Skolkovo project to be presented in Italy

ROME, July 14 (Itar-Tass) - Presentation of the Russian Skolkovo
project will be held in the Italian capital on Thursday. Skolkovo Fund
President Viktor Vekselberg will meet with Italian Education Minister
Mariastella Gelmini and Massimo Sarmi, Managing Director of Poste Italiane.
The presentation will be held at the Italian Foreign Ministry in the
presence of representatives of the country's leadership. The delegation of
the Skolkovo Fund will present key directions in its activity - energy
efficiency, biomedical, space and nuclear technologies. Open University
Skolkovo will be presented separately.
Russian organisers of the presentation said its aim is "to attract
attention of potential Italian partners from the scientific and university
worlds, as well as from the world of business, which envisages cooperation
with leading Italian companies and opens investment opportunities".
Sources from the Italian Foreign Ministry said Italy is very
interested in cooperation with Russia in the sphere of innovation and the
development of new technologies, which has been repeatedly stressed at
different bilateral meetings, including during the 12th session of the
Russian-Italian council for economic, industrial and monetary-financial
cooperation with participation of Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin
and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.
The Italian Foreign Ministry, for its part, undertakes to help spread
information about possibilities to participate in the Skolkovo project. It
is sure that Italy, which has one of the leading positions in Europe in
the sphere of scientific research and engineering, has a lot to offer
within the framework of an exchange of experience with Russia.
The Russian delegation arrives in Italy from Israel, where Skolkovo
Fund President Viktor Vekselberg discussed with Israeli authorities on
Wednesday prospects for cooperation in the sphere of innovation
development.
The delegation of the Skolkovo Fund met with President Shimon Peres as
well as held talks with Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour Shalom
Simhon and ministry's Chief Scientist Avi Hason.
Fund's Vice President Dmitry Kolosov told Tass that the Israeli
president had marked the agro-industrial complex as one of priority
directions in cooperation, taking into consideration significant
achievements of Israel in that sphere. Besides, a number of other fields
for cooperation in the sphere of high technologies and science were named
during the meeting.
The sides also discussed cooperation with Open University Skolkovo and
Skolkovo Institute of Technology.