A celebration, a moment to reflect and an opportunity for the future. Between October 17th and 19th, President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, was welcomed by the community in the Bay Area as part of his US visit.
As underlined by Ambassador Armando Varricchio, “Being in San Francisco allowed the President to understand how relevant this area is when it comes to innovation and growth. The city also has a unique history, given the contribution of Italian citizens to the development of the United States.” This statement, that opened the community reception, well illustrates the goals and the essence of the entire event.
After the first stop in Washington, with an official meeting with President Donald J. Trump, Consul General of Italy, Lorenzo Ortona, and his wife, Sheila, welcomed the President’s delegation at San Francisco Airport, kicking off a three days tour de force around Silicon Valley.
The group included the Minister of Technological Innovation, Paola Pisano, Ambassador Varricchio, and Italian business leaders. Nevertheless, the full agenda gave the delegation many opportunities to connect with Italian expats, to attend the Innovation Forum Italy-US at Stanford University and to meet local representatives, like Mayor London Breed and California Governor Gavin Newsom. In addition to that, a tour aboard the iconic Cable Car and the visit to the Fisherman’s and Seamen’s Memorial Chapel also took place.
The visit unfolded as a look at the past and at the Italians and Italian-Americans who have made San Francisco one of the most important cities in the country, while acknowledging the success of existing Italian companies and opening doors to future collaborations between Italy and California. That’s how the visit at two startups, Nozomi Networks and Kong, on Friday morning became a remarkable moment. Andrea Carcano, co-founder of Nozomi Networks Inc., a company leader in OT and IoT security, underlined how “It was an honor to be recognized as an example of the global power of Italian entrepreneurship and engineering. In only a few short years, we’ve built a successful cybersecurity company with a strong global presence, and for Moreno (Carullo) and me, our Italian roots will always be an important part of our success.” The work of the two Italians, applying AI to industrial cybersecurity, has facilitated digital transformation in many companies worldwide, proving how a new generation of young talents has found success outside of their country of origins. On the same note, was the visit at Kong HQ, where Augusto Marietti and Marco Palladino shared their story about how it all started in a garage space in Milan 10 years ago, and why only by moving to Silicon Valley their dream came true. Kong tripled in size in 2019, reached more than 100 million open source downloads to become the most widely adopted open source API platform, hitting more than 150 enterprise customers.
That was only the beginning of an extraordinary day, as the Innovation Forum Italy-US was underway at Stanford University, in Palo Alto. The President’s delegation joined some powerful conversations among leaders in a variety of fields, between the morning and afternoon sessions.
Minister Paola Pisano could not stress enough how important is to consolidate partnerships between Italian companies and universities; to scale, by helping Italian startups go global, and to create, by supporting big companies when they land in the Italian market. Both Giorgio Metta, Scientific Director of the Italian Institute of Technology, and Francesco Starace, Chief Executive Officer of ENEL, identified issues faced nowadays by Italian companies and proposed strategies to help them succeed. According to Mr Metta, the lack of infrastructure and the regulations can block innovation, whereas Mr Starace underlined how entrepreneurs need to find the courage, must fearlessly recognize that technology evolves fast and ask for help to solve problems related to a potential transformation.
Alongside these mighty contributions, there was also Nirav Tolia’s experience. The founder of Nextdoor took a different direction compared to many entrepreneurs, as he resigned from his CEO role to move to Italy with his family. He is now teaching a class called “The Modern Day Rebirth of Renaissance” at Stanford in Florence and his message — “Look forward without forgetting to look at the past” — left the audience with a smile and the hope a new Rinascimento Italiano might happen again.
On Friday afternoon, the President met with Mayor London Breed, then with the Italian community gathered at the Fairmont in San Francisco. La Scuola Italiana played the Italian Anthem, right before President Mattarella took the stage to express his gratitude to the audience: “I want to share the appreciation of Italy to your contribution to California. My meetings in Washington and San Francisco proved the relevance of Italian citizens’ contributions to this country. This shows how generations of Italians and Italian-Americans led the growth of an important part of America. San Francisco elected three Mayors with Italian roots, Angelo Rossi, Joseph Alioto, and Giorgio Moscone. The city is a symbol of integration and hospitality, where political, economic, and social growth happens also thanks to the presence of young Italian developers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and talents of many kinds. The same people who can now also support Italy’s development.” The President walked around the audience, holding hands and allowing people to introduce themselves.
Last but not least, on Saturday, before taking off and going back to Italy, the President and California’s Governor, Newsom, met at Muir Woods for a walk around the National Park.
Consul General, Lorenzo Ortona, was excited to see San Francisco and the Italian community part of such an amazing event. “It was a great honor for me and my wife to be able to receive the President of the Republic and Mrs. Laura during the month of October, now dedicated to the Italian heritage in the United States. A fantastic visit that unfolded in meetings with both the high tech community and the vibrant Italian community with a speech that touched everyone’s heart. The meetings with Governor Newsom and Mayor Breed reinforced the relationships between California, San Francisco, and Italy. October 2019 will long be remembered as a particularly special month for the Italian west coast community.”
A time to remember, 37 years after President Pertini visited the Bay Area, with the hope that stronger ties between California and Italy will also bring more opportunities for growth and collaboration.
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