\ Innovazione \ [INNOVATION FORUM] GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR FVG AND THE USA

After declaring to the Forum that “Friuli Venezia Giulia is an example for research and innovation”, this afternoon Ambassador Phillips visited AREA to get to know our facilities up close.

“Trieste and FVG can be an example for other regions, which can follow in your footsteps”. “Trieste is a great example at the international level of what you can have in Italy and AREA Science Park is truly a place of excellence.” After the arrival in Italy of giants like Cisco, Apple and Microsoft, according to the ambassador “there is still room for growth.” Italy’s problem is if anything “there is little venture capital but many innovative ideas: we must channel this creativity into economic activities.”

“Scientific and technological research is a perfect example of the strong points of the relationship between Italy and the United States, and in this context Friuli Venezia Giulia, the first Italian region for number of companies that have introduced advanced innovations in the last three years and the only Italian region, along with Piedmont, that has been defined a major innovator, has already done a lot, and many other opportunities are ready to be seized.”

This was the statement by the President of the Friuli Venezia Giulia, Debora Serracchiani, at the opening of the Innovation Forum “Driving change for US and Italian Innovation systems: finding better ways to learn from each other” held on July 28. The United States were also represented at the conference with the US Ambassador to Italy, John R. Phillips.

The President of Friuli Venezia Giulia highlighted the great importance of the commercial opportunity offered by the Forum, starting from the port of Trieste “that at the beginning of the twentieth century was the starting point for immigrants, and which has now become an important hub for transportation between Europe, Asia and America.”

Along with the role of the airport and the cooperation with the US on ICT and environmental challenges, the President stressed the importance of the US market “for wood products, furniture, export goods, agri-food and everything else that makes Friuli Venezia Giulia famous in the world”.

According to Phillips, “Italy is an interesting country for investors” because “Italian start-ups seem to really be on the roll: I have been here for three years – he added – and I have seen the birth and growth of many start-ups as well as the increased interest in Italy’s economic future for innovation.”