Rome, November 19 (Adnkronos) – ‘Doing business and research in the United States’. This was the title of an event held in Rome, at the headquarters of the Center for American Studies, as part of the fourth edition of the Festival of American Culture. In a world that is constantly changing, how should we adapt in the world of work and society to face the challenges of the future? This is a question that many different entrepreneurial realities, in Italy and America, are trying to answer by engaging in a dialogue that enriches ideas and experiences. Questions were also at the heart of the work moderated by Gianni Todini, director of Askanews. Participating at the table were Davide Allegra, Advocacy & Business Services Manager, American Chamber of Commerce in Italy, Clara Andreoletti, Ad Eni Next, Erica Di Giovancarlo, coordinating director of the US Network – Italian Trade Agency, Paolo Gaudenzi, advisor for Scientific Cooperation at the Italian Consulate General in Boston, Matteo Lai, CEO and founder of Empatica, Giorgio Resta, interim vice-chancellor delegated to coordinate the internationalization of activities, Roma Tre University and Alessandro Vespignani, founding director of the Northeast Network Science Institute.
Paolo Gaudenzi stated that “the work approach they take at the Italian Consulate General in Boston lies in the fact of imagining science, technology and business as three closely related elements. Science through technological tools provides services to society, generating prosperity”. The experience of the ‘Eni Next’ project is described by Clara Andreoletti directly from Boston, who shows how there is “a continuous dialogue between scientists and professors, even though these scientists are highly trained, and how we have arrived at the creation of new clean energy on the market”. Matteo Lai reports on the idea of a closer relationship between technology and people and how, in the context of Empatica, the company he founded, they have succeeded in developing innovative tools in various fields. According to Erica Di Giovancarlo, “Sharing and doing together” is the basis for starting. “The Italian system, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ice, Sace, Simest Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, the Chamber of Commerce, acts together appropriately to provide maximum assistance to Italian companies to be able to enter foreign markets.”
Davide Allegra introduces the reality of the ‘American Chamber of Commerce’. Specifically with regard to cooperation, he highlighted “the representation of areas of interest by looking at the transatlantic plan where companies from the American and Italian sides met six or seven times in a hybrid manner to produce a paper at the end of the work in which they highlighted prospects and problems”. The university perspective is discussed by Giorgio Resta. “The idea that the American educational system teaches the idea of having to change the world, thinking outside the box, which, for example in law, differs from our system based on knowing and applying the rules rather than rethinking them.”
Alessandro Vespignani blamed the problem of ‘Brain Drain’, stating that “the problem is not that people are leaving the country, but that it is a lack of opportunities”. Then returning to the issue of ‘thinking outside the box’, he stated how “in the United States, doing business is culture, whereas in Italy we have not yet resolved the problem of the two cultures, where humanistic culture continues to be considered superior to scientific and therefore entrepreneurial culture”.
