University and Olympics, a partnership that enhances the values of sport

What is the university dimension of the 2026 Olympics? The Legacy Director of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Foundation, Iacopo Mazzetti, said that some 20 agreements were signed with Italian universities at the press conference dedicated to the themes of legacy and impact at the MiCo Main Press Centre in Milan. Bocconi University has been appointed to coordinate the Games' impact and legacy study. The results to date were illustrated and commented on by Arram Kim (Head of Impact and Legacy of the Olympic Games at the IOC) and highlighted the importance of networks such as the World Union of Olympic Cities (a network founded by the IOC and led by Grégoire Junod, Mayor of the 'Olympic Capital' Lausanne, the seat of the IOC and more than 60 International Sports Federations and Organisations, to enhance and amplify the impact and legacy of the Olympics) or a shared impact analysis methodology such as the one created by the IOC/ OECD that was used by the University of Limonges to calculate the impact of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, which will be used by Bocconi for the Italian 2026 Olympics and a methodology that is mandatory for future Games.

"Sport is an extraordinary laboratory of innovation: it measures performance, enhances talent, rewards merit and requires continuous adaptability. These are the same principles that guide a university like Bocconi. In the dialogue between sport, research and education we develop fundamental skills - leadership, teamwork, resilience, data culture - that prepare new generations to face complex challenges. This is why we believe in an ecosystem in which sport and university are not separate worlds, but integral parts of a single project for growth, both individual and collective,' said Francesco Billari, Rector at Università Bocconi, on the sidelines of the meeting 'The role of universities in sport and education', held at the Milanese university - where Billari spoke with Taylor R. Randall President of Utah University (the 2034 Olympics will in fact be held in Salt Lake City, Utah) and Dino Ruta (Professor of Practice of Leadership, Sports & Events Business at SDA Bocconi School of Management; and author of a recent book entitled 'Olympic Colours: Sport and the Games as a Spark of Wellbeing and Development').

"I mentioned the culture of data, and on this I would like to emphasise another aspect: data are a fundamental tool for understanding and guiding the impact of sport on the territory and on people,' added Billari. 'Measuring means taking responsibility for choices: evaluating the economic and social effects of a major event, analysing the benefits in terms of inclusion, health and cohesion, understanding how sport can generate opportunities and sustainable development. Aspects that Bocconi, on the occasion of the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games, has also condensed into the sPark of Change initiative, to analyse, through an exhibition, thematic meetings and moments of in-depth study, the enormous transformative value of sport, that 'spark' capable of activating the engine of innovation'

The attempt to articulate a vision on sport/innovation/university had been made by the Trentino 2013 Winter Universiade and, in particular, by the University of Trento, led by Paolo Bouquet (Rector's Delegate for Sport with special proxy for the 2026 Winter Olympics at the University of Trento) - at the forefront since the Trentino 2013 Winter Universiade, which was identified by the EU Council of Ministers for Sport as a 'paradigmatic example of integration between sport and innovation'.

In Italia, the Trentino 2013 Universiade also found great support in CONI (CONI President Giovanni Malagò brought a Council to Trento and ennobled the link between the Universiade and the Olympics), in MIMIT (then MISE), in the Farnesina and in many institutional actors, starting with CRUI President Stefano Paleari, but also in British diplomacy and in the Irish Prime Minister John Bruton, who wrote a message for the ICT Days at the University of Trento.