Bruno Dente invented P-CUBE but unfortunately died in the first year of the project implementation. Bruno had a special gift for innovation. He had been the first in Italy to be awarded a chair in Public Policy in 1981 and a pioneer of policy evaluation in Italy and Europe. Throughout his career, he directed over one hundred research projects and taught thousands of students. Upon retirement, he embarked on a new venture: designing a game to teach policy decisions.

Bruno believed that policy analysis should be an applied science. In 2019, when awarded an honorary doctorate by the UAB, he emphasised that policy analysts have ‘the imperative to produce usable knowledge’. Bruno did not see the point in conducting policy research if it did not provide lessons or recommendations to practitioners. His idea was that P-CUBE would help teach the complexity of decision-making. He had developed an actor-centred approach to the study of policy decisions, and, after 50 years of research, he decided to turn it into a game.

He was a formidable thinker and a relentless critic. Had he continued directing this project, we are sure he would have provided us with ingenious suggestions and sharp critiques. P-CUBE is his legacy and our tribute to him.