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Monsieur François Bonet, Consul General of France in Milan, visited Area Science Park accompanied by the Honorary Consul of France in Trieste, Riccardo Illy. In Trieste to participate in G7 Education, scheduled to be held at this time in the Friuli Venezia Giulia administrative centre, the French Consul was welcomed by the President of Area Science Park, Caterina Petrillo, and by the Director of the Research and Innovation Structure, Salvatore La Rosa. President Petrillo illustrated the main activities of the national research body and the ongoing strategic projects: from the “North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley” project to IP4FVG-EDIH, the European Digital Innovation Hub to IMPRESS, in which French scientific entities are participating. A small focus was devoted to the research and technological infrastructures, which Area Science Park has been developing recently. The Consul expressed great interest during the meeting, in particular towards the scientific vocation of Trieste and the numerous institutions that operate there. François Bonet, previously ambassador to El Salvador, was appointed Consul General of France in Milan in August 2023. Then, Monsieur Francois Bonet and Riccardo Illy visited the Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste light laboratory accompanied by Andrea Locatelli, line group coordinator, and Claudio Masciovecchio, Director.

Science and training can effectively contribute to developing the strategic partnership between Italy and Africa, also in light of the new Mattei Plan for Africa promoted by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. This is demonstrated by Friuli Venezia Giulia, which, with the significant amount of experience gained and success stories, can play a central role in deepening the already fruitful collaborations. This is what emerged from the annual conference of SiS FVG, the Scientific and Innovation System of Friuli Venezia Giulia, held on Wednesday, 26 June, at Trieste’s Area Science Park and which explored the connections between international cooperation and scientific diplomacy. “The Scientific and Innovation System of Friuli Venezia Giulia has anticipated many of the topics in the Mattei Plan. The very topic of scientific diplomacy has gone hand in hand with the history of this territory, anticipating the debate we are facing at a national and European level”, declared Alessia Rosolen, Councilor for work, training, education, research, university and family of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. “Our added value has concerned, in particular, the training courses in support of research, in the relationship between new professional figures, in the construction of the higher education system and ITS (Higher Technical Institutes). In this area, among other things, we have two national excellences: The exchange programme of the “Malignani” Institute of Udine with Egypt and that of ITS “Alto Adriatico” of Pordenone with Ghana. During the conference, there were talks by numerous speakers, making contributions to and discussing the topic. Among these, Vincenzo Lorusso, in charge of the European Union’s Cooperation in Research and Innovation with the African Union at the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission, spoke about the key role that Research & Innovation have in the development of the partnership between the European Union and Africa. Lorusso also confirmed the investment (equal to 150 billion euros), announced at the EU-AU summit last February, aiming to support Africa for a strong, inclusive, ecological and digital recovery and transformation. The role of science as an effective tool for consolidating transnational relations was already reiterated in the 2019 Trieste Declaration, signed by the ministers of 17 countries of the Central European Initiative (CEI), who designated as priorities themes such as scientific diplomacy, the mobility of researchers, the exchange of staff, and the promotion of transnational collaborative networks. Among the best practices presented are the MITS Academy/Egypt project and Alto Adriatico Confindustria’s training project with Ghana. The former, stemming from the collaboration between the ITS Academy of Udine and the Istituto Paritario Don Bosco of Cairo, and illustrated by Paola Perabò, Vice President of the MITS Malignani Istituto Tecnico Superiore Foundation of Udine, aims at reducing the misalignment between supply and demand of qualified personnel in the manufacturing sector and promoting cooperation between Italy and Egypt. The latter, presented by the President of the Alto Adriatico Confindustria, Michelangelo Agrusti, has the objective of training young Ghanaians, already enrolled in technical and professional schools in that country, to fill the labour shortage in the industrial system of Friuli Venezia Giulia. The President of Area Science Park, Caterina Petrillo, opened the meeting, focusing on the strategic importance of the topic of the Conference, shared by all the representatives of SiS FVG, “a fundamental theme for Trieste, a centre of excellence where numerous entities were created and operate and are active in research and higher education at an international level”. The President then remembered the G7 Research event on 2 October, organised in the context of the BSBF 2024, devoted to building skills and transferring knowledge in order to strengthen collaboration between Italy and Africa. Alessandro Garbellini – Office Manager of the Space, Multilateral Scientific Cooperation and Intellectual Property Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, then spoke, and affirmed: “The SiS FVG model certainly represents a lever for our foreign policy and is proof of how much a functioning infrastructure combined with proactivity of the institutions brings benefits to the nation’s system. Trieste has invented a new model of scientific cooperation: pooling skills, allowing access and ensuring that brains produce regardless of their origin. The Ministry is promoting the Trieste model around the world.” This was followed by a speech by Francesco Ciardiello, of the Technical Administrative Office of the General Directorate of Research at the Ministry of University and Research, who reiterated Trieste’s central position and the role that it can play in the development of international cooperation. The final part of the conference was dedicated to a round table moderated by Nico Pitrelli, director of the Master’s Programme in Science Communication of the “Franco Prattico” SISSA. The discussion focused on cases of scientific cooperation and diplomacy presented by various institutions of the SiS FVG. Speakers: Alessandro Lombardo, Senior Executive Officer CEI – Central European Initiative; Marianna Maculan, External Relations Manager for ICGEB – International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology; Atish Dabholkar, Director of ICTP – International Centre for Theoretical Physics; Tonya Blowers, Programme Coordinator of OWSD – Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World; Claudia Baracchini, Senior Project Manager of TEC4I FVG – Technologies for innovation FVG; Peter Mc Grath, Coordinator of the Scientific Diplomacy Unit for TWAS – The World Academy of Sciences; Mounir Ghribi – Director of International Cooperation and Research Promotion for OGS – National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics. Councilor Rosolen concluded the work. SiS FVG is an initiative of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Ministry of University and Research, to enhance the Scientific and Innovation System of Friuli Venezia Giulia.

Regenerative Symphony, the installation created following the artist residency in Area Science Park, was presented during the fifth edition of the New Atlas of Digital Arts, an international event that took place from 20 to 21 June at the MEET Digital Culture Center in Milan, and which aims at promoting and investigating digital creativity scenarios, highlighting the potential of immersive creative experiments as possible drivers of cultural, social and economic innovation. During the event, part of the S+T+ARTS in the City project, in addition to the presentation of the work, a series of European institutions and actors participated, offering an overview of the state-of-the-art and technological developments related to immersive experiences. With Regenerative Symphony, the German artist Daria Jelonek, and the Englishman Perry-James Sugden, of Studio Above&Below created an interactive audiovisual installation generated by an artificial intelligence model that uses self-analysis, mineral monitoring, and market analysis of the northern region of Italy as input data to recognise, decide on, and predict the output of an immersive modular installation. The work was created thanks to the direct involvement of Area Science Park researchers who collaborated with the artists during the weeks of residency, providing them with inspiration, materials and resources starting from their own research. In particular, the teams from the LAME Laboratory were involved; they illustrated their research results in the field of innovative materials and nanotechnologies; Francesca Cuturello and Tommaso Rodani from the LADE Data Engineering Laboratory were also involved, and along with them, the artists actually elaborated the mathematical model underlying the immersive work. Furthermore, during the weeks of residency in Area Science Park, the artists drew inspiration from a visit to the Elettra Sincrotrone laboratories, where they heard from the researchers about the Institution’s most challenging research projects in the materials sector. “Regenerative Symphony is a work of art that explores a future (2030-2050) in which critical minerals, rare elements essential for modern technologies, are recycled instead of extracted – explain the authors – This scenario challenges current difficulties in the recycling of these minerals. The installation uses a model of artificial intelligence that works with data from synthetic and natural materials to visualize this regenerative future. The work of art manifests itself as a generative projection, which reveals the beauty of reuse through the metaphor of sound symphonies. Visitors can interact with the installation, adjusting the view through predictive data of material resources on an iPad.” The public can, in fact, interact with the work by creating new objects, starting with the recycling of others and thanks to sustainable energy sources. The AI ​​model reacts to requests, identifying various solutions, including recycling critical materials from unused e-waste or making alternative design decisions. During computation, the digital experience in the space is rearranged, leading to a new and different immersive environment. Confirming how our every gesture can have a concrete impact on the health of our Planet.