The two-day Washington workshop where more than 60 U.S. researchers, Italian research organizations and U.S.-based Italian companies that are members of CFI concluded successfully. The bilateral U.S.-Italian workshop on the topic of advanced manufacturing was held at theItalian Embassy in Washington on Nov. 29-30 and was the result of a joint action between the National Technology Cluster Intelligent Factory and the National Science Foundation to kick off joint research actions on the cluster's Roadmap themes.The workshop was attended by Italian researchers, coordinated by the Intelligent Factory Technology Cluster (Ctfi), U.S. researchers, coordinated by the National Science Foundation (Nsf), representatives of federal agencies that fund research projects, such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Nist) and the Department of Energy, and Italian companies pertaining to the engineering sector, already established in the United States of America (U.S.).
The participants met to identify areas of collaboration and set common research goals, aligning the agendas and programs of the U.S. and Italy. The workshop was a fruitful opportunity to take stock of the state of the art of research in the field of Intelligent Factory and allowed for the comparison of American and Italian initiatives on the most relevant technological and industrial experiences in order to initiate interaction relationships starting from the evaluation of existing collaborative experiences, and the potential for cooperation on innovative technologies.
An introductory session hosted the speech of the ICE Chicago Office, from its director, Marco Saladini, who had presented The ICE Work Program on Advanced Manufacturing in the U.S. titled "Overview of the Italian Trade Agency's Programs for Italian Advanced Manufacturers in the USA" and of the events on advanced manufacturing planned in Italy and the U.S. in 2018 that will be organized between the ICE Headquarters together with its U.S. offices.
While the activities of the Cluster were presented by the chairman of the Technical Scientific Committee, Prof. Tullio Tolio, and by the Steering delegates of the seven technical-scientific thematic groups who, representing the Cluster members, took stock of the ongoing activities in Italy. Also present were important Italian industrial entities such as Tenova, Hitachi rail, Bonfiglioli, BLM Adige, Comau, Prima Industrie, AizoOn and Marposs.
Within the different working sessions organized for the event, American Principal Investigators from the most important American universities such as for example MIT, UCLA, University of Michigan, and Univesity of FLorida, discussed with research organizations and Italian companies possible common research areas to activate joint projects.
For more information about the initiative, contact info [at] machinesitalia.org (subject: Machines Italia E-newsletter)