Vattani visits Kansai Medical University on CRUI mission

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 6 - The Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, Ambassador Mario Vattani, took part in a visit to the Kansai Medical University (KMU) on September 6 as part of a Conference of Italian University Rectors (CRUI) mission to Japan.
    Promoting international exchanges in the academic and university sphere is one of the aims of the CRUI mission to Japan and it is the subject of an agreement signed in February by the Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, the Higher Education and Research Ministry (MUR), the CRUI, art, music and dance body AFAM and CoPer to promote, coordinate and make the most of the Italian university system's participation at Expo 2025 Osaka.
    The Italian delegation explored the KMU's efficient, modern hospital, which is famed for its technologically advanced rehabilitation practices, its cancer treatments and its palliative therapies, with the aim of linking Italian universities to one of Japan's most advanced medical institutions.
    "Italy and Japan share common challenges related to aging of the population," commented the Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, Ambassador Mario Vattani.
    "That's why the visit to Kansai Medical University was a great opportunity to foster new synergies between Italian and Japanese excellence in the field of medicine and research and promote the strength of our scientific diplomacy around the world.
    "The person will be the center of our narrative at the Italy Pavilion: we will present innovative projects in all the scientific and research fields with the aim of proposing concrete activities to improve the quality of life of all of us".
    CRUI President Giovanna Iannantuoni took part in the mission with four fellow deans.
    "The Italian university system has been intensifying its international-relations contacts for years, and Japan is a country that is crucial from this point of view," Iannantuoni said.
    "Specifically, we have agreed with the KMU the organization both of an exchange program involving students of all levels and young researchers, and of joint research projects on key topics for both countries.
    "But above all, there is the possibility to involve highly qualified Japanese researchers in the near future in the Italian innovation hub, i.e. the 34 initiatives recently launched as part of the Italian post-Covid resilience plan".
    An entire section of the Italy Pavilion will be dedicated to the person and it will host events devoted to the presentation of innovative solutions in the domotic, bio-science and scientific research fields.
    The presence of the Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, Mario Vattani, showed it is possible to move forward with potential interactions between Italian and Japanese institutions and research centres in view of the presentation of cutting-edge projects for the improvement of the quality of life in advanced societies that will be presented at the Italy Pavilion.
    "It was a great pleasure and an honor for us to receive the visit of the Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, Ambassador Mario Vattani, as he accompanied the CRUI delegates," said Kansai Medical University President Professor Tatsuo Kinashi.
    "This visit is certainly a key event for the KMU and it lays the foundations for future collaborations and for the achievement of common objectives in the field of cutting-edge research on the path towards Expo 2025 Osaka".
    Professor Giuseppe Pezzotti, director of Kansai Medical University's Biomedical Research Centre, added: "today's visit by the CRUI and Ambassador Vattani to the KMU focused on one of the most important issues of our time: improving the quality of life of our increasingly aging societies.
    "Today's meeting opened a new path in the development of advanced research projects and it represents a key event in relations between Italy and Japan".
    Professor Tiziana Lippiello, the rector of Venice's Ca' Foscari University and the CRUI's international relations delegate, and Professor Tatsuo Kinashi signed a memorandum of understanding for research cooperation between the two universities on the sidelines of the meeting, taking an important step towards closer collaboration between the two institutions.
    During the visit to the Kansai Medical University, Commissioner Vattani was accompanied by Italy's Consul to Japan Marco Prencipe and a seven-strong CRUI delegation, including CRUI President Giovanna Iannantuoni (rector of Milano Bicocca University), Vice President with Research Portfolio Francesco Priolo (University of Catania Rector), and the Delegate for International Relations Tiziana Lippiello (Rector of Venice's Ca' Foscari University).
    Expo 2025 will take place in Osaka from April 13 to October 13 2025 under the theme 'Designing Future Society for Our Lives'.
    Italy's pavilion was designed by the architect Mario Cucinella and has the slogan 'Art Regenerates Life'. (ANSA).