Mar. 12 – To introduce the world to Italy’s innovation capacity, its information technology sector, and its green energy department: this is the objective of Italian Innovation Day while attending Italy 2.0 – Italy Tech Week in the Silicon Valley. Sponsored by the Consulate General and the Institute of Culture, the week brings together the Mind the Bridge Foundation, the Silicon Valley Italian Executive Council, the Business Association Italy America and the magazine Why Italy Matters to the World, with the support of Tiscali. For Innovation Day, the Italian companies attending will be those presenting their latest technological innovation, including a large group of start-ups selected by Mind the Bridge. They will be exhibiting their products in the Museum of Modern Computing, Mountain View. On the same day, the exhibition "Sexy before Apple: the Italian experience in Silicon Valley" on the contribution of Italians to the formation and growth of the technology park will open. Tomorrow, Confindustria Toscana will host a series of B2B meetings with companies in the Bay Area in Palo Alto. In San Francisco, the Institute of Culture hosts Federico Rampini (Repubblica journalist) to discuss the European social model alongside Sean Randolph of the Bay Area Economic Council, presenting his latest book "Is the European Social Model a Luxury We Cannot Afford Anymore? Wrong!" On the 14th, also at the Institute, the father of the microprocessor, Federico Faggin, and the writer and journalist Mike Malone will host a conference on the future of IT. On the 19th, finally, Italian companies active in the green sector will attend the Clean Tech Forum to present Green Innovation made in Italy.

ITALY TECH WEEK
Italy Tech Week is one of the many stages of “ The Year of Italian Culture in the United States: research, discovery and innovation,” a 12 month journey that will touch 40 U.S. cities with over 200 events, showcasing the heritage, the past and the best of Italian production in different sectors. The Year of Culture, a project that enjoys the patronage of the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano, was an initiative of the Minister Giulio Terzi, It opened on December 12th with an exhibition of Michelangelo's David-Apollo at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.