\ Il Parco \ Area Science Park on an institutional visit to laboratories and research facilities in Sweden for the development of new cooperative ventures

As part of the initiatives on the occasion of the 7th edition of the “Italian Research Day in the World”, the Italian Embassy in Sweden organised a scientific exchange meeting between researchers of Area Science Park and the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, a prestigious Swedish university specialising in biomedical disciplines.

The meeting at Karolinska, which followed an invitation from the Italian Ambassador to Sweden, Michele Pala, and his scientific attaché, Augusto Marcelli, to the President of Area Science Park, Caterina Petrillo, was the final stage of an institutional visit to Sweden that started on Monday 8 April in Lund and which included, in addition to the participation of researchers and technologists from Area Science Park, also representatives of some research centres and startups located in the science and technology park – CNR-IOM, ICGEB, Elettra Sincrotrone and Aindo – as well as other centres of prestige operating in Trieste – Sissa and IRCSS Burlo Garofolo. The aim of the visit is to strengthen scientific cooperation with the research centres of a country that offers many opportunities in the fields of life sciences and materials sciences, to build possible new cooperative ventures and to strengthen some already existing ones.

“The Italian collaboration with Swedish research centres is long-standing. Italy has been, in fact, one of the partner countries of the European Spallation Source (ESS) since the design of the facility with important contributions to the construction of the accelerator and instrumentation. Even with MaxIV, there are several joint projects with our research institutions also thanks to the numerous Italian researchers who work there”, declared the President of Area Science Park Caterina Petrillo, who added: “With this visit, we hope to consolidate and enhance collaboration in the high-tech sectors of materials and life sciences.”

In Lund, the delegation led by President Petrillo visited MaxIV, the Swedish national laboratory for research with synchrotron radiation hosted by the University, the European Spallation Source (ESS), a strategic European facility, of which Italy is among the founding countries, and the second largest European project in the field of accelerators, and Nano Lund, one of the most important Swedish laboratories for the development of nanotechnologies for the academy and industry.

The visit to the three research centres was also an opportunity to present activities and laboratories in the scientific and technological park of Area Science Park and that are active in the study of materials. In addition to President Petrillo, the following people were present at Lund: the director of the CNR-IOM, Giancarlo Panaccione; the head of the Electron Microscopy laboratory, Regina Ciancio; the head of the Fermi machine, Luca Giannessi. Following the presentations, there were valuable moments of discussion for in-depth study and support for the cooperative project with the aim of generating new perspectives and seizing opportunities.

In Stockholm, the institutional visit was concentrated at the Karolinska Institutet, where the following speakers presented their research and principal ongoing projects in the life sciences: Lawrence Banks, Director of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology – ICGEB, spoke about cancer and infections; Mathew Diamond, professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at Sissa, illustrated the activities and research of the School and the Sensory Experience (SENSEx) Lab; Lisa Vaccari, coordinator of the beamlines group and IDEAS laboratories, presented studies and analysis possibilities that can be carried out at the Elettra and Fermi laboratories; Pio D’Adamo, geneticist at the IRCSS Burlo Garofolo and professor at the University of Trieste, presented the studies conducted on genetics and rare diseases.

Alberto Cazzaniga, head of the Data Engineering Laboratory of Area Science Park, spoke on the applications of Artificial Intelligence and data science techniques in the field of life sciences, in particular for the study and diagnosis of rare diseases, followed by Sebastiano Saccani, co-founder of Aindo, a startup specialized in the use of synthetic data founded in Sissa and established in Area Science Park. Finally, a parallel session was devoted to innovation models applicable to deep tech innovation and the generation of innovative businesses and included talks by Salvatore La Rosa, director of Research and Innovation of Area Science Park, and Fabrizio Rovatti, Innovation Manager of Area Science Park. Karolinska’s researchers, professors and innovation experts were constant participants in the various meetings, illustrating the activities carried out in the sectors of interest.

The day ended with a visit to the hospital, a centre of excellence and one of Europe’s most technologically advanced hospitals.

“Scientific-technological cooperation is one of the Embassy’s priority areas of activity – declared Ambassador Michele Pala on the occasion of the three-day event – so we are particularly pleased with the success of the visit of the prestigious delegation from Area Science Park. Their presence has made it possible for us to promote Italian excellence here in Sweden and to commemorate the 7th day of Italian Research in the World in a meaningful way. The meetings made it possible to consolidate existing relationships and lay the foundations for new and promising cooperation in the fields of Life Sciences, materials, ICT energy and the environment, areas particularly well-represented by Italian researchers who participated in the visits that the embassy organised in Lund and Stockholm”.