"Biotech and life sciences are at the heart of some of the most important challenges of our time, ranging from healthcare to environmental sustainability, and an important part of the economy of the future will be built on them. These issues are also crucial for the future of transatlantic relations: this is why, as part of the Innovation Diplomacy launched by Vice President and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, we decided to present here in the United States - for the first time outside Italy - the interim report on the Working Table for the Internationalisation of Biotechnology Industries. There is great potential for increasing investment between Italy and the US in the biotechnology sector, and today's meeting serves to facilitate contacts between the two sides of the Atlantic." These were the words of Italy's Ambassador to the United States, Mariangela Zappia, at a meeting in Washington with the US National Commission on Emerging Biotechnology Safety held today at the US Senate, during which the interim report on the Working Table for the Internationalisation of Biotechnology Industries, the results of which had been announced at the Farnesina on 16 October in the presence of Tajani and Health Minister Orazio Schillaci, was presented. It was the Director General for the Promotion of the Country System at the Farnesina, Mauro Battocchi, who presented the report, together with Pierluigi Paracchi, a member of the President's Council of Federchimica Assobiotec, as well as CEO and founder of Genenta Science, the only Italian company listed on Nasdaq. The report illustrates a strategy aimed at improving the competitiveness of the Italian biotech sector through support for the internationalisation of Emerging Biotech Companies and the support of their Research and Development activities. In particular, it focuses on the biotechnology venture capital sector, proposing a refocusing of the Italian venture capital system, with greater support for strategic investments that foster the development and growth of biotechnology companies in Italy. The meeting, whose objective was to present Italy's excellence in the biotech sector to potential American investors, was attended by a select group of leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies, researchers from the National Institutes of Health (Nih), and officials from the US Food and Drug Administration, as well as the Technology Transfer Center of Nih's National Cancer Institute. Andrea Illy also spoke, presenting the initiative, which has come into its own and was presented a few days ago at the meeting of G7 development ministers in Pescara chaired by Tajani, for the creation of a coffee sustainability and resilience fund. A voluntary public-private partnership to help small farmers in lower income countries increase productivity and wealth.
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