There is no growth without innovation, no progress without research and development. Researchers, scientists, institutions and business people must be always online, always networking, in Italy and abroad, to raise our country’s strategic resources to “system-level”. That is the thinking behind “Innovitalia”, the new digital platform that will be introduced at the Farnesina at mid-day on Thursday 4 October 2012 by Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi and the Minister of Education, Universities and Research, Francesco Profumo.
A virtual space to share resources, talent and opportunities
Innovitalia is a virtual space to pool, share and exchange Italian talent and excellence. The platform will act as an interactive tool to facilitate exchanges of ideas and information on research programmes and career opportunities. It is designed to encourage integration between Italian scientists abroad and foster synergies between research, manufacturing and business. It will be not just a networking channel for the scientific community in itself, but also an instrument to involve the business sector by strengthening the links between enterprises and research centres.
17 April 2012: the conference on “Italian Scientists Worldwide and the Growth of the Country”
The seeds for the Innovitalia.net project were sown at the conference on “Italian Scientists Worldwide and the Growth of the Country” organised by the Foreign Ministry on 17 April 2012. ON that occasion, Ministers Terzi and Profumo first aired to Italy’s global scientific community the idea of developing this platform. The conference also saw a proposal to extend the platform to tablets and smartphone users, and to integrate it with databases providing scientific and technological information.
The debate
At the launch event on Thursday 4 October, the opening addresses by Ministers Terzi and Profumo will be followed by a debate moderated by the editor of “Wired” magazine, Carlo Antonelli. Participants will include the Director of RAI Educational, Silvia Calandrelli; the President of Crowdengineering, Gioacchino La Vecchia; and, by video link, Mario Raviglione and Fabiola Gianotti from Geneva, Vito Campese from Los Angeles and Riccardo Lattanzi from New York.