Italian and Japanese Rectors, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am truly happy that an unexpected change in my agenda allowed me to jump on a train and arrive in time for the closing of this important Forum in the beautiful and highly visited Italian Pavilion at Expo Osaka.
As you know, this initiative by the Italian Conference of the Universities Rectors, to which the Embassy has ensured a decisive contribution – and I would like to publicly thank my collaborators for this excellent result – [this initiative] is the follow-up to the previous mission to Japan of a CRUI delegation and of numerous missions of Italian universities.
This intensified activity of our universities towards Japan is part of the broader collective effort of the Italian System to strengthen the bilateral relations within the framework of the Strategic Partnership launched by our Prime Ministers in January 2023.
Already then, but in even greater detail in the meeting between the two Prime Ministers in February 2024 and in the Action Plan defined immediately afterwards, the strengthening of relations in the academic and scientific sector was one of the fundamental pillars.
Both on the educational and research levels, the goal of greater mobility of students, professors and researchers has been our point of reference and I am truly very satisfied to see that today this Forum aimed at networking and presenting the respective university realities has such a broad and high-level participation.
It is an important and concrete sign of mutual interest between the two academic and research systems that gives me hope that in the coming months and years new collaborations can be developed based on those already existing.
The basic conditions for this growth in our relations are all there.
In addition to the political framework I mentioned earlier, we observe an interesting tendency of the Japanese university and scientific systems to strengthen the path of internationalization and we also note a growing interest of students in seizing opportunities to study abroad, not only in British and American universities.
On the research level, also thanks to the drastic change in the global geopolitical and geo-economic situation, Japanese funding agencies and research teams are increasingly moving towards collaborations with the best European and Italian research institutions.
In this regard, last year, following the meeting between the Prime Ministers in February, the Minister of University and Research launched a new Japan Program, financing two large joint projects, one on battery technologies and the other on gravitational waves. It is our intention to continue this Program by launching two other bilateral projects co-financed with Japanese institutions within this year.
Finally, always observing the Japanese reality, I underline that in the last two years we are witnessing a rapid development of an ecosystem favorable to the incubation and growth of startups. It is a government policy, supported by significant public funding for multiple years, which opens up important new opportunities for bilateral collaboration, especially – I believe – in the “scaling-up” process of our and their best startups.
However, optimal conditions also exist on the Italian front, and I believe that yesterday and today’s presentations have highlighted all these aspects. I would only like to underline, for our Japanese friends who are listening to us here in the room and online, that our university and research systems are experiencing a truly particular and dynamic moment in these years. This is thanks to the extraordinary and significant resources of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which includes among its main axes the strengthening of the university and research system.
In implementing this plan, the Government has made available to the Italian academic and research system funding that has allowed the creation of new National Centers and Extended Partnerships. They are public-private networks between universities, research centers, companies and public administrations, to carry out basic research and applied research projects in strategic sectors and to promote the transfer of research to the real economy, strengthening the Italian technological supply chain and its ability to participate in European and global value chains, including the Japanese one.
In this overall picture that I have briefly outlined, I am certain that our bilateral relations in the academic and scientific sector will be able to grow at a sustained pace in the coming years, especially by seizing the new opportunities opened up by the ongoing transformations that I have mentioned. On its part, the Embassy, as it has always done, will continue to provide its enthusiastic support.
In fact, I firmly believe that the cornerstone for the growth of stronger and deeper international relations is precisely the academic and scientific cooperation. It is, in fact, the driving force for greater familiarity and friendship among our young generations and the push for greater integration among our industrial systems, especially in high-tech sectors.
In turn, greater industrial integration will be the engine to accelerate the mobility of students and professors and to increase bilateral trade relations, especially in the sectors of intermediate and investment goods, which still represent a small share of our exports.
Therefore, on the eve of the celebrations for the 160th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Italy and Japan that will be held next year, this virtuous circle will contribute in a win-win logic to the strengthening of friendship, trust and cooperation between our countries.