Meetings, forums, workshops and exhibitions characterized the second week (February 6 to 12) of the Campania Region at Expo Dubai. Within the Italian Pavilion, the Research, Innovation and Startup Department and the Production Activities Department of the Campania Region implemented, through the regional company Sviluppo Campania, a dense programme of activities involving the Campania Innovation and Research Ecosystem, the Campania aerospace system and the world of research.
With the inauguration of the exhibition Il Volo: A journey through challenges and innovation opened the Campania Regional Day at the Italian Pavilion of Expo 2020 Dubai.
Presented by the Commissioner General of Italy at EXPO 2020, Paolo Glisenti, the Italian Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Nicola Lener and the Campania Region’s Councillor for Research, Innovation and Startup, Valeria Fascione, the exhibition aims to present the Campania aerospace sector, in the three air, suborbital and space domains, illustrating technological and production capabilities.
Leading models from the Campania aerospace industry such as the ATR 42, the P2006T, the P2012 Traveller and the ONE project, which aims to achieve a cost-competitive UAV aircraft with the application of innovative materials, are on display. Also on display is the hypersonic flight, with the HYPLANE aircraft model, which wants to connect Naples to New York in 2 hours. And on the new frontiers of technology in space exploration, SSMS is the dispenser that allows a large number of micro-satellites to be sent with a single launch. IRENE looks like a small innovative umbrella for re-entry from space. The course concludes with one of the most significant projects that unites research, industry and design in Campania: DIVA, a vertical take-off aircraft that will change the way to move in large cities and to the islands.
“The theme of Expo Dubai is to create the future, and the future is in space”. This is why, as a region of Campania, ‘we are at Expo with aerospace’ and ‘we have brought with us the DAC, the Campania aerospace district that includes all the components of our region that work on aerospace’, said Antonio Marchiello, Councillor for Production Activities and Labour of the Campania Region, in a video message to the forum. Expo Dubai “is a moment of communion of cultures, a crossroads of intelligences from all continents and Campania could not be missed. In the first week of December we were there with tourism and agriculture, two great realities of the region and today we are here with industry, innovation and research, the other peculiarities of our region I believe linked to the intelligence that accompanies us as southerners", said the councilor, stressing that "in 2012 there was this intelligent vision of networking our companies" to achieve the DAC, which "unites 24 realities and 150-160 satellite realities" and "the fruits are there".
Luigi Carrino, President of the Dac-Distretto Aerospaziale della Campania, stated that ‘it was important to present the district not as such, but because it is a winning model of aggregation that goes beyond the traditional limits of the relationship between large and small enterprises, which has often been conflicting’. With this reality, “we attract attention and investment” from the world. Carrino pointed out that with a turnover of 2.8 billion euros and 13 thousand workers, Campania represents about a quarter of the national aerospace sector.
‘As a Campania Region, we have presented our point of excellence in the aerospace sector, mainly in the new activities that are being carried out and in the great capacity for collaboration between public and private bodies,’ said the former Minister and former President of the CNR, Luigi Nicolais.
The Regional Day continued with two forums dedicated to the challenges of Innovation, Sustainable Mobility and Research.
“The message we want to give is that we are an open and dynamic ecosystem, we are curious to collaborate and we hope that these days in the Emirates we can have more contacts for future collaborations”. Valeria Fascione, Research, Innovation and Startup Councillor of the Campania Region, pointed out by opening the Forum L’Ecosistema dell’Innovazione e della Ricerca della Campania held after the institutional panel dedicated to aerospace excellence in Campania, organised by the Directorate-General for Productive Activities of the Campania Region in collaboration with the Campania Aerospace District.
The Forum was set up with the aim of promoting Campania as an ecosystem dedicated to innovation. An ecosystem made up of 7 universities, 40 advanced research centers, seven hi-tech districts and 21 public-private laboratories, 30 business support structures, 1,300 startups, with one billion euros invested in research and development from the region in the 2014-2020 period.
“Our challenge is to make Campania a world-class open innovation platform, stimulating the region’s competitiveness and attracting investment”, added Fascione.
The day ended with the panel dedicated to Sustainable Mobility: Borgo 4.0 organized by the Directorate General Research of the Campania Region in collaboration with ANFIA National Association of Automotive Industry, one of the largest trade associations of the Italian automotive supply chain.
Space was also given to the academic world, with speeches by Massimo De Falco of the University of Salerno, Giorgio Budillon of the University of Naples Parthenope and Davide Marocco of the University of Naples Federico II, who presented the laboratories to be held at the Italian Pavilion on research and innovation.
On 7, 8 and 9 February, the program of activities continued with the thematic workshops proposed by the Universities of Campania that joined the expression of interest launched in recent months and with some institutional visits to key places for the competitive and technological development of the Emirates.
In addition, a small space was devoted to a focus on the strategy for attracting investment, which is decisive for driving innovation in production processes, introducing new technologies and ideas, creating new jobs and transforming the post-crisis rebound into structural growth in the Campania economy.
The Campania Region has once again become one of the protagonists at the Universal Exhibition in Dubai, in the Italian Pavilion. The week's programme of initiatives was organised by the Department of Research, Innovation and Startup and the Department of Productive Activities, and implemented through the regional company Sviluppo Campania.
The Campania Region took part in the exhibition of the Italian Pavilion with a video story directed by Gabriele Salvatores entitled ‘Beauty unites People’ – the main theme of Italy’s participation in Expo 2020 Dubai.
English (UK)