A delegation from the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna has arrived in Dubai, led by Stefano Bonaccini, the President of Emilia-Romagna, with the aim of displaying the region’s expertise and excellence in industry, academia, research and innovation.
The President is accompanied by the Regional Minister of Tourism, Andrea Corsini, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agro-Products, and professional and industrial universities specialized in developing solutions capable of responding to global challenges.
The Emilia-Romagna mission is working to transfer its expertise to the UAE and its visitors during Expo 2020 Dubai through representatives from the industrial, scientific, technological, social, tourism and cultural fields. A series of special events and initiatives are being organized at the Italy Pavilion and the M-Eating Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai around these themes.
In the same context, the mission’s tasks included several strategic meetings that brought together Bonaccini, accompanied by the Consul General in Dubai, Giuseppe Finochiaro and Ahmed Al Falasi, CEO of Dubai’s new Department of Economy and Tourism. The mission also organized a visit to the Dubai Future Foundation, where President Bonaccini met the Foundation’s CEO, Khalfan Belhoul, and discussed ways of cooperation and partnership.
On the 9th of December, Emilia Romagna organized a press conference at Expo 2020 Dubai, in the presence of the regional minister of tourism, travel and tourism pioneers and representatives of various related sectors, in the presence of local and international media. The conference highlighted the Emilia-Romagna industry of excellence in the sectors of industry, agriculture, specialized tourism and higher vocational education, which together highlight Emilia-Romagna’s enormous potential, infrastructure, and economic and tourist attractions.
“Expo 2020 Dubai comes after the very hard months of a pandemic that have had heavy effects at the human, social and economic level” – underlines President Bonaccini.
“A pandemic from which we can escape through the vaccination campaign, which even a year and a half ago seemed impossible to imagine and which is proceeding at a really fast pace, thanks to the commitment and sense of responsibility of the vast majority of citizens.
“Expo 2020 Dubai is an appointment that becomes a fundamental opportunity for a productive fabric such as ours with a strong export vocation, and for a region that has proved to be highly attractive in recent years. We present ourselves at the Expo as a united Italian national system, together with the other Regions, and as the Emilia-Romagna system together with the productive, academic and scientific stakeholders to show our positioning on the markets, and offer unique tourist experiences”.
He also added: “We are participating to this first major international post-Covid event with the ambition of presenting a Region committed to laying the foundations for building a new, different future – concludes the President -. To accomplish the ecological and digital transition, with the investments made in the Emilia-Romagna Data Valley, an outstanding technological platform in Europe, coupled with a sustainable, equitable and widespread growth, capable of reducing social, territorial and gender distances in favour of women and young people, which are the ones who have paid the highest price of the pandemic”.
During the press conference, the Regional Minister of Tourism, Andrea Corsini stressed the importance of investment opportunities and partnerships available to stakeholders and actors in the field of tourism, education and the agricultural sector, accompanied by a number of representatives from the region.
The Motor Valley – Annual sales of 16 billion Euros
Emilia-Romagna is the homeland of big brands famous all over the world and of 16,500 companies in the automotive sector, with over 90 thousand employees, an annual turnover of 16 billion and an export of 7 billion Euros.
Ducati Desert X World Preview in Dubai
Later on the 9th of December, President Stefano Bonaccini inaugurated an exhibition open to the public of the most important Motor Valley brands at the Dubai Opera with a collection of the latest Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Ducati, Pagani and Dallara cars. This was followed by meetings and a round table with the car and motorcycle manufacturers, and then the new Ducati Desert X was unveiled for the first time at the venue.
On Friday, December 10, an official parade of cars and motorcycles will depart from Dubai to reach the Abu Dhabi F1 circuit.
MUNER and the higher education and teaching system
The Minister of Tourism also spoke about MUNER, the Motor Vehicle University of Emilia-Romagna – the international degree courses in Engineering exclusively in English and dedicated to the Automotive sector, with a strong focus on the development of non-engines pollutants, the higher education project involving the four universities and the main Emilia-Romagna car manufacturers and which attracts young people from every country – will be the protagonist of a full calendar of seminars and workshops. In particular, on 8th and 9th December the experience of a real immersion – thanks to augmented reality – in design and construction of a fully powered racing car electric or hybrid and an FSAE electric racing motorcycle will be presented to the audience of the Italian Pavilion and to interested operators.
During the “Interactive Innovation” experience, by mean of the latest generation helmets, visitors will be able to experience, together with MUNER engineers, how the vehicles behave from the point of having seen the vibrations generated by the powertrains and more, they will be able to read the graphs produced during the tests and compare design choices with each other.
Agri-food Program
On December 10, Emilia-Romagna will organize the Agri-Food Program at Expo 2020, which includes presentations of Emilia-Romagna agricultural products in the presence of Bonaccini and Manlio Di Stefano, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Italian Republic, and with the participation of the public, the specialized press and a number of major restaurants in Dubai with the aim of opening a direct dialogue with stakeholders and specialists to offer new and broad choices to Emirati consumers.
In addition to a tasting event for regional food products for importers, distributors, retailers, managers of hotels, restaurants and culinary schools at the M-Eating Italy Pavilion. The event is co-organized by representatives of associations for the protection of geographical indications, members of the newly formed network of four agri-food centers in Emilia-Romagna, and the chief executives and heads of the three major Italian international agri-food fairs.
The role of Casa Artusi will be very important, which will take care of the evening’s tasting dinner, all menus proposed by M-Eating Italy during the mission and will guide various didactic moments for some cooking schools in Dubai and show cooking for the Expo’s visitors from 11 to 14 December.
Childhood education
Not only higher education, but also new teaching systems dedicated to early childhood. Like Progetto Zerosei of Reggio Emilia which on December 12th will present the Learning Environments for digital innovation and steam education in early childhood education centers, an educational method at the forefront for the 0-6 age group, based on the most advanced pedagogical theories born in Reggio Emilia, is developed thanks to a network of national and international partners. On the occasion of the workshop, i-volcanoes, a Learning by Languages brand product, will be presented. It is designed to introduce children aged 3-8 to technological and scientific subjects (the so-called Steam subjects, Science Technology Engineering Mathematics).
A specialized tourist destination and a gourmand’s haven
In addition to being a destination for culture, arts, spiritual and eco-tourism, the statistics also confirm that Made in Italy food is very successful as tourists while on vacation in Italy spend a third of their budget on food and food products, with a total of 26 billion euros. Emilia Romagna offers an authentic gastronomic journey through cheese, meat, pasta and more. Guests can take a journey through the picturesque countryside and artistic towns of the region, along the ancient Roman road of Via Emilia, to savor the most delicious flavors.
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