Salute & sanità
Why the US Navy has chosen CNR
Reblogged from Science on the Net
The US Navy has been funding for many years a collaboration with CNR scientific research in the field of marine industry. On July 23, at the Marine Technology Research Institute (INSEAN) in Rome, the Admiral Matthew L. Klunder of the US Navy delegation has visited the Italian Institute in order to further strengthen this scientific collaboration.
To understand the reasons behind such cooperation, we have talked with Emilio Campana, the INSEAN director.
“CNR is in a very unique situation compared to other institutions in the world that deal with scientific research in the marine field because – and this concept must be highlighted – the collaboration between the Navy and INSEAN just relates to the field of scientific research. Which means studying how to build better ships that go faster, consume less and are able to better cope with the difficulties,” explains Campana.
“In other countries, there are two types of institutions dealing with marine research: on the one hand those that are under the complete control of military forces, as it happens in Spain and France, and on the other hand the commercial institutions, such those operating in Netherlands and Germany. Instead, CNR belongs to a third class: since we are a research institution, we do not obey neither to the dictates of the Italian Navy nor to the will of the market.”
“Most of all,” says Campana, “it is the Italian innovation that interests the American Navy. Using a metaphor, the research market is a bit like the meat market, your research must ‘smell fresh’ to attract customers. If the US Navy funds us, is because CNR is working on the forefront of this field.” The Italian research is an excellence in the field of marine industry and there are two main areas where CNR is providing its contribution.
Towards an European network for research
Reblogged from Science on the Net
On July 22nd, all the European Ministers for Research were in Milan to lay the foundation stone of the European Network for Research, an international coordination that will involve 800 amongst the largest research centres of excellence in Europe, such as CERN and the Elettra Synchrotron in Trieste. Aim of this network is to make Europe more united and thus more competitive on the world stage, starting from the recent decision of implementing 60 percent of the projects of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) by the end of 2015. How? By establishing specific national plans within a European plan for scientific research.
Let’s take a step back. Actually, the idea of a European network is not that recent. It dates back more than ten years ago, precisely in 2002, when ESFRI was born to support a coherent approach to policy-making on research infrastructures in Europe and to facilitate multilateral initiatives, thus leading to the better use and development of research infrastructures at EU and international level. That was the moment when this new commitment for the construction of an international network of research facilities of excellence has started.
Moreover, ESFRI carried out substantial work on the prioritization of financial support to these projects through a one-time financial contribution for the priority projects and to financially support the other projects (preparation and implementation) identified by ESFRI. In other words, the aim is to identify the best research projects and invest funding in order to complete the 60 percent of them by the end of 2015.
Cristina Da Rold 