Marco Camisani Calzolari

Marco Camisani Calzolari (born March 1969) is an Italian, naturalised British university professor, author and television personality specialising in digital communications, transformation and Artificial Intelligence.

Camisani Calzolari was born in Milan, Italy where he began his television career co-hosting on local provider LA7 in (2001) and later Sky Italia (2004). In 2008 Camisani Calzolari moved to the UK where he founded multiple digital start ups. He is now a naturalised British citizen and was awarded the "Freedom of the City of London" honouring life-time achievement in June 2022. Camisani Calzolari is now based in the UK but still holds business interests in Italy where he is 'Scientific Coordinator' for the Masters programme in 'Science and Health Communication' at the Universita’ San Raffaele of Milan.

Camisani Calzolari is now an established academic, dubbed the 'digital renaissance man', whose research caught international attention in 2012 after creating an algorithm claiming to identify real Twitter users from fake users of 'bots'. Since publishing his findings from this algorithm in 2012 Camisani Calzolari has produced a series of literature on modern digital media trends and sociological attitudes to social media including Cyberhumanism (2023) and The Fake News Bible (2018). Camisani Calzolari now works in a professional capacity to advise the Italian government and police force on ethical AI use and digital safety. On the 14th of May 2024, Camisani Calzolari was awarded the Knight of the Italian Republic (Order of the Star of Italy).

Alongside his academic career, Camisani Calzolari became a presenter on Italian television and radio covering communications and technology. His first major role came as host of the digital-advice programme "Pronto Soccorso Digitale" on the Italian public television network RAI 1 in 2014. However, Camisani Calzolari is now best known for hosting the digital section of news show Striscia la Notizia.

Academic career
Camisani Calzolari began his academic career at the Università Statale di Milano in 2007, until chairing a course on Corporate Communication and Digital Languages at the IULM University of Milan between 2007 and 2010. During this time Camisani Calzolari published his first written work under the title 'Impresa 4.0'.

After moving to London, Camisani Calzolari focussed on a number of digital start-ups including 'Digitalevaluation ltd' where he would publish the results of his Twitter algorithm study. Following its publication Marco accepted a role as Affiliate Practitioner at the Centre for Culture Media & Regulation (CCMR), University of Brunel London, and subsequently another role at a British University as Lecturer in Digital Communication at the LCA Business School

Camisani Calzolari then returned to the Italian academic scene as a lecturer on Interactive Digital Communication at the University of Milan (Universita Statale di Milano) before holding a series of roles at the European University of Rome between 2017 and 2023 including Adjunct Professor and Chair at the course in Digital Communication and Scientific Director of the course in Digital Transformation. During this time Camisani Calzolari published "The Fake News Bible" in 2018. Camisani Calzolari is now a member of the Advisory Board, ImpreSapiens Research Center, Sapienza Università di Roma, and the 'Scientific Coordinator' for the Masters programme in 'Science and Health Communication' at the Universita’ San Raffaele of Milan.

Twitter fake followers study
In 2012, Camisani Calzolari's research came into the focus of the public eye following the publication of his findings in a study analysing the followers of high-profile public figures and corporations. Camisani Calzolari developed a computer algorithm claiming to be able to distinguish real followers from computer-generated "bots". The algorithm compiled data correlative of human activity such as having a name, image, physical address, using punctuation and cross-account activity. Genuine Twitter users were considered to have written at least 50 posts and possessed over 30 followers themselves. Based on this algorithm multiple figureheads and corporations came under scrutiny for alleged 'follower-buying'.

Publications
Camisani Calzolari is best for known for his work in improving accessibility to digital and tech solutions for everyday business and personal use. His work in disseminating advice on digital and communications threads has been included in several written and online publications including: Cyberhumanism (2023) The Fake News Bible (2018), First Digital Aid for Business (2015), The Digital World (2013), Escape from Facebook (2012), Enterprise 4.0. Camisani Calzolari was also the subject of a University College London (UCL) case study titled Marco Camisani-Calzolari: the Digital Renaissance Man.

Government work
Camisani Calzolari has complimented his academic work with a series of advisory and consultancy positions in the Italian Government: member of the new Coordination Committee on Artificial Intelligence at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, (2023–present), an advisor in Digital Skills and Designer of initiatives for disseminating digital knowledge for the 'Dipartimento per la trasformazione digitale' (Department for Digital Transformation) in the Government of Italy (2023–present), and the official spokesperson for the State Police as a disseminator for the prevention of digital threats. Here he explains criminal cases to the public and gives suggestions on how to avoid digital scams (2023–present).

Television work
Camisani Calzolari is a well-known public figure in Italian television. His most notable role is leading the digital segment for Striscia la Notizia, an Italian satirical television program on the Mediaset-controlled Canale 5.

On the Italian public news network RAI 1, Camisani Calzolari has been a regular contributor covering digital affairs. He has presented on weekly segments that include: RAI 1 – Digital First Aid (TV Program – 2014 to 2017) aired every Saturday in the program "Uno Mattina" as a digital expert; RTL 102.5 – Technology Space (Radio Program – 2012 to 2017) every Thursday in the morning news program as a digital expert (100 episodes from 2012 to 2017); DIGITALK Talkshow (2004) as host of Digitalk, the first Italian talk show on Digital technologies, broadcast daily at 11pm on "SKY channel 817", on the website, and on UMTS TIM mobile phones; Misterweb (TV Program – 2001 to 2002), he presented the TV program “MisterWeb”, an entertainment show about the Internet, funny videos, and digital culture, broadcast every Saturday at 7:30 pm on "LA7".

Camisani Calzolari featured alongside his son in an advertising campaign headed by the Department for Digital Transformation (Government of Italy), in Collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior in order to promote the use of Electronic Identity Cards (CIE), enabled by the CIE ID app, as a tool for accessing the digital services of the Italian public administration.