Trieste, 23 June 2008

AREA SCIENCE PARK: the International House Project is launched

Located in the heart of Trieste, its purpose is to welcome and train researchers and promote a cultural exchange for all foreign researchers and scientific bodies in the city

This morning a memorandum of intent was signed by the Municipality of Trieste, the Province of Trieste, the universities and the leading scientific institutions in the Trieste area. AREA Science Park officially launches a project it has been working on for some time as part of its Coordination of Research Bodies system for the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region: International House, a centre that welcomes and trains researchers and promotes cultural exchange.

“It is, I believe, a unique project in Italy, and it is very important to us” says Francesco Russo, AREA’s Vice Chairman. “We developed it with the intention to create a service network to strengthen on an international level the appeal of our research centres. We would like to attract experts in Trieste, ensuring on the one hand an improvement in the quality of stay for foreign researchers who are guests at the scientific institutions and, on the other hand, an improvement of the scientific and technological potential of the area.”

The four measures to be introduced by International House are:

• a programme for incoming visiting researchers: this measure is aimed at individual researchers who are leading specialists on an international level, hosted by scientific institutions in the Regional Coordination system. The programme will nurture excellence networks on a regional and international level.
• a mobility programme for students/researchers from scientific institutions in Friuli Venezia Giulia at foreign universities. In this perspective, training initiatives and fellowships will be organised and performed at academic institutions abroad.
• support for research projects with regional value and impact on market activity: this measure provides for the co-financing of research and technological development projects, performed jointly with a number of scientific institutions in Friuli Venezia Giulia, for the purpose of promoting the transfer of know-how towards the manufacturing system.
• management of welcoming services for foreign researchers: the measure involves the creation of a single welcoming office, extending the Mobility Centre for managing administrative and legal procedures, related to the entry and stay for foreign students and researchers.
Thanks to the memorandum of intent with the Municipality, Province and Chamber of Commerce in Trieste, and other scientific institutions based in Trieste, the Office will also have a branch in the city centre and the project will be enhanced by a number of additional services pertaining to:
• residential service
• access to an international school and nursery service
• Italian language courses
• a service card for accommodation, transport, purchases and leisure activities, also for students and researchers above 26.

The sum of activities related to International House will be organised on the basis of the needs of the single scientific institutions in the region and in close collaboration with the latter.

Press Office  Leo Brattoli, tel. 040 3755221 mobile 335 1236284