On June 5th, Jeff Capaccio and the Silicon Valley Italian Executive Council (SVIEC) hosted a great evening in Redwood City where Institutions and Entrepreneurs came together to meet and exchange ideas.

MEET ITALY was invited to give a brief update on the activities we are nurturing in Southern California and to strengthen the link between the hi-tech community of Silicon Valley and the diverse executive network of Los Angeles. MEET ITALY was represented by co-founders Valeria Rumori, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles and Davide Accomazzo, CIO of Thalassa Capital and Prof. Of Finance at Pepperdine University in Malibu.

Other institutional representatives attended the meeting as well. Among others, the San Francisco Consul General Lorenzo Ortona and Pierluigi Zappacosta, Chairman of the Board at the Bay Chapter of the Italian Scientists and Scholars of North America Foundation (ISSNAF).

The key-note speaker for the evening was Marco Bucci, current Mayor of the city of Genova. Mayor Bucci, who has an extensive and international corporate background, delivered an engaging presentation on the state of play in La Superba, the nickname of Genova. A mix of statistics and Genoese humor conveyed interesting color on the current economic developments in the city. Mayor Bucci stressed the ideal position Genova holds from and investment and entrepreneurial perspective. A strategic geographic position, an active port, attractively low labor costs and last but certainly not least an enviable quality of life make Genova a business destination that is now impossible to overlook.

Before and after the main presentation, many different ideas were discussed among the attendees. Conversations were started on topics like the rapid evolution of renewable sources of energy and the possibly radically changing role of blockchain in the way databases are built and organized.

MEET ITALY and SVIEC have also discussed new upcoming events and additional elements of collaboration. To be continued...