Sustainability and health pass through biotechnological research: to grow but at the same time change our impact on the planet, there is no other way than that of innovation.
This is the key message of 'Biotech, the best future', the event organized in Rome by Assobiotec Federchimica, including Giorgio Metta, scientific director of the Italian Institute of Technology (Iit) and Alessandro Vespisgnani, of Northeastern University.
Never as with this pandemic have we realized how much we live in an interconnected world, globalization from an abstract concept has now taken on a much more concrete meaning and we have realized how important the health of our neighbors is as much as ours ", he said. Riccardo Palmisano, President of Federchimica Assobiotec, at the opening of the event that features researchers, entrepreneurs and political and institutional figures. Since 1982, the year in which the use of recombinant human insulin, considered the first biotech drug, was approved, the sector has made great strides and the pandemic has clearly shown how much innovation in these sectors has made it possible to obtain drugs and vaccines in time. very fast."To have a tangible example - said the expert in technology and innovation policies linked by the USA Alec Ross - it is enough to consider that in the course of my life I have been able to see the average world life expectancy go from 58 to 72 years, an incredible leap that took place in less than 50 years ".
Among the many guests of the day also Marco Simoni, President of the Human Technopole Foundation, Sara Roversi, founder of the Future Food Institute, Pierluigi Paracchi, CEO of Genenta Science, the first Italian company listed on the American hi-tech list of Nasdaq, and the Minister for Equal Opportunities and the Family, Elena Bonetti, with a video message.
“Biotechnologies - added Palmisano - are essential for the future of the planet.
Just think of the challenge of sustainable agriculture: the only way to have more food and at the same time use fewer resources and with biological methods is biotechnological research ".