TRIESTE, ITALY - On July 28th, 2016 Trieste hosted the international Forum focused on the following topic: “Driving change for US and Italian innovation systems: finding better ways to learn from each other”.

The initiative has been organized by AREA Science Park together with the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, the Chamber of Commerce of Udine, Friuli Innovazione and World Trade Center Trieste.

The Forum aimed at bringing together leading policymakers, institutional representatives, thinkers and practitioners from Italy, Southeastern Europe and the USA to envision what institutions, universities, research centers and companies of the future would be like and how today's US and Italian companies can achieve the change they will need to increase their mutual co-operation. Leading entrepreneurs and senior researchers shared their insights and strategies for success in their bi-lateral and multilateral partnership.

The FVG-USA Forum was hosted at the end of the international cooperation project "Startup Ecosystem FVG-USA" whose main objective was to support internationalization initiatives to North America, favoring mutual collaborations and the development of business initiatives for SMEs and startups.

The specific topics approached during the morning sessions were the following: the progress of transatlantic science and technology cooperation and EU-Italy-US dialogue about joint priorities to advance as a competitive global player in science technology and innovation. In the afternoon, there have been thematic roundtables upon advanced materials and their future impact of on society; life sciences and health with a major focus on aging, which is a major challenge for scientists; ICT and how cognitive computing will change the way we live and work and the science contribution in climate change’s impact on agri-food.

The last plenary discussion, titled “The Port of Trieste as the north-Adriatic gateway for the development of Central and South-Eastern Europe” saw the participation of the President of the Trieste Port Authority, the Director of the Central Counterfeiting and Controls of the Customs Authority, the US Department of State, the ICT Regional Coordinator, ECA and MENA - World Bank. In this final plenary intervened Mr. Enrico Samer, President & CEO of SAMER & Co. Shipping S.p.A. and President of WTC Trieste, Mrs. Cristina Sbaizero, CEO of WTC Trieste and Mr. John F. Petrino, Director of Business Development of the Georgia Ports Authority and Board Member of WTC Savannah.

For WTC Trieste and WTC Savannah this initiative represented the first concrete opportunity to develop common businesses to support clients on both sides, thanks also to the Free Trade Zones of the two Ports and the mutual international expertises in connecting business people.

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