In 2021, IULM University published an in-depth interview about Elena Alberti’s journey—at the time a graduate in Strategic Communication—and the origins of “Unlocking Sustainable Business Decisions Through Communication”, the digital business game that would later become the foundation for the entrepreneurial developments now associated with Koesi.
The article retraces how an experimental thesis evolved into a real corporate workshop, delivered for the first time in November 2020 at UNIS&F LAB, the experiential training hub of Unindustria Servizi & Formazione Treviso Pordenone. As reported by IULM, the event involved around thirty participants from different companies in the Veneto region, brought together to explore sustainability through a digital business game simulating the management of a shared natural resource.
In the interview, Elena describes her academic path at IULM and explains how the idea was sparked during a Corporate Social Responsibility & Communication class, where Professor Laura Illia introduced students to a digital business game on sustainability. That experience led Elena to investigate the role of communication in environmental decision-making—an angle that shaped her entire thesis.
The project described in the article required a structured experiment: 62 students stepped into the role of company managers, tasked with managing a common resource and choosing whether to maximize profit through pollution or adopt more responsible behaviors. Some groups received informational messages, while others received persuasive messages, in order to analyze how communication influences sustainable decisions. The results—first presented to the graduation committee and later at the CSR and Social Innovation Fair (Treviso edition)—caught the attention of Alberto Chiappinotto, Sustainability Manager at Electrolux Italy, who suggested turning the thesis into a corporate workshop.
As noted by IULM, delivering the workshop required six months of work, supported by professionals such as Romina Noris, a sustainability consultant, and the UNIS&F LAB team. Pandemic restrictions made a complete redesign necessary, transforming the event from an in-person experience into a digital multi-connection format—while keeping teamwork as a core element.
The inaugural workshop involved nine companies from Veneto and 28 participants, immersed in a simulation that was both competitive and collaborative, designed to show how communication, trust, and dialogue can steer decisions toward more sustainable behaviors.
In the final part of the interview, Elena emphasizes that the research results clearly indicate how communication—especially persuasive communication—can significantly increase decision-makers’ willingness to adopt sustainable behaviors. She also shares her satisfaction in seeing the workshop’s impact on participants and her hope that the tool will continue to inspire positive, conscious practices.
For Koesi, this interview stands as a key testimony to the project’s scientific, educational, and values-based roots—roots that would later lead to the creation of a training offer built on gamification and engagement.
