The Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa, Nomatemba Tambo, visited AREA Science Park today as part of a broader series of meetings. The South African delegation was welcomed by the President of the Science Park, Adriano De Maio, and the Director General Enzo Moi.  Other participants included Paolo Battilana, Director of Confindustria Trieste; Diego Bravar, CEO of the TBS Group, a multi-national group that was founded and is headquartered at AREA; Giacomo Sardina, Corporate Director of Fincantieri; and Ruggero Mosca, General Manager for Product Cost at Wartsila Italia. These major business leaders presented their main projects, technologies, and activities of potential interest to a dynamic nation such as South Africa.

AREA Science Park's activities were presented to the Ambassador as an integrated system of knowledge, technology and skills put in the service of the local territory and businesses, with goals such as promoting research results and encouraging the founding of start-ups. With about 90 R&D centres and high-tech companies and around 2,400 employees, AREA is the main Italian hub in the European innovation network. The R&D activities pursued in the Park encompass various technologies and sectors and are completed by an offer of qualified services and consultancies in the sectors of technology transfers, the management of innovation, and advanced training.

"We are very interested in AREA Science Park's experience - said Nomatemba Tambo - because we are creating technological business districts in every province of South Africa, and it is very important for us to understand which organizational and management tools you are using, in order to use them, if need be, to support the growth of businesses as best as possible. The development of green technologies is a priority for us and for this purpose we created a specialized university that will train young men and women to develop innovations in the energy sector as well as in environmentally-friendly production systems. Ship-building is a niche sector in our country, but it has great potential for development and this is of interest to us. The same is true of the health sector: we are modernizing our hospitals and their technological equipment, and as such the assistance of specialists in the biomedical sector is especially useful in steering investment priorities. It would be useful to identify potential opportunities for collaborating in joint projects in the above-mentioned sectors and in agriculture as well".