Organizers:
Maria Carmela Annosi, Wageningen University & Research
Federica Brunetta, LUISS Guido Carli
Geoffrey Hagelaar, Wageningen University & Research

Discussants & Facilitators (Alphabetical order)
Maria Carmela Annosi, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Federica Brunetta, LUISS Guido Carli, Rome, Italy
Fedele Colantuono, Universita’degli Studi di Foggia, Foggia, Italy
Teresa del Giudice, Universita Federico II, Naples, Italy
Wilfred Dolfsma, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Adele Finco, Universita Politecniche delle Marche, Ancona, Italy
Geoffrey Hagelaar, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Why to attend
Certainly when being concerned with digitization other channels spring to your mind to read and learn then attending a live round table. Read blogs, listen to podcasts, watch videos, attend webinars seem to line up more logically with digitization. Although these modes of communication are informative a round table will help to curate new ideas, underpin your vision (or change it), improve your approach on digitization, give direct insights in complexities because of face-to-face direct personal exchange.
The agricultural and food industries are, as most others, experiencing the digital transformation. Many effects are already visible, such as the growing use of big data, the enhancements in the fields of systems for precision agriculture and livestock, the rise of agreements for value co-creation, with companies and supply chain partners rethinking their operations, controls, and coordination of activities to create joint value, and many other disruptions are likely to impact on these industries in the next years.
Despite the relevance food and agriculture in the current political and societal context, the analysis of the impact of digitalization and information technologies on the industry is still limited. The objective of this roundtable session is to understand the direction of this change and collectively reflect on new research avenues and methods for critically studying the social-economic impact of digitalization.
The presence of both academics and company representatives is a unique opportunity to liaise and find common goals to focus on. It is through collaborations among academia and business that both
rigor and relevance can truly be achieved. A round table with all the informalities surrounding it helps to develop a constructive atmosphere.

Format
Conversations will be held in Round Tables. Invited speakers and facilitators are assigned to a Round Table for the length of the round table. Each round table will consist of one or two representative of industry and two representative of academia. During a final, plenary session facilitators will summarize the main results of the conversations from each table.

Beforehand
Invited speakers (from academia and business) will circulate their papers’ drafts/conttibution, to be read by everyone at their Round Table. Please upload the most developed version via the WICANEM website/submission system by June 27, 2017 – and send it also to Maria Annosi who will distribute it among the participants in each round table.

Focus of discussion
Productive feedback and suggestions to direct furture research . – Structure of the conversation:
- 10 minutes presentation by author
- 25 minutes discussion by Round Table participants where the author is not allowed to speak [length of discussion will vary according to number of papers to be discussed and time allocated to session]
- 5 minutes resolution time where the author will reply to questions of Round Table participants

Rationale

We ask the authors and representatives to present their argument in short, contextualize it and draw attention to the main points. We ask everybody to be in an active listening mode, so that the discussion can then openi up, get richer and drive to deeper comments. We believe that the best way to make the most out of a round-table discussion of a paper is to get as many comments, suggestions and questions from the participants, and let them engage in a conversation, rather than having the author respond to critiques.

Dates and Venue

Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona

Tuesday 3 July
All are welcome to attend. No pre-registration required.