasofia in collaboration with ADIZMB, will take place in Bucharest at the Arcub – Subsol hall. It will last for approximately 3 hours, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. During this time, around 20 stakeholders will come together to collaboratively design the governance model and participatory mechanisms for a new civic digital platform, envisioned as an ethical alternative to Facebook.
The session will concentrate on the governance, maintenance, and co-ownership of the platform by public institutions, civil society, and citizens. The workshop aims to develop a transparent, inclusive, and sustainable framework for civic technology in Bucharest. This will be achieved through presentations, small group discussions, and co-creation activities.

A paper by INCA researchers at COSMOS Conference
2025-05-26 | Palazzo Strozzi, Piazza Strozzi, Florence, 50123, Italy
On May 26, INCA researchers Mattia Frapporti (University of Bologna) and Adam Mrozowicki (University of Wrocław) will participate in a conference entitled “Reclaiming Power: Bridging Social Movements and Industrial Relations in Labour Mobilisation”.
The conference will be held in Florence (Italy) and is organized by COSMOS – Centre on Social Movement Studies of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore.
The event focuses on renewed interest in class issues within social movements and labor studies and expects participants to shed light on workers’ strategies for collective action and their role in reshaping labour politics, considering their interaction with various social actors, including mainstream and grassroots unions. In this context, INCA researchers will present a paper entitled “Work Hard, Have Fun, Make History? Struggles within Amazon in Italy and Poland”.

Barcelona INCA OIL gets underway
2025-06-05 09:45 - 18:15 | Sala Jordi Maragall, CIDOB. Elisabets 12, Barcelona, 08001, Spain
On 5 June, OIL Barcelona will hold its first public event, marking the official launch of the participatory innovation lab.
Organised by INCA’s partner, the University of Barcelona, and CIDOB, a research centre in international relations based in Barcelona, the meeting stems from the synergy between INCA and another Horizon Europe research project, called DIGNITYFIRM.
The event aims to reflect on the future of the platform economy by bringing together experts, professionals, and stakeholders from the sector.
During the day, three roundtables will be held where INCA members will present the project’s results. Each session will concentrate on a specific topic related to platform capitalism:
1) The impact on the working conditions of migrants.
2) The impact on urban space.
3) Existing alternative models.

INCA team at the 5th ISA Forum of Sociology
2025-07-10 11:00 - 12:45 | Faculty of Legal, Economic and Social Sciences, Avenue des Nations Unies 721 Agdal, Rabat, Morocco
From 6 to 11 July, the 5th ISA Forum of Sociology will be held in Rabat (Morocco). This edition invites to reflect on Knowing Justice in the Anthropocene through an intense academic exchange and public engagement. The INCA team will contribute by making several presentations during the event.
On July 10th, from 11:00 AM to 12:45 PM, there will be a session titled “Infrastructural Power of GAFAM and Worker Power in the Platform Economy“. This session is organized by members of INCA, with Adam Mrozowicki from the University of Wroclaw serving as the organizer and Dora Fonseca from CoLABOR as the chair.
During the session, two oral presentations will be made on papers prepared by INCA:

David Versus Goliath: Power Resources and Collective Action in the Context of GAFAM’s Outsourcing Practices. Franco Tomassoni & Sara Nunes, CoLABOR.
Contested Amazonification: Comparing Amazon Workers’ Struggles in Italy and Poland. Adam Mrozowicki, Olga Gitkiwicz & Szymon Pilch, University of Wroclaw; Mattia Frapporti & Maurilio Pirone, University of Bologna.

Therefore, the 5th ISA Forum of Sociology will have a large representation of the INCA team, which will present interesting content. Stay tuned for more details on their interventions!

INCA team at the 9th APA Congress
2025-07-14 - 2025-07-18 | Esc.Sec. Monserrate Room 6.3, Viana do Castelo, Portugal
From July 14 to 18, the 9th Congress of the Portuguese Anthropological Association (APA) will take place in Viana do Castelo, Portugal, with participation from our colleagues at the University of Barcelona, Fabiola Mancinelli and Verna Alcalde.
On July 16, INCA members will present a paper titled “Content Moderation and Lifestyle Migration: Ethnographic Insights into Barcelona’s Digital Workforce” as part of the panel “Rooted or Remote: Exploring the Impact of Digitally Mediated Work on Mobility and Belonging.” This panel aims to encourage reflection on how changes in the work environment influence people’s perceptions, aspirations, and practices related to mobility and immobility throughout different life stages and contexts.

Edoardo Mollona keynote speaker at the final conference of the Rebalance project
2025-09-17 11:30 - 12:30 | University of Pisa, Le Benedettine Conference Center, Piazza S. Paolo a Ripa D’Arno, 16, Le Benedettine Conference Center, Piazza S. Paolo a Ripa D'Arno, 16, Pisa, Select a State or Province:, 56125, Italy
On 17 September, our project coordinator Edoardo Mollona will participate in the final conference of our sister project Rebalance, which aims to provide new insights, resources, events, and learning materials to help foster a rebalancing of capitalism and democracy. He has been invited as a keynote speaker and will share INCA’s results on what the European media say when they talk about GAFAM and how this is politically relevant.

INCA Exhibition ‘Data Materialities’ Opening in Bologna
2025-09-20 - 2025-10-12 | Sala d’Ercole, Sala d'Ercole, Palazzo d'accursio, Piazza maggiore 6,, Bologna, Italy
📅 Opening: September 20, 2025, 5:00 PM (followed by buffet)🖼️ On view: September 20 – October 12, 2025📍 Location: Sala d’Ercole, Palazzo d’Accursio, Bologna
DescriptionINCA presents Data Materialities, an exhibition exploring the hidden infrastructures, labor, and materials that sustain our digital world. Featuring collaborations by EXTENTS (McClain Clutter & Cyrus Peñarroyo), Morgane Billuart, Rául Silva, and soju.studio, the show translates research on data materialities into immersive architectural environments.Beyond the exhibition itself, Data Materialities will be accompanied by a series of talks and public meetings.
Program

September 20, 5:00 PM – Exhibition opening, Sala d’Ercole, Palazzo d’Accursio (Bologna)
October 1, 6:00 PM – Talk with Letizia Chiappini (Slutty Urbanism) and Benjamin Gerdes (Ghost Platform Project), Sala Verde, Palazzo d’Accursio (Bologna)
October 8, 6:00 PM – Talk with Lua Vollaard (Superkilo Girls) and Lorenza Pignatti (NABA Milano), Sala Tassinari, Palazzo d’Accursio (Bologna)
October 10, 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM – Meeting “Piattaforme e digitale: un modulo educativo per le scuole”, Sala Anziani, Palazzo d’Accursio (Bologna)
October 10, 4:00 – 5:30 PM – Meeting “Design partecipativo di nuove piattaforme digitali per la città: linee guida, buone pratiche etiche e alternative a confronto”, Sala Anziani, Palazzo d’Accursio (Bologna), followed by a guided tour and closing buffet. (Registration required)

Opening hours

Tue–Thu: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Fri: 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Sat–Sun: 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Mon: Closed

👉 [Read the full news story here]

Talk: Promiscuous Approaches to Digital Spatiality
2025-10-01 18:00 - 19:30 | Sala Verde, Palazzo d'Accursio, Bologna, Italy
On 1 October 2025, at 18:00, the talk Promiscuous approaches to digital spatiality will be held at Sala Verde, Palazzo d’Accursio, Bologna.
This event is part of the program of activities organized in relation to the INCA exhibition Data Materialities, open from 20 September to 12 October in Sala d’Ercole of the same palace.
In this first talk, the project The Ghost Platform, led by Benjamin Gerdes, will engage in dialogue with Letizia Chiappini from the collective Slutty Urbanism. Through an open exchange, the political implications underlying the aesthetics of logistics will be explored. Topics will include data production understood as labor, the extraction of urban resources presented as an “improvement” for citizens rather than as monetization of their data, and the possible implications of “promiscuous” and “slutty” approaches to the visualization of digital capitalism infrastructures.
The talk will be delivered in English. Prior registration via the following form is recommended.
This initiative is promoted within the framework of the INCA project, carried out by the University of Bologna in collaboration with Fondazione IU Rusconi Ghigi and Big Tech Watch Think Tank.

TALK: Economies of measurement: from productivity, to movement, to desire
2025-10-08 18:00 - 19:30 | Sala Tassinari, Palazzo d’Accursio, Bologna
On 8 October 2025, at 18:00, the talk Economies of measurement: from productivity, to movement, to desire will be held at Sala Tassinari,Palazzo d’Accursio, Bologna.

This is the second talk to be held as part of the programme of activities organized in relation to the INCA exhibition Data Materialities, open from 20 September to 12 October in Sala d’Ercole of the same palace.

The talk will feature a dialogue between Lorenza Pignatti (NABA Milan) & Superkilogirls (Lua Vollaard). It will explore the historical marginalization of women’s work in the early days of computing. The research of both professionals recontextualizes a materialist and feminist reading of techno-accelerationism.

In parallel with the works exhibited in Data Materialities, this conversation aims to highlight the potential of artistic practices, which allow us to propose speculative structures from which to reposition the digital on a human scale, shedding light on Data Materiality as a frame of reference for the contemporary study of technology.

The talk will be delivered in English. Prior registration via the following form is recommended.

This initiative is promoted within the framework of the INCA project, carried out by the University of Bologna in collaboration with Fondazione IU Rusconi Ghigi and Big Tech Watch Think Tank.

Public launch of the INCA Educational Module
2025-10-10 09:00 - 12:00 | Sala Anziani, Palazzo d'Accursio, Bologna, Italy
On 10 October, the INCA educational module—developed through co-creation between INCA members from SUPSI and teachers from the Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Mattei (a Bologna secondary school)—will be publicly launched.
The presentation is part of the program of activities for the INCA Exhibition and will take place in the Sala Anziani, Palazzo d’Accursio (Bologna), from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
Students, teachers, and institutional partners will have the opportunity to learn about the contents and rationale of the educational module, which aims to empower young European citizens in navigating the challenges of digital platforms and fostering trust in democratic institutions.

ROUND TABLE: "Participatory design of new digital platforms for the city: guidelines, ethical best practices, and a comparison of alternatives"
2025-10-10 16:00 - 17:30 | Sala Anziani, Palazzo d'Accursio, Bologna, Italy
On October 10, a round table entitled “Participatory design of new digital platforms for the city: guidelines, ethical best practices, and a comparison of alternatives” will take place from 16:00 to 17:30 at Sala Anziani – Palazzo d’Accursio (Bologna).
As the final event of the INCA Open Innovation Laboratories (OILs) held in Bologna, Barcelona, and Bucharest, the event, moderated by Valentina Bazzarin, data ethics expert and co-founder of Period Think Tank, will begin by sharing the best practices and guidelines that have emerged over the past months from the work of the OILs. This task will be carried out by our colleagues Giorgia Romagnoli (Urbasofia) and Umberto Mezzacapo (Fondazione IU Rusconi Ghigi), together with the INCA coordinator Edoardo Mollona (University of Bologna).
This presentation will be followed by an interactive session with interventions from about ten experts from companies, public, and private organizations. The aim is to foster dialogue and reflect on the design of ethical, sustainable, and alternative practices to the big tech paradigm, inviting the different stakeholders to discuss the impacts already generated (or that may arise) for people and cities.
The event is also framed as the final moment of the public program of the Data Materialities INCA Exhibition (which will close in Bologna on October 12), and once the round table is over, attendees will have the opportunity to take a guided tour and conclude with an aperitif.
The event is free but requires registration via this link.
Check the full event program ⬇️

Opening of the Exhibition "Virtualità Materiali"
2025-10-30 17:00 - 19:00 | Limonaia, Villa Saroli, Viale Stefano Franscini 8, Lugano, Switzerland
On October 30, the exhibition Virtualità Materiali will open in Lugano. It will take place at the Limonaia of Villa Saroli, featuring works by EXTENTS (McClain Clutter & Cyrus Peñarroyo), Morgane Billuart, Rául Silva, soju.studio and Omar Tigrini
During the opening event, there will also be a special activity. It will begin with a presentation by Myriam Pol (USI SUPSInido) of her installation Il Piccolo Circuito, which includes activities for children. The work aims to introduce the youngest visitors to the materiality of the digital. Il Piccolo Circuito will be presented and experienced for the first time on October 30, and afterwards it will become part of the USI SUPSInido spaces at the Campus Est USI-SUPSI in Viganello, where it will continue to serve as a place of discovery, play, and daily learning for children from 4 months to 4 years old.
Full program:

17:00–17:30: Presentation of Myriam Pol’s installation Il Piccolo Circuito – a space for play and discovery
17:30–18:00: Exhibition presentation
18:00–19:00: Opening aperitif

INCA Exhibition “Virtualità Materiali” in Lugano
2025-10-30 17:00 - 2025-11-22 19:30 | Limonaia, Villa Saroli, Viale Stefano Franscini 8, Lugano, Switzerland
📅 Opening: October 30, 2025, 5:00 PM (followed by buffet)🖼️ On view: October 30 – November 22, 2025📍 Location: Limonaia, Villa Saroli Viale Stefano Franscini 8, Lugano
Description
How does a “like” materialize? How many deserts turn into processors? Where does the labor that connects us hide?
In the folds of everyday digital life—where every click seems magical and every package appears to arrive “out of nowhere”—this exhibition brings to the surface what the illusion of the virtual tends to hide: the material.
Virtualità Materiali is the second stop of the INCA exhibition “Data Materialities”, which was first shown in Bologna from September 20 to October 12, and this edition will include new features and additions. It invites visitors to look beyond the screen and discover the infrastructures, bodies, and natural resources that lie behind every interaction with our devices.
The exhibition features six installations, showcasing the works of EXTENTS (McClain Clutter & Cyrus Peñarroyo), Morgane Billuart, Rául Silva, soju.studio, and Omar Tigrini. In addition, four public events will be part of the program, providing opportunities for discussion at the intersection of art, technology, and society.
Program

October 30 – Opening event

17:00–17:30 Il Piccolo Circuito – Space for play and discovery
17:30–18:00 Exhibition presentation 18:00–19:00 Opening aperitif

October 31 – Roundtable

17:30–19:00 Behind digital platforms: New educational approaches for Ticino schools
19:00–20:00 Aperitif

November 19 – Workshop

17:30–19:00 Social networks in the classroom
19:00–20:00 Aperitif

November 22 – Closing event

17:30–18:30 Digital capitalism
18:30–19:30 Aperitif

Opening hours

Thursdays and Fridays: 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Saturdays: 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM

👉 [Discover all the details of the exhibition and the program in the following article]

ROUNDTABLE: "Behind digital platforms: New educational approaches for Ticino schools"
2025-10-31 17:30 - 20:00 | Limonaia, Villa Saroli, Viale Stefano Franscini 8, Lugano, Switzerland
On October 31, as part of the Virtualità Materiali exhibition program, a roundtable will take place, titled “Behind Digital Platforms: New Educational Approaches for Ticino Schools.”
In recent decades, digital technology has represented a radical technological leap. The new generations are often called “digital natives,” while for many older teachers, technology can seem “unnatural.” Some schools in Ticino have recently experimented with an educational module to address these challenges. This roundtable will present it and open a collective discussion.
Introductions:

Andrea Plata (SUPSI-DFA/ASP)
Filippo Bignami (SUPSI-LUCI)

Discussion participants:

Sandra Mitrovic (SUPSI-DTI – IDSIA)
Ralph Pomina (Middle school teacher)
Sandro Pellicciotta (High school teacher – Bologna)
Daniele Bollini (History teaching and ECCD expert)
Giuseppe Laffranchi (DECS – Center for Educational and Digital Resources)

INCA at the Cooperative AI Conference
2025-11-12 14:00 - 15:30 | Istanbul Planning Agency, Florya, Istanbul, Turkey
11–14 November, three members of the INCA team will attend the Cooperative AI Conference, the first global event dedicated to cooperatives and artificial intelligence.
This gathering will explore questions such as: “As AI reshapes our world, who decides its future — and who gets left behind? Will AI be governed by a few, or can worker-led models inspire its development to serve the many?”What role can cooperatives play in this transformation?
Building on these questions, the conference will explore how the international cooperative network, social movements, trade unions, and solidarity economy initiatives can collaborate with policymakers to design programs that support workers and promote the development of equitable and democratic AI systems.
In this context, on November 12, Niccolò Cuppini (SUPSI), Mattia Frapporti (University of Bologna), and Maurilio Pirone (University of Bologna) will lead a workshop titled “Exploring Data Logistics and the Future of Cooperation.” It will present selected excerpts from the INCA documentary on the data revolution, which is currently in its final stages of production. Following the screening, a discussion will take place on these themes.

WORKSHOP: Social Networks in the Classroom
2025-11-19 17:30 - 20:00 | Limonaia, Villa Saroli, Viale Stefano Franscini 8, Lugano, Switzerland
On November 19, as part of the Virtualità Materiali exhibition program, a workshop on social networks in the classroom will take place at the Limonaia, Villa Saroli (Lugano).
The new frontiers of technological development are transforming how knowledge is learned, produced, and shared. How can we design and experiment with innovative educational scenarios?
This session takes inspiration from an experiment carried out during the SUPSI course I mondi del lavoro, where students created social media content as a form of assessment. These contents will be projected and will serve as a starting point for discussion.
Introductions:

Paola Solcà (Head of the SUPSI Bachelor in Social Work)
Angelica Lepori (Senior Lecturer-Researcher, SUPSI)
Fabio Lenzo (Senior Lecturer)

Closing Event of the Virtualità Materiali Exhibition
2025-11-22 17:30 - 19:30
On November 22, the closing event of the Virtualità Materiali exhibition, open since October 30, will take place. In addition to being the last day to experience the artworks dedicated to the hidden materiality of the digital, there will be an opportunity to learn about the research of Spartaco Greppi and Christian Marazzi, prominent Ticino-based scholars, on Digital Capitalism.
Over the past decades, a new form of capitalism has emerged on a global scale—a vortex of change that, through digital technology, has transformed the ways we produce, distribute, and consume, as well as social imaginaries and relationships. Spartaco Greppi and Christian Marazzi have previously anticipated these transformations and will present their current research on the topic.
Speakers:

Spartaco Greppi (Former Head of the Competence Center for Work, Welfare, and Society of SUPSI)
Christian Marazzi (Economist and former SUPSI lecturer)

Discussant:

Barbara Antonioli Mantegazzini (Head of the Competence Center for Work, Welfare, and Society of SUPSI)

Joint International Workshop on Infrastructures of Rent Extraction
2025-11-27 13:30 - 17:30 | Sala Rossa, Via Azzo Giardino 23, Bologna, Italy
On November 27, a joint international workshop on Infrastructures of Rent Extraction will take place in Bologna. This INCA event has been organized by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Bologna and the Department of Contemporary History at Nova University Lisbon, in collaboration with CoLABOR, the University of Évora, and FCT.
The workshop will explore the relationship between global infrastructures and practices of rent extraction, both historically and in the contemporary global context. It aims to foster a collective reflection on the ways in which rent relations extend far beyond land markets and shape the global circulation and capture of value across logistical, extractive, and digital infrastructures.
To this end, around ten experts will participate in the workshop, including several INCA members. Mattia Frapporti, Sandro Mezzadra, and Maurilio Pirone from the University of Bologna, together with Niccolò Cuppini from SUPSI, will take part as discussants.
Full program:
13.00-13.30 Introduction
Rethinking Imperialist Rent through the Politics of Global Infrastructures
Amedeo Policante (Nova University of Lisbon) & Mattia Frapporti (Bologna University)
13.30-15.00 Digital Infrastructures, Technoscience Rents, and Artistic Resistence

Technocapitalism: The Political of the Interface: Guillermo García Santos (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid&Università di Bologna)
A new System? Crisis, capital and the State in the Italian digital sovereignty: Davide Blotta (University of Urbino)

Obstructing the flow: Artistic form of resistance in the age of Rentier Capitalism: Sara Marhuenda Barberà (Universitàt Politecnica de València)

Discussants: Maurilio Pirone (University of Bologna) & Mattia Frapporti (University of Bologna)
15.30-17.00 Speculative Infrastructures and Financial Rents

A Submarine Extractive Enclave: Deep-Sea Mining and Rent Extraction in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone
Erica Borg (University College London)
Projects and Opposition
Evelina Gambino (University of Cambridge)

Discussants: Sandro Mezzadra (University of Bologna), Niccolò Cuppini (University of Sourthern Switzerland), Amedeo
Policante (Nova University of Lisbon)
17.00-17.30 Roundtable
This Joint International Workshop between the Institute of Contemporary History and the University of Bologna is funded by national funds through FCT — Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., under the projects UID/04209 and LA/P/0132/2020 (doi.org/10.54499/LA/P/0132/2020); and by the European Union project ‘INCA: Increase Corporate Political Responsibility and Accountability’ with the collaboration of COLABOR.

INCA at the Presentation of KVS Preadviezen 2025
2025-12-01 | La Hague, Netherlands
On 1 December, the public launch event of KVS Preadviezen 2025 will take place in The Hague. KVS Preadviezen is an annual collection of expert policy reports published by the KVS, the oldest association of economists in the Netherlands.
INCA member Inge Graef of Tilburg University will attend the event, as she has contributed to this year’s edition with an article on dependence on Big Tech.
Each year, the KVS commissions scholarly reports (known in Dutch as preadviezen) on a specific theme, aiming to bridge academic insights and policy recommendations. The central theme of this year’s publication is “Openness in Times of Geopolitical Fragmentation.”
Inge Graef contributed a chapter titled “How to Make the Netherlands Less Dependent on Big Tech.” Drawing on research conducted within the INCA project, she reviews the legislation adopted by Europe in recent years to control the power of major technology companies and addresses what the Netherlands can do to reduce the dependence of government organisations, businesses, and citizens on Big Tech.
During the event, the INCA member will also participate in a panel discussion on issues related to Big Tech, alongside other authors of the collection, officials from the European Commission, and members of the House of Representatives. The session will be moderated by Maartje Schulz and Robert Dur.

INCA participation at the DIGITAL SME Summit 2025
2025-12-04 | European Economic and Social Committee, Brussels, Belgium
On 4 December, INCA member Inge Graef from Tilburg University will participate in the DIGITAL SME Summit 2025, taking place at the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels.
It is a key annual event for European SMEs, focusing on digital transformation and technology, with the overarching goal of shaping the future of Europe’s digital economy. This year’s summit spotlighted European SME-driven innovations that form the building blocks of Europe’s technological sovereignty—from cloud and AI to cybersecurity and data, as well as digital public infrastructure.
To address these important topics, several panels (see the agenda) will be held, featuring leading experts in the field. Our colleague Inge Graef will join the panel “The Data Act and the Aftermarket: Ensuring Competition and Access for SMEs”, alongside:

Björn Juretzki, Head of Unit, Data Policy (DG CNECT, European Commission)
Damian Boeselager, Member of the European Parliament
Sylvia Gotzen, Secretary General, FIGIEFA
Veronique Willems, Secretary General, SMEUnited
Andrei Kelemen, CEO, Cluj IT, and Vice-President, European DIGITAL SME Alliance

INCA Final Conference: "INcrease Corporate political responsibility and Accountability"
2026-01-21 - 2026-01-22 | Rue du Montoyer, 21, Brussels, Belgium
On 21–22 January, the INCA Final Conference will take place in Brussels at the Emilia-Romagna Region Delegation. The event will bring together scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to present the results of three years of rigorous empirical research conducted across multiple European contexts by the INCA project. Participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of how Big Tech companies shape European society.
As the project approaches its conclusion in March 2026, the INCA Final Conference offers a unique opportunity to consolidate and share the main insights generated on the political, economic, and social power of Big Tech and digital platforms, and to discuss the implications of this power for European digital governance.
The programme features sessions exploring European citizens’ perceptions of digital platforms and the ways media narratives shape public understanding. It also examines the political influence of GAFAM corporations, including lobbying, regulatory engagement, and the implementation of EU digital legislation. Labour relations in platform work will be addressed as well, highlighting key findings on algorithmic management, industrial relations, and regulatory challenges. The event will conclude with discussions on how platform organisations can be improved, covering alternative governance models, codes of conduct, and action-oriented research approaches.
The event will also host the launch of the Big Tech Watch Think Tank, signalling INCA’s commitment to sustained critical engagement beyond the lifespan of the project. For more information about the Final Conference, you can read the editorial written by the project coordinator, Edoardo Mollona (University of Bologna), and Marco Palma (SUPSI), and consult the full programme attached below.
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