A message of hope and optimism

The impacts of COVID-19 on Università della Svizzera italiana and our EMBA community has been vast. Our thoughts are with all of you and we hope you’re safe. We are reminded of just how critical it is to support one another during these challenging times.

University services remain operative, in a different way.

USI EMBA is going on with the academic program, with innovative solutions.

Zoom

With the pioneering course of Innovation & Creativity, we discovered the exceptional user friendliness of Zoom, now became the official e-learning tool for the Executive MBA.

EMBA trusts the powerful, positive effect of virtual tools and is at your disposal to provide assistance and support.

There are in fact several tools that can be implemented in regards of long-distance learning.

To name a few: the option of recording or live broadcasting of the lesson in the classroom, conducting Q&A with the aid of video-conferencing tools, access to additional material for individual study.

To ensure a high teaching quality even in such a challenging context, USI, with its eLab, supports the faculty and students in overcoming the complexity of using distance learning tools, which today have become essential.

#USIeLearning

Interesting initiatives have been promoted among USI students, like “Share your experience of online study through #USIeLearning”

To stay close even if faraway, USI invites students, academics and staff to share photographs and videos about the learning and teaching experience in eLearning mode.

Images posted on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok) and tagged with #USIeLearning will shared on USI channels. The best ones will be selected at the end of each week. Those who have published the best posts will receive USI gadgets, by mail, at home.

EMBA10: Roads to Disruption

The direction to follow for our new brand program EMBA10, is to implement more and more e-learning and online courses.

In today’s world, in fact, entrepreneurs and executives must face two new factors that affect political and economic environments, alter social relations and deeply impact businesses, their operations and their processes:

Digital Revolution: The advent of big data, machine learning, and new technologies require new organizational approaches and competencies.

Sustainability: The need to create and maintain a sustainable society for future generations must be integral part of a successful business strategy. In digital we trust!

The disruption of business models through the advancement of digital technology is a reality for Swiss industries.

In today’s world, digital affects every aspect in business and life. In Switzerland, in particular, we witness big changes in the financial and pharmaceutical sectors. Digitalization harbors huge potential for all Swiss firms. It is vital to make the most of the opportunities offered by this technological movement.

Our Executive MBA is delivered at Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, one of the leading universities for Informatics, Economics and Finance.

USI is a young and lively university. The relatively small size of the campuses encourages the free flow and open exchange of ideas. USI encourages faculty, students and researchers to develop their potential, and appreciates their curiosity and willingness to experiment with new ways of thinking, learning, teaching and working. We are always taking on new challenges while remaining true to our three guiding principles: quality, openness and responsibility.

Lugano is also the home of the CSCS Swiss national Supercomputing Centre, the supercomputers hub and the fulcrum of expertise that help keep Swiss science at the forefront of innovation worldwide.

Switzerland is also one of the safest country in 2019, according to the Peace Index 2019 and Lugano it’s the most pleasant and safest place to start this adventure.

EMBArk with us on this fabulous journey!

Source: Peace Index 2019

When: 20.02.2020, h 18:00

Where: Fondazione Prada, Milano

Enjoy with us this incredible experience between artificial intelligence and art.

Training Humans

“Training Humans”, conceived by Kate Crawford, AI researcher and professor, and Trevor Paglen, artist and researcher, is the first major photography exhibition devoted to training images: the collections of photos used by scientists to train artificial intelligence (AI) systems in how to “see” and categorize the world.

In this exhibition, Crawford and Paglen reveal the evolution of training image sets from the 1960s to today. As stated by Trevor Paglen, “when we first started conceptualizing this exhibition over two years ago, we wanted to tell a story about the history of images used to ‘recognize’ humans in computer vision and AI systems. We weren’t interested in either the hyped, marketing version of AI nor the tales of dystopian robot futures.” Kate Crawford observed, “We wanted to engage with the materiality of AI, and to take those everyday images seriously as a part of a rapidly evolving machinic visual culture. That required us to open up the black boxes and look at how these ‘engines of seeing’ currently operate”.

“Training Humans” explores two fundamental issues in particular: how humans are represented, interpreted and codified through training datasets, and how technological systems harvest, label and use this material. As the classifications of humans by AI systems becomes more invasive and complex, their biases and politics become apparent. Within computer vision and AI systems, forms of measurement easily – but surreptitiously – turn into moral judgments.

Entrance is offered to EMBAs students, alumni and people interested in our program.

Limited places! Book yours: emba@usi.ch

USI EMBA is proud to announce that the ninth edition brought together 20 students, coming from all different sectors, including banking, public utilities, agribusiness, communication, pharma, hospitality and neuroscience.

This professional melting pot highlights how an Executive MBA is a key to success in a variety of business activities.

Embark with us on this fabulous journey!

The EMBA approach is interactive, emphasizes group work, practice-based learning and creativity. It will result in career development opportunities, through the acquisition of strategic vision and immediate applicable knowledge.

The USI Executive MBA promotes win-win situations for our participants and their organizations.

Invest in yourself, boost your career and become an active member of our big international community.