Michelangelo Baracchi Bonvicini

Michelangelo Baracchi Bonvicini has been president of Atomium - European Institute for Science, Media and Democracy, since its launch with the former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing on the 27th November 2009 at the European Parliament.

Early life
Baracchi Bonvicini was born in London and grew up in Italy, where he completed his studies at the University of Bologna attaining a bachelors in History.

He began in 1999 as a war correspondent in Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro for the Italian editorial group Il Quotidiano Nazionale.

In 2002 he covered the second Intifada reporting from Israel and Palestine..

In 2003 he worked for the Italian newspaper Libero from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, following the US invasion of Afghanistan. In that same year he published Sognando Gerusalemme  resulting from his reporting from Israel and Palestine in 2002.

Career
With Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Baracchi Bonvicini founded Atomium - European Institute for Science, Media and Democracy in November 2009 at the European Parliament in Brussels, together with twenty-two rectors and presidents from the partner universities.

In 2011, Baracchi Bonvicini and Giscard d'Estaing received the medal "Plus Ratio Quam Vis" from the Polish university Jagiellonian University for "their contribution to the European academic community by founding the institute".

In September 2012, during the negotiations regarding the EU budget for 2014–2020, Baracchi Bonvicini and Giscard d'Estaing together with the former Prime Minister of Spain Felipe González Márquez, jointly signed the letter "For a European Consciousness, For a More Competitive Europe", asking EU member states to increase the budget for research and innovation. The letter was sent to all European prime ministers and head of governments.

In 2016, Baracchi Bonvicini promoted together with Massimo Marchiori the set-up of REIsearch, a non-profit initiative co-funded by the European Commission, Nokia, Elsevier, and other Atomium partners. Its aim is to connect researchers and policy makers on topics linked to scientific research, in order to promote evidence-based policy making. REIsearch has focused on chronic diseases, next generation internet and digital skills.

In 2018 Michelangelo Baracchi Bonvicini and Luciano Floridi launched AI4People Institute, bringing together researchers and policy makers to shape the debate on AI Ethics in the European Union.

In 2018 AI4People presented at the European Parliament the "AI4People's Ethical Framework for a Good AI Society: Opportunities, Risks, Principles, and Recommendations" during the "Towards a Good AI Society Summit" opened by Tony Blair. Its action is at the origins of the regulatory process that led to the AI Act in Europe, the world’s first AI regulation. This first report led to the identification of 7 Key Requirements for a Trustworthy AI presented by the Commission in April 2019.