History & Governance
About Slow Finance
The Slow Finance research field in collaboration with O LI - Adriano Olivetti Leadership Institute of Ivrea, and Scienza Nuova Institute, started in 2009 with contributions by Carlin Petrini, Woody Tasch, Gervais Williams; and Valter Cantino.
Slow Finance has its roots in the 2009 book by Woody Tasch "Slow Money." Two years later, in 2011, Gervais Williams published "Slow Finance: Why Investment Miles Matter". Later, other contributions were offered by Cinzia Scaffidi, Luigino Bruni, Pamela Matson, Krister Andersson, William C. Clark, Gaël Giraud, Manfred Max-Neef, Antonio Elizalde, Martin Hopenhayn. Practical developments were promoted by Oscar Farinetti and Mario Calderini.
In 2024, by initiative of Matteo Basei Fantolino, Slow Finance became a special academic research project at the International University College of Turin (IUC) a small institution, at the center of a network of critical study of globalization, which has attracted many renowned professors and researchers to Turin, including: the US Federal Judge Guido Calabresi, long-time dean of Yale Law School, the famous Frankfurt jurists Günter Frankenberg and Gunther Teubner, Duncan Kennedy (Harvard Law School), Talha Syed (California-Berkeley), Avi Singh (New Delhi), Jan Toporowski (School of Oriental and African Studies in London), and finally the late Stefano Rodotà, IUC president for many years.
More recently, Slow Finance was promoted in different events, like the 2024 Research Innovation Forum at Villa Rufolo in Ravello; at the 2024 Annual General Assembly of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation; the 2025 Innovation Training Summit in Rome; the "Training and Work Report 2025" at the Italian Chamber of Deputies; for the 2025 "Enterprise Europe Network B2B Fashion Talk"; the opening event at Tech Villa of the 2025 ITALIAN TECH WEEK, when two round tables on Slow Finance took place which were applied to Future Mobility & Venture Capitals.
In October 2025, after the 20th anniversary of the Faro "A bridge to the future" conference by Unito & Polito, at the Castello del Valentino, Slow Finance was presented as an independent research initiative with the support of Prof. Pier Giuseppe Monateri and Prof. Alberto Oddenino.
In November 2025 the New European Data Governance Conference was organised by Slow Finance in collaboration with Scienza Nuova Institute, Unito, Politecnico of Turin, IAAD, Links Foundation, Tecnocad, Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation, Città di Torino, CTE NEXT, OLI, 5T. In May 2026, at the Torino Future Week, the "WebFare: Slow Finance New European Data Governance" conference took place with the participation among the others of Professor Guido Saracco.
As a longer-term initiative, the "S.L.O.W. Model" protocol of coaching is taking place with Gianluca Dettori, (founder of Primo Capital), Alberto Giusti (founder of Khoraline) and other entrepreneurs and venture capital firms.
Slow Finance, then, has progressively evolved into an interdisciplinary research project connected to Scienza Nuova Institute, founded by Professor Maurizio Ferraris, through the convergence of social philosophy, technological innovation, ecological economics, and adaptive leadership. The project develops in dialogue with LabOnt – Laboratory for Ontology and Webfare at Politecnico di Torino, exploring how digital infrastructures, algorithms, and networked societies are reshaping trust, value creation, reputation, and collective coordination in the contemporary economy.
The academic development of Slow Finance, conceived as a co-evolutionary method for individuals, organizations, and complex social systems, seeks to connect the cultural legacy of Carlo Petrini with new reflections on technology, social ontology, and the future of sustainable economic systems.
Also, Slow Finance has grown as a branch of the Turin "Innovation Circle," which applies the values of Slow Food —Good, Clean, and Fair, forever, for everyone— to the world of finance.
Slow Finance transcends Karl Marx's reductionist vision of value to monetary capital alone, recognizing the plurality of capitals —social, cultural, environmental, and relational, etc.— and abandons John Maynard Keynes's vision, which reduced well-being to economic growth and full employment alone.
Promoting freedom out of the psychology of performance and machismo, Slow Finance revitalises the "Doughnut Economics" in order to prioritise the intrinsic motivations of our actions: meaning, direction, significance, belonging, and affectivity.
Thus, we dedicate our efforts in memory of Professor Valter Cantino, former rector of the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, and we are guided by the legacy of Adriano Olivetti and Amadeus Peter Giannini.
The application of the principles of "Teal Organization" (Laloux), combined with the practice of "Adaptive Leadership" (Harvard: Heifetz, Linsky, Grashow), can define growth not as an end in itself, but as a dynamic process that intertwines economic responsibility, social justice, and ecological balance.
Slow Finance represents the framework for a new individual, collective, and generational pact - a finance that pursues the creation of common goods and integral human development, in continuity with the principles of the Social Doctrine of the Church.
In 2014, the International University College of Turin (IUC) awarded an honorary degree to Carlin Petrini - a Master's degree in Comparative Law, Economics & Finance (CLEF). After participating in several events at Collegio Carlo Alberto, and at the Festival Internazionale dell'Economia in Turin, in 2024, Matteo Basei Fantolino was selected for the same CLEF program with a full scholarship. His research proposal tried to deepen the concept of Slow Finance. In the framework of his CLEF research, Matteo organised the first "Slow Finance Summer Campus" at Poderi Prunotto Fantolino in Annunziata di Costigliole d'Asti. Subsequently, Matteo had the opportunity to separately meet with Pope Francis, Carlin Petrini, and the Nobel prize winner Mohammed Yunus and discuss with them his Slow Finance project.