My name is Alberto Cottica. I am an economist and a blogger; most of my work has been in the areas of the creative economy and, in the past five years or so, Internet-enabled public policy. I am passionate about building safe, constructive spaces for citizens and public administrators to interact directly, without going through intermediaries; to some degree, I have been able to do so in the past, directing fascinating projects like Visioni Urbane (collaboratively designing and business planning five art centers in a Southern Italian region) and Kublai (an online community of fledgling creative industries entrepreneurs, rolled out by the Italian central government). I am the author of several essays and a book called Wikicrazia. I am also active in the open government/open data movement. I had a previous career as a professional punk-folk musician (ahem). I joined the Social Cohesion Research and Early Warning Division to build Edgeryders as my contribution to the European project. I am very grateful for it: it is not perfect, but it gave us 70 years of peace after centuries of Europeans slaughtering each other. Plus it broadens our horizons, allowing us to live, work and study in a much broader space than the one that was available before. Edgeryders itself is a manifestation of that space. I am very much looking forward to meeting you all in it. 