Italy launched its first National Scientific Diplomacy Strategy, integrating cutting-edge research into foreign policy. The strategy includes a cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Research Council, and the establishment of a network for Italian researchers abroad
Turning embassies into innovation outposts. Moving beyond traditional diplomacy, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has launched Italy’s first National Scientific Diplomacy Strategy, spearheaded at a major conference in Reggio Calabria.The initiative aims to integrate cutting-edge research—from artificial intelligence and aerospace to biotechnology and advanced agriculture—directly into Italy’s foreign policy and export promotion architecture.
The big picture: A structural bridge between research and foreign policy. The conference marked the rollout of structural upgrades designed to bring Italian institutional science closer to global markets and diplomatic missions.
- The MAECI-CNR Protocol: Tajani signed a strategic cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) and the National Research Council (CNR). The pact institutionalizes a permanent technical bridge, highlighted by the deployment of a senior CNR expert directly within the Farnesina to streamline cooperation and technology transfer.
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Global diaspora mobilization: The initiative also established the Confederation of Associations of Italian Researchers in the World, creating a unified network to leverage the expertise, global contacts, and intellectual capital of Italian scientists operating abroad.
What they’re saying: “We brought the annual Conference of Scientific, Space and Agricultural Experts to Reggio Calabria, to transform the Embassies into outposts of Italian research and excellence. From artificial intelligence to space, from biotechnologies to agriculture, we accompany companies and researchers towards new international opportunities,” said Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani.
- “From Calabria, which has made innovation and research the compass for the development of its territory, today we start the path for the first national Strategy of Scientific Diplomacy and the birth of the Confederation of Associations of Italian researchers in the world.”
- “I have also signed a collaboration protocol between MAECI and CNR, which will further strengthen our cooperation with Italian research institutions and make it possible for a CNR expert to be seconded to the Farnesina.”
Why it matters: By embedding scientific expertise directly into the heart of Italian diplomacy, Rome is transforming innovation into a core asset of its geoeconomic strategy.
- For Italian businesses — particularly SMEs navigating high-tech global markets—this institutional network reduces information asymmetries, opens doors to international R&D ecosystems, and anchors long-term export competitiveness in scientific excellence.
(Photo: X, @Antonio_Tajani)
