Michelangelo Baracchi Bonvicini

Michelangelo Baracchi Bonvicini was born in London and grew up in Italy, where he completed his classical studies. He graduated in History at the University of Bologna. As a journalist he covered the wars in Kosovo and Albania (1999), Israel and Palestine during the second Intifada (2002), Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran (2003), for the italian newpapers La Nazione, Il Giorno, Il Resto del Carlino and Libero.

Scholar of European integration, he focused his research on the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe where the interviews with the then President of the European Convention Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and with the then Vice President Giuliano Amato were included (2003-2004); on the comparative study on the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe and the Constitution of the United States of America (2004); on the reconstruction policy of Republican Italy, with special reference to the political – and European Policy – thinking by Alcide De Gasperi, where his interviews with the Italian Senator Giulio Andreotti were included (2005).

From 2006 to 2009, together with the current French Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire, he promoted the start-up for Atomium-European Institute for Science, Media and Democracy (Atomium-EISMD), a non-profit organisation based in Brussels. He coordinated the engagement of 25 leading European universities and top media and businesses in Europe. In November 2009, during the first conference held at the European Parliament, he publicly launched Atomium–EISMD together with the Honorary President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and the leaders of the institutions engaged. In 2011, together with Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, he was awarded the medal “Plus Ratio Quam Vis” from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow for “their contribution to the European academic community by founding Atomium”.

He is currently President of Atomium-EISMD and President of AI4People Institute which he launched with the philosopher Luciano Floridi in 2018. The first report “AI4People’s Ethical Framework for a Good AI Socieity” was presented with Tony Blair in November 2018 at the European Parliament and underpins the regulatory process that led to the AI ​​Act, the world’s first AI regulation. In 2024 with Luciano Floridi and Robert Madelin (former Director-General DG Connect, European Commission) he launched AI4People Ltd as spin-off of AI4People Institute. The new company supports governments and global business in mitigating AI risks and implementing AI ethics and AI technologies.