The Recovery Plan is "an enormous opportunity" to relaunch research in Italy and bring it to levels comparable to those in Europe.
This was stated by the president of the Accademia dei Lincei, Giorgio Parisi, following the public debate on the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr) organized by the trade union Flc Cgil.
"I am among the signatories of the Amaldi-Maiani plan, which speaks of a commitment of 15 billion for scientific research to be disbursed step by step over 5 years, plus 5 billion in the last year", he added.
According to Parisi, "it is therefore not just a question of recovering the nearly 2 billion a year that have been stolen from us since 2008, but of bringing the level of funding of Italian research back to that of other European countries".
For this reason, he continued, "a commitment by Parliament is necessary, possibly supported by all political forces, both the majority and the opposition".
It is a question of making Italy "a welcoming country for researchers, who are not only paid less here today and have difficulty in making a career, but above all they are not certain that their research will be financed. We must instead offer young researchers competitive conditions to choose to return or come to Italy, ensuring the possibility of doing research as well as having a permanent job with a permanent contract, without which it is not possible to take out a mortgage, become independent, plan the future".
For Italian research it is very important to give space to young researchers, considering that today the average age of those who work in the sector is "extremely high and continues to increase: if we do not introduce young forces, we risk collapse in 10 years because 'we will find ourselves without adequate personnel ".
Finally, in writing the Pnrr, according to Parisi "we must remember that basic research is fundamental, it is the key to the future. In 2009, Obama made large investments in research to get out of the economic crisis, including 15 billion dollars. to biomedical research alone. Biden in his latest plan plans to allocate 150 billion dollars to pure research, which in relation to Italy would be 25 billion. The fifteen billion of the Amaldi-Maiani plan - concludes Parisi - is a minimal request ".
