Minister Bernini visiting Kilometro Rosso: “The partnership between research, culture and business is the strength of the Bergamo model”

Stezzano. The Minister for University and Research Anna Maria Bernini visits the Kilometro Rosso. The appointment, set for yesterday afternoon, Saturday 25 May, saw the Forza Italia parliamentarian, representative of the Meloni Government, welcomed by the president of Confindustria Giovanna Ricuperati, by the Rector of the University of Bergamo Sergio Cavalieri, the former Stefano Palearithe former senator Alessandra Gallone, the owner of Brembo Alberto Bombassei, the founder of the Mario Negri Institute Silvio Garattiniits director Giuseppe Remuzzi and the president of the Donizetti Foundation and president of the Polytechnic of the Arts Giorgio Berta. A first public moment, also open to the press, and a second, however, of a private nature in which Bernini was able to speak with representatives of the local institutions. Among the reasons for the visit which took place in the heart, in the center of research and business excellence of the capital, also and above all the state of the art of the initiatives promoted by the Government to continue to support and finance the works that find form and content precisely in the headquarters of Confindustria and the Mario Negri Institute, with particular attention, as the Minister’s material states, to university issues, in particular that of Bergamo.

“The Kilometro rosso is the structure that par excellence brings together doing research with doing culture – so the Minister Bernini –, and it is precisely by virtue of its very high caliber that I stopped there today. This reality is nothing other than an extraordinary intuition that your territory has had, that is, to make research something immediately applied and, consequently, to make it the basis for responses to the needs of the present and future market. Our great challenge is to bring our universities and research institutes to be better than they were before the arrival of the Recovery and Resilience Plan, also ensuring that they maintain their excellence even after the revenue from the PNRR funds has expired .

To do this, from my point of view and with the utmost respect for the managerial autonomy of universities, it is not making current expenditure but investments in research infrastructures like these and similar ones, always linked to a principle of internationalization and relationship with the company, according to principles of exchange because that is what the concept of innovation is based on. And above all there must be the ability to organize training courses that look to the future, which is something that already happens here at Kilometro Rosso, focusing for example on biosciences, biotechnology, biopharmaceuticals, technological agriculture, quantum technologies, sustainable mobility, recovery of biodiversity. These are the points on which we must invest also and above all for the future of the new generations”.

Then a necessary passage on the University of Bergamo, a rapidly growing institution, as is also the case for the Polytechnic of Fine Arts, so much so that we can talk about “Bergamo model”: “Without a doubt, because it boasts very high merits and has a great scientific supply chain. The Rectors of the University of Bergamo, represented here by the former Paleari and the current Cavalieri, make the difference because they leave their mark on contents and governance. And having created a research and innovation center like this, together with a university that shines for merit and a Polytechnic of the Arts that excels in its subject of expertise, is a true and intelligent intuition because art is a great detonator for making scientific information and business culture also circulate. This is truly a very happy initiative that supports us and makes us competitive on the international scene.”

And on the Montelungo, new university hub specifies: “We have been waiting for it for a long time, for ten years now. The impulse that the Government has given to student residences has been very strong, today we are talking about . And on the topic of university housing we have chosen to appoint an extraordinary commissioner precisely to try to streamline bureaucratic procedures and simplify the paths. If there are other problems, I am available, because I really believe in collaboration. We have also made some staffing points, we have put funds into some degree courses, such as Medicine. On the topic of hiring, which today is also financed by PNRR resources, it is clear that it is a choice of individual universities, it is a decision that they must make with respect to economic stability which does not belong so much to today, but to tomorrow. Bergamo is a virtuous example, a reality of excellence. Unfortunately, not all Italian universities experience this extraordinary condition. I am at your side to help you win the Europa League, exactly like Atalanta did.”

The closure on the scenarios of the post-PNRR horizon, with reference to the contribution foreseen for the Mario Negri Institute: “With respect to the Ministry’s funding of 1 million euros for the Mario Negri Institute, I can’t say anything more than they deserve it. it represents a great opportunity for the Ministry as well as a center of excellence, so much so that that investment was already planned, even before the PNRR funds. We will continue to do so because the initiative is not only of the highest level from a research point of view, but also of an ethical nature. Mario Negri represents a real opportunity for the Ministry and above all it donates and does not sell, so it is by far the most deserving initiative.”