Matera, Pythagoras, water and the progression of civilizations: these were just some of the themes touched upon in the roundup of speeches that marked the day dedicated to the Basilicata Region on March 24 within Expo Dubai 2020.
In line with our country’s promotion directions, Basilicata also illustrated its strengths and connections with the Made in Italy concept within the international context of the World Expo that concluded in Dubai at the end of March.
Basilicata Blue Transition was the title of the day. The theme of water, in fact, was the common thread that connected all the contributions of the experts, starting from Professor Pietro Laureano, a highly respected architect who accompanied Matera to be recognized as a UNESCO heritage city, to Giovanni Roncucci, who illustrated the innovative aspects of the Inchubatori Project, a pilot activity for the enhancement of the Lucanian territory.
There were also many interventions from companies that directly or indirectly delved into technical or business aspects related to water. In fact, not everyone knows that Lucania is one of the richest regions in Italy in terms of surface and groundwater resources, and it is also marked by the presence of an important system of water infrastructures (reservoirs, crossbars and pipelines) and large hydraulic works for water storage.
The infrastructure system was conceived and built largely in the 1950s and 1960s, with the main objective of developing and enhancing agriculture, seen as a determining factor in the socioeconomic emancipation of backward and underdeveloped contexts in Basilicata and Apulia. From then to now, the complex water system in Basilicata has evolved in parallel with the industrial development of the area, currently bringing water to more than two million people located in three southern regions.
Local interest in this vital element has led to an increase in the technical skills present in the area and the specialization of some companies: from hydraulic design capacity to drinking water systems, from irrigation systems to mineral water production. But not only that, water has also fostered the proliferation of creative and tourism industries that find in rivers and the sea elements on which to build innovative business ideas: tourist, sports or food and wine itineraries, production of natural textiles and coloring derived from plant products.
To boost local economic development, then, the Basilicata Region launched a pilot project called the Inchubatori Project, through its in-house body Sviluppo Basilicata.
Intervening on three leading thematic strands, such as digitization, technology transfer and internationalization, the Inchubatori Project intends to accompany a selected group of 30 companies in the acquisition of planning methods to face strategic challenges and competitions of global scope.
Roncucci&Partners will therefore have the task of illustrating some innovative methodologies useful for the definition of international development plans and accompanying individual companies in the drafting of customized export plans.
