• 10 months ago
This exclusive interview with the Italian Consul General Raffaella Valentin by Marlissa Collier will tell you amazing critical points in Italy's success when it comes to global technology innovation. Discover what their 50 start-up delegation brings to the table from smart homes, biotech to VR gaming. Know what Italy's plan when it comes to technology investing. In this interview, you'll see how proud Italy is with its partnership with the US boasting their export values for the past 2 years, and partnership ranking with the US market.

Engage in more insightful videos with us. Comment below!

#CES2024 #ItalianTech #InnovationShowcase #MadeInItaly #ItalyUSPartnership
Transcript
00:00 News USA TV top briefs local national and from around the world.
00:07 News briefs with News USA TV top news briefs local national and from around the world.
00:15 The Consumer Electronics Show CBS in Las Vegas.
00:20 Reporting with Vanessa Vasquez, Associated Press Reporting, live from the CBS showroom in Las Vegas.
00:30 And Marlissa Collier, Associated Press Reporting, exclusive one-on-one interviews, advertising technologies from CBS.
00:40 Streaming on all media devices. Download our news app on Apple iPhone and Android.
00:46 Hey everyone, News USA, Marlissa Collier here and I have the lovely header to the trade commission in Los Angeles, Miss Rinaldi with me. How are you today?
00:55 Very good. Very excited to be here and to, you know, guide this huge delegation of Italian innovators at CBS 2024.
01:05 I love it. Italian-US collaboration is always good. And your booth is beautiful, by the way. This thing is huge, y'all. You should see it.
01:12 Yeah, it's conceived as the home of the Italian innovation and so is the home of the entire ecosystem.
01:19 And not only the 50 startups that are joining us this year, we are the first delegation. So it's a huge number.
01:26 But also all the other components of the ecosystem. So we have also universities, research centers, many talents, many also other delegations that are only visiting.
01:38 So, you know, it's conceived like a home where all the Italian ecosystem can find a seat and make connection.
01:46 This is great. This is great. And you guys, there are like QR codes everywhere so you can learn about every one of these startups, every one of these entities within the commission.
01:54 So this is great. So let's talk Italy and technology and how you all are number one just, you know, entering the scene as far as smart homes, be it virtual reality.
02:08 Like what's your favorite kind of startup technology right now?
02:12 The delegation this year covers, it's very representative, first of all, because the innovation comes from almost 11 regions.
02:22 So it's half of Italy and more of them comes from the north, principal from the Lombardy region and Piemonte in the north of Italy.
02:32 But many other regions are represented also still looking at the south, the isles of Sicilia and Sardinia.
02:40 But what is very important is that they cover many fields of innovation.
02:44 And so we have many solutions for smart homes, smart mobility, smart city, many innovations also in the digital health care that, you know, is something in which Italy is very committed.
02:58 And where we have many, we are very strong at European level for not only for the research, but also for the application in the pharma, in the medical devices and the biotech.
03:12 And of course, there is the virtual reality, which is a must. So we have many solutions also as regard the gaming, the metaverse and the application of AI to many manufacturer industries.
03:34 And so there is a lot to discover. There is a key point that connects all these innovators, Italian innovators, is that they belong to a nowadays a mature ecosystem, which count over 35,000 startups, but also an interesting ecosystem of accelerators and VC.
04:00 And there is also a new trend in our ecosystem, which belongs to the commitment of many VC that are now more and more investing and comes from the traditional Italian families of the industry.
04:18 So many of our big companies connected to the traditional sectors like food, beverage, but also fashion are now investing in innovation and are transforming themselves in VC as well.
04:36 So this is very important because it looks that Italy, which is a manufacturing country, has the vision also to invest in the future.
04:45 First of all, it's amazing that Italy in the US market has become in the last two years the 13th commercial partners and the fourth at the European level.
04:58 And the 2022 and 2023 closed with a record of Italian exports to the US. For example, in the first nine months of the last year, 2023, we exported more than 50 billion euros to the US.
05:16 So this is very relevant. It's a record. And the US has become the second destination market after Germany for Italy. Over France, that was our second partner till last year.
05:34 So this is very important and gives the picture of how Italy is investing in their strategic partnership with the US.
05:42 In the innovation, this relationship and this strategy is more and more intensive because of course, the Italian export and made in Italy is more focused on the fashion, food, design.
05:59 And what we are now trying to push is how Italy is innovative as well.
06:07 So, and the sign of this changement is also the opening in the US of the first Italian innovation hub that was created by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in the West Coast in Silicon Valley in San Francisco a couple of years ago.
06:27 So it's called Innovit and it's the home of the innovation from Italy. So it's the Italian cultural and innovation hub.
06:40 What's Innovit? Innovit is the location where Italy promotes made in Italy, but also showcase all the latest technological innovation in many manufacturing industries, but also in many high tech industries.
07:01 And why it's innovation and cultural together is for the same reason that we choose this year as the login of the Italian Italy, where else here at CES.
07:14 So innovation is creativity, okay? And the creativity mixed with, of course, technology. And in creativity, Italy, of course, has a long heritage.
07:29 And that's why we choose as icon of the pavilion, Davido Michelangelo, with this vision of the future. So through our cultural heritage, we are as Italian, we can design the future, matching, of course, with the innovation of our industry.
07:52 So this combination design the future with many, many innovative solutions that can afford the challenges of the future that we have in many, many sectors.
08:08 And, you know, I just recognized the graphic for this year's convention. That is awesome. Looking at the issues of the past to solve for the future. That is really cool.
08:21 And there's also like a cultural element there, right? Some Italian culture that's at the base of your innovation.
08:27 You know, give you the roots and the vision as well. So the past that can guide the future.
08:37 That's it. Sankofa bird, guys.
08:39 And there are added value, I think, also that we can bring in the US market because behind the innovative solution, there is also a cultural heritage, but there is also, you know, a memory of something that belonged to the past and then can be a solution also for the future.
09:01 That's fabulous. I think we can definitely borrow some of that logic and the way that we innovate here.
09:07 Well, thank you so much for sitting with us. News USA certainly appreciates it. And we're going to explore the booth.
09:15 News USA TV top briefs, local, national and from around the world.
09:35 Reporting with Vanessa Vasquez, Associated Press reporting live from the CES showroom in Las Vegas.
09:45 And Marlissa Collier, Associated Press reporting exclusive one-on-one interviews, advertising technologies from CES.
09:54 Streaming on all media devices. Download our news app on Apple iPhone and Android.

Recommended