The former Aula 1 of the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna in Via de Guasto is dedicated in honor of Professor Emeritus Vittorio Capecchi. The dedication should include this reflection: “The name QQ [Quality and Quantity, the journal he founded] ends up having a deeper meaning: it can be said that to achieve ‘quantity’ (the measurement and prediction of scientific culture phenomena) it is necessary to see ‘quality’ (the ethical values ​​of research) closely linked to it.” Scientific culture is deeply intertwined with economic culture, with science and technology serving as the driving forces that propel the economy. This is usually understood as a money-making machine. Writer William B. Burroughs is credited with asking this question: “What does the money machine eat? It consumes youth, spontaneity, life, beauty, and, above all, creativity. It eats quality and excretes quantity.” The more we produce and consume, the more we lack the intangible assets essential to quality of life. In the race for success, often identified with the accumulation of material wealth, the Great Predators of value, identified with profit, prevail. Many corporate failures are caused by the idea that the ultimate goal of business is profit. Profit, instead, should be a means to conceive, design, produce, deliver products, provide services, and disseminate knowledge and information: this is the corporate value chain.

Quality generates ideas that instill the courage to launch them and the tenacity to continue pursuing them until their seeds emerge through the surface of impossibility. Then comes the time when ideas must be watered and fertilized until the day finally arrives when their fruits are harvested. A blend of creativity, curiosity, empathy, humor, and passion shapes the personal qualities that separate the human who thinks and invents from the machine that produces things—quantities of resources fueling the production process, quantities of goods and services to sell, and vast amounts of data mapping macro- and microeconomic scenarios. Quantity is, therefore, measurable; it can be expressed with numerical values. Quality, however, is not, as it is so great that it cannot be quantified or measured with conventional means. It encompasses loving kindness, compassionate joy, and equanimity: immeasurable values, according to Tibetan Buddhism.

Quality places great importance on interpersonal relationships that foster trust, psychological well-being, and mutual support. When we are only interested in ourselves, seeking profit rather than friendship, the bar for happiness falls. The creation of innovative environments depends on the intensity and quality of relationships among corporate populations living in the same ecosystem. The “Commensal” species do not contribute to their habitat, do not disturb it, and do not interact with other species. “Predators” hunt other species. “Parasites” exploit the appeal of their habitat. “Symbionts” live and grow in close relationships with other species; they seek complementarity in their habitat.

Capecchi’s QQ magazine has spontaneously emerged as a platform for quality circles, where human relationships are respected and work is made a thought-provoking activity. As the Japanese like to say, “if the water flows pure from the source and flows clear upstream, there is no need to purify it downstream.” In short, quality must be addressed from the outset. Like health, it must be maintained and improved. Preventative measures are the most effective way to enhance workplace performance. Interventions must be carried out continuously because quality is dynamic, continually changing the perception of both companies and consumers over time. Quality is a long, all-encompassing adventure. A journey undertaken by Vittorio Capecchi with the spirit of an explorer entering unknown lands. His mind maps provide ideas centered on quality, which increasingly pushes altruism, rather than selfishness, into the economic arena. Who knows if Capecchi’s name will represent the quality brought by altruism, which in the cultural sphere pursues and surpasses the quantity produced by selfishness.