L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS 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 cyber- security, has facilitated digital transformation in many compa- nies worldwide, proving how a new generation of young talents has found success outside of their country of origins. On the s a m e n o t e , w a s t h e v i s i t a t K o n g H Q , w h e r e A u g u s t o Marietti and Marco Palladino shared their story about how it all started in a garage space in Milan 10 years ago, and why o n l y b y m o v i n g t o S i l i c o n Valley their dream came true. Kong tripled in size in 2019, reached more than 100 million o p e n s o u r c e d o w n l o a d s t o become the most widely adopt- ed 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 w a s u n d e r w a y a t S t a n f o r d 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 impor- tant is to consolidate partner- ships between Italian companies and universities; to scale, by helping Italian startups go glob- al, and to create, by supporting big companies when they land i n t h e I t a l i a n m a r k e t . B o t h G i o r g i o M e t t a , S c i e n t i f i c Director of the Italian Institute of Technology, and Francesco S t a r a c e , C h i e f E x e c u t i v e O f f i c e r o f E N E L , i d e n t i f i e d i s s u e s f a c e d n o w a d a y s b y Italian companies and proposed strategies to help them succeed. According to Mr Metta, the lack of infrastructure and the regula- t i o n s c a n b l o c k i n n o v a t i o n , whereas Mr Starace underlined how entrepreneurs need to find courage, must fearlessly recog- nize that technology evolves fast and ask for help to solve problems related to a potential transformation. Alongside these mighty con- tributions, there was also Nirav Tolia's experience. The founder of Nextdoor took a different d i r e c t i o n c o m p a r e d t o m a n y entrepreneurs, as he resigned from his CEO role to move to Italy with his family. He is now teaching a class called "The M o d e r n D a y R e b i r t h o f R e n a i s s a n c e " a t S t a n f o r d i n Florence and his message — "Look forward without forget- ting to look at the past" — left the audience with a smile and the hope a new Rinascimento Italiano might happen again. O n F r i d a y a f t e r n o o n , t h e P r e s i d e n t m e t w i t h M a y o r 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 rele- vance of Italian citizens' con- t r i b u t i o n s t o t h i s c o u n t r y . This shows how generations of Italians and Italian-Americans led the growth of an important part of America. San Francisco e l e c t e d t h r e e M a y o r s w i t h I t a l i a n r o o t s , A n g e l o R o s s i , J o s e p h A l i o t o , a n d G i o r g i o Moscone. The city is a symbol of integration and hospitality, where political, economic, and s o c i a l g r o w t h h a p p e n s a l s o thanks to the presence of young Italian developers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and talents of many kinds. The same people w h o c a n n o w a l s o s u p p o r t I t a l y ' s d e v e l o p m e n t . " T h e President walked around the audience, holding hands and allowing people to introduce themselves. L a s t b u t n o t l e a s t , o n Saturday, before taking off and g o i n g b a c k t o I t a l y , t h e P r e s i d e n t a n d C a l i f o r n i a ' s G o v e r n o r , N e w s o m , m e t a t Muir Woods for a walk around the National Park. C o n s u l G e n e r a l , L o r e n z o Ortona, was excited to see San Francisco and the Italian com- munity part of such an amazing event. "It was a great honor for me and my wife to be able to r e c e i v e t h e P r e s i d e n t o f t h e Republic and Mrs. Laura during the month of October, now ded- icated to the Italian heritage in the United States. A fantastic visit that unfolded in meetings with both the high tech commu- nity and the vibrant Italian com- m u n i t y w i t h a s p e e c h t h a t touched everyone's heart. The m e e t i n g s w i t h G o v e r n o r Newsom and Mayor Breed rein- forced 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 t i m e t o r e m e m b e r , 3 7 years after President Pertini vis- i t e d t h e B a y A r e a , w i t h t h e hope that stronger ties between California and Italy will also bring more opportunities for growth and collaboration. President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, speaks to the Italian collectivity in San Francisco (Copyright: Quirinale)

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