On 9 and 10 January 2017, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Angelino Alfano, and the Minister of Education, University and Research (MIUR), Valeria Fedeli, will convene the Scientific Attachés in a Conference at the Farnesina attended by the topmost representatives of the world of research, academia, innovative companies and start-ups.
The conference will outline the new action strategies developed to promote Italian science and technology abroad and will award a prize to two Italians, a researcher and a founder of a start-up abroad, selected from their respective categories.
9 JANUARY
The Conference’s opening session will be opened at 10 a.m. by Minister Angelino Alfano and Minister Valeria Fedeli, at the presence of the guest of honour, the State Secretary of the Swiss Confederation for Education, Scientific Research and Innovation, Mauro dell’Ambrogio. The meeting will be moderated by the Foreign Ministry’s Director General for Cultural and Economic Promotion and Innovation, Vincenzo de Luca.
The Ceremony to Award the Prizes to the two Italians is scheduled at 10:.45 a.m., at which they will talk about their experience abroad and their relationship with Italy.
From 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., the meeting will continue with the panel “Italian-speaking Innovation”, moderated by journalist Luca De Biase, which will include contributions by the presidents of Italian research agencies and representatives of the world of research, culture, information, and business, with closing remarks by Deputy Minister Mario Giro at 1:15 pm.
The meeting scheduled from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on 9 January will be open to the press.
10 JANUARY
On the sidelines of the “Italian-speaking Innovation” panel, the programme schedules an event organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in partnership with the CNR, the MIUR, the MiBACT and the Benetton Foundation for Study and Research for 150 young secondary school students as part of the Fifth edition of the project on Art. 9 of the Constitution – Citizens Participating in Scientific and Technological Research – for school year 2016-17.
The event will open (at 2:30 p.m.) with greetings by the Director General for Cultural and Economic Promotion and Innovation, Vincenzo de Luca, and by the Director General for School and the Evaluation of the National System of Education of the MIUR, Carmela Palumbo.
Contributions will also be made by the Director General for Education and Research of the MiBACT, Francesco Scoppola, the Director of the Benetton Foundation for Study and Research Marco Tamaro and the President of the CNR, Massimo Inguscio.
They will be followed by contributions by the winner of the Foreign Ministry’s “Italian Bilateral Scientific Cooperation Award”, by the winner of the Ministry’s “Italian-speaking Innovation” award and by innovative artist Fabrizio Plessi, who will illustrate one of his works displayed in the Conference Hall.
The event will close with a tour of the works of the Farnesina Collection of contemporary art, which was begun in 2001 to underscore the specific policy orientation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, which has turned contemporary artistic research into a strategic area of intervention for its cultural policies.
The event and the tour of the Farnesina Collection scheduled from 2:30 to 4:15 p.m. on 10 January will be open to the press.
Journalists, photographers, and TV crews interested in following the meeting on 9 January, from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and the event on 10 January, from 2:30 to 4:15 p.m., are requested to apply for accreditation in one of the following two ways:
– by filling the interactive form for the relevant event at the link http://mae.accreditationsystem.info/ITA/Indice.asp, attaching thereto, unless already provided, the information requested in digital format (letter from the media organisation and, for representatives of foreign media, also a Note Verbale released by the Rome Embassy of the media organisation’s Country).
– by sending an email to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation’s Institutional Press and Communication Service at the following address: accreditamentostampa@esteri.it (Tel. + 39 06/3691.3432 or 8573 or 8210), attaching thereto the letter of his/her media organisation (or press card) and, for members of the foreign press, a Note Verbale released by the Rome Embassy of the media organisation’s Country.
Accredited journalists, photographers and TV crews should enter the Ministry from the main entrance– left-hand side – in the following timeslots:
9 January: from 9:15 to 9:50 a.m.
10 January: from 2 to 2:20 p.m.
