CMCC takes part in the event AGORA – Africa Growth and Opportunity: Research in Action, 3-5 November, 2025. Co-hosted by the World Bank Group Institute for Economic Development with the Bank of Italy, Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance, and African partners, AGORA brings together policymakers, the private sector, and think tanks from Africa and Europe to tackle the continent’s most urgent priorities: job creation and growth.

The event involves international institutions, African country leaders, and research organizations. CMCC is one of the few research organizations invited to participate in the discussion on economic development priorities in a partnership between Africa and Italy.

Involved in a panel that brings together leading voices from academia, development finance, and policy to discuss how mission-driven approaches can unlock Africa’s energy transformation, CMCC scientific director Giulio Boccaletti explains the importance of “the reorientation towards trying to understand how you grow an economy over the next two to three decades, whilst material conditions change. That is the problem definition we are trying to solve across the world, whether in Europe or Africa. However, the fact that the African continent is entirely contained within the tropics makes its material conditions particularly complicated, as well as the continent’s need for a lot of investments in its energy and territorial infrastructure”.

Another point of discussion concerns the fact that, to support the decisions required for fostering economic development, integrative approaches are necessary. “You are not just investing in energy infrastructure – Boccaletti explains – but you are investing in systems that have to balance energy services with things like water services, or downstream demand. Whether it’s agribusinesses, manufacturing, or processing industries, exploring strategies for integrating modeling chains designed to inform economic planning is highly pertinent.”

AGORA – Africa Growth and Opportunity: Research in Action, 3-5 November, 2025.