The Minister met with the Italian Minister of University and Research, Anna Maria Bernini, and signed a memorandum of understanding between the two ministries on cooperation in the field of research and innovation.  "Slovenia and Italy have been working together on research for many years. The fact that the Jožef Stefan Institute and the CNR have signed an agreement on scientific cooperation, which has now been crowned by the signing of five selected projects, and that today we have signed a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation and the Italian Ministry of University and Research on cooperation in research and innovation, reflects the successful development of the links between the two countries. Moreover, this cooperation will be further enhanced through the strategy of internationalisation, as Italy is one of our most important partners," Dr Papič said at the signing ceremony.

During his visit, he also addressed the participants of the event "Science and Innovations, Slovenia - Italy", which took place at the headquarters of the National Research Council of Italy at the initiative of the Directorate for Economic and Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. The event was dedicated to the promotion of Slovenian science and the innovations of Slovenian companies.

Five Slovenian-Italian scientific research projects in the fields of nanostructured materials and quantum science were presented and selected through a call for proposals based on the cooperation agreement between the Jožef Stefan Institute and the CNR. Under the terms of the agreement, the two scientific institutions will strengthen their collaboration in the fields of quantum science, robotics, nanostructured materials, nuclear fusion and nuclear fission. The event in Rome was attended by the researchers involved in the selected projects and by the management teams of the two national scientific institutions.

Special attention was devoted to the innovations of Slovenian companies in the fields of hydrogen technologies, circular economy, space and the implementation of Industry 4.0 processes. The integration of science and business is crucial for the development of Slovenian society. The way to development and prosperity is a higher added value, which can only be achieved by investing more in research and development. In 2024, more than half a billion euros will be spent on science and innovation, the most in Slovenia's history.

The large Slovenian delegation was composed of researchers from the Jožef Stefan Institute, development-oriented Slovenian companies and municipal representatives. The event was supported by SRIP - Circular Economy, SRIP Factories of the Future and the North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley Initiative. The delegation was organised in cooperation with the public agency SPIRIT Slovenia.