The Lazio Region Business Hub, hosted by the Italian Chamber of Commerce in the United Arab Emirates, was inaugurated on 15 September in Dubai.
To find out more and take advantage of the services offered by the Hub, visit the DEDICATED PAGE.
The event was attended by Quirino Briganti, Responsible for Expo2020Dubai activities of the Lazio Region; Giuseppe Finocchiaro, Italian Consul in the UAE; Marcello Fondi, Minister Plenipotentiary and Deputy Commissioner for the participation in Expo 2020 Dubai; Stefano Campagna, Vice President of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in the UAE; Mauro Marzocchi, Secretary General of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in the UAE and, via streaming, Nicola Tasco, President of Lazio Innova.
At the moment, more than 50 Lazio companies have joined the Hub, an internationalisation tool of the Lazio Region for assistance and orientation of SMEs, operating at the headquarters of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Advisor to the Lazio Region for activities accompanying the Universal Exhibition.
“The geopolitical and economic centre of gravity has changed on our planet. This glimpse of the beginning of the third millennium leads us to deep reflections,” said Quirino Briganti, Responsible for Expo2020Dubai activities of Lazio Region during the ceremony that presented the Hub. “We will have to be much more careful and attentive to sustainability issues. This universal exposition takes us right into the future and is pushing all countries around the world to engage with the Expo motto: connecting minds to create the future.” The aim of the Hub is to support the business of Lazio companies, to provide them with the best tools for internationalisation using the Expo and this part of the world as a strategic point. “Lazio in Dubai is an extraordinary challenge. For a peaceful future, we hope”, concluded Briganti.
“The pandemic has neither stopped us nor slowed us down, on the contrary”, said Lazio Innova President Nicola Tasco. “In the past six months we have held 14 information and training seminars dedicated to all the strategic regional sectors and three work cafés aimed at sharing policies and objectives with stakeholders”. More than 800 companies have been involved in the preparatory activities for the great universal event, and 50 have so far used the assessment service. “While waiting for the Expo to open its doors,” continued Tasco, “we are currently working to develop new opportunities for Lazio companies. Business matching activities, the matching of supply and demand for products made in Lazio, have a new and powerful accelerator in the Dubai Hub, which we are inaugurating today. In the next few weeks there will be recurring calls for participation in trade fairs and business meetings. Workshops and focus groups will follow one another over the next six months. To tell the world about the wonders of Lazio”.
“Expo 2020 Dubai is the first major international event for Lazio after the prolonged stop caused by the coronavirus. It is a valuable opportunity to be close to our companies and to promote the construction of the new development model we are aiming at, based on concepts such as sustainable development, innovation and international projection,” commented the Minister for Economic Development, Trade and Crafts, University, Research, Start-Up and Innovation, Paolo Orneli. “This is why Lazio Region will be in the Italian Pavilion at Expo with many initiatives – he continued – including the ‘Lazio Region Business Hub’, which aims to contribute to showing all the strength of Lazio’s entrepreneurial fabric, supporting the economic, innovation and regional research ecosystem and promoting the excellence of our territory in this fast growing region of the world. And we are sure that the results, in terms of investments, international collaborations and partnerships, will not be long in coming”.
The HUB is part of the broader programme of initiatives for the participation of Lazio in Expo 2020 Dubai, the first Italian region to join the Italian Pavilion at the Emirates exhibition. Not just a simple presence, but a programme of initiatives to show all the strength of Lazio, support the economic, innovation and regional research ecosystem, promote the excellence of the territory, increase investment opportunities and support international collaborations and technological partnerships.
After the hardest months of the Covid 19 emergency, Expo 2020 Dubai represents for Lazio the first great opportunity to start again with a new spirit, in harmony with the planet, according to new keywords: connection, innovation, sustainability, beauty and culture.
For this reason, Lazio Region will be present in the Italian Pavilion at Expo with its own claim: “CULTURE is Innovation, Sustainability and Wellbeing – Lazio Eternal Discovery” and a rich programme that includes seminars, themed and cultural workshops, an exhibition dedicated to Cinema, in connection with the Rome Film Festival, and participation in Innovation Talks, with testimonials from the entrepreneurial system.
The Lazio Region is at the side of local companies that want to seize the opportunity to enter new markets. It will do so during the entire period of the Universal Exposition, also through Connections, the app developed and promoted by Expo 2020 Dubai to enhance the activities of EXPO and for international matchmaking, which will promote B2B and B2G meetings between the systems of the 192 countries participating in the Exposition.
In collaboration with ICE Agency and together with the whole Sistema Italia, Lazio will support local companies wishing to participate in the 17 international trade fairs, with related international brokerage activities with buyers from MENASA countries, which will be held in the UAE in conjunction with Expo 2020 Dubai.
Moreover, Lazio Region offers news, information and tools to all companies interested in Expo and UAE markets through the website, expo2020.lazioinnova.it, through digital meetings for training and exchange of ideas and through dossiers and publications.
The cycle of 13 “Information & Training” meetings, held so far as part of the activities that Lazio Region is putting in place in view of participation in Expo2020Dubai, has seen the participation of 825 companies.
The Lazio Region also selects companies in the agro-industry sector for participation in the internationalisation project “Italian Food and Beverage in the Gulf” and in the Speciality Food Fair, an initiative to promote the sector in Arab countries. The activity is promoted by the Department of Economic Development, Trade and Crafts, University, Research, Start-Up and Innovation and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry, Promotion of the Food Chain and Culture, Equal Opportunities of the Lazio Region, in collaboration with ARSIAL, Regional Agency for Development and Innovation in Agriculture in Lazio and Agro Camera. The six-month project will start in October 2021 and end in March 2022.
