Third Mission
In this page
Research that stays inside the university is only half done. BABEL's third mission is the deliberate effort to bring work on blockchain, distributed ledgers and artificial intelligence to the people whose lives these technologies already shape — citizens, professionals, firms, students, public officials — without diluting its scientific substance.
This is not outreach as an afterthought. It is a distinct line of work, with its own methods, its own partners and its own results.
BABELing — the podcast
A ten-episode podcast series that translates BABEL's research into conversations anyone can follow. Selected under the University of Florence UniFi EXTRA+ 2026 programme, where it ranked second with 86 points out of 100, BABELing was financed by a crowdfunding campaign that raised €13,470 from 87 supporters, matched by the University.
The series is a joint effort of the Department of Economics and Management (DISEI) and the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science «Ulisse Dini» (DIMAI), produced with Podcast Italia Network. Episodes are released monthly from October 2026, free on all major platforms, each with a full transcript, a glossary and cited sources.
BABELing — the podcast, the ten questions, the people behind it.
Public events
ScienzEstate, Sesto Fiorentino — 11 June 2026. The public presentation of BABELing, with theatrical sketches produced with the ZERA cultural association. Watch the full recording.
ScienzEstate, Novoli Campus — 15 September 2026. The launch of the podcast series, with an opening lecture by Mario Caligiuri (University of Calabria, President of SOCINT) and a conversation with Patrizia Giunti (University of Florence, President of the Giorgio La Pira Foundation) and Stefano Gobbi (Sport e Salute S.p.A.). Free admission.
BRIGHT-NIGHT — European Researchers' Night, Florence, 26 September 2026. Piazza Santissima Annunziata, 5.00 pm. Filippo Zatti presents BABELing and the questions it asks — who holds your money, your data and your identity, and what they can do with them. Part of the European Researchers' Night, funded under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.
BABEL contributes to the University's 2026 catalogue of activities for schools with «Chi decide per te? Intelligenza artificiale, denaro digitale e il diritto di capire» — a two-hour workshop in which pupils reconstruct a real digital-money fraud, examine how the underlying algorithms work, and consider what the law can and cannot guarantee.
The workshop draws on computer science, mathematics, law, economics and ethics. Its aim is not to supply ready-made answers, but to give pupils the means to understand how digital technologies work and to make more informed decisions about money, digital identity and their own rights.
Three editions between September and December 2026, for lower and upper secondary classes, in schools across Florence, Prato and Pistoia or at the University. Booking is coordinated by the University's Orientation Office.
Technology transfer
PRISMA — PRato Industrial SMart Accelerator (2021-2024). The House of Emerging Technologies for the Prato textile district, led by the Municipality of Prato with the PIN University Centre and funded by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development. Within PRISMA, the Blockchain Lab — coordinated by Professor Mauro Lombardi, co-founder of BABEL — drew on the unit's expertise to help small and medium textile firms assess where distributed ledger technologies could realistically be of use, and where they could not. The project has concluded.
A community of practice
Continuing education is where third mission and teaching meet. The ELDA Alumni — lawyers, economists, managers, technologists and public officials who completed BABEL's professional course on the economics and law of digital assets — form a standing network that keeps engaging with the unit's themes long after the course ends. Fittingly for a programme about digital trust, their certificates are notarised on the Algorand blockchain and issued as verifiable credentials.
In the press
BABEL's work on digital fraud, artificial intelligence and the digital euro has been covered by national and regional media, including ANSA, La Nazione, Il Tirreno and intoscana.
Press coverage of the BABELing campaign.
Last update
13.08.2026