MASIS) National Report, Italy

DG Research Monitoring Policy and Research Activities on Science in Society in Europe (MASIS) National Report, Italy

December 2011

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DG Research Monitoring Policy and Research Activities on Science in Society in Europe (MASIS) National Report, Italy

December 2011

Written by Agnes Allansdottir Giuseppe Veltri

Monitoring Policy and Research Activities on Science in Society in Europe (MASIS) 1

Table of Contents

0 Introduction 3

1 National context 10 1.1 The place of science in society - current debates 10 1.2 Policy goals and priorities 16 1.3 National challenges, opportunities and trajectories 17

2 Priority setting, governance and use of science in policy-making 22 2.1 Public engagement in priority setting 22 2.2 Public - private interaction 24 2.3 Use of science in policy making 26 2.4 Key actors 27

3 Research related to Science in Society 30 3.1 Research on Science in Society 30 3.2 Main stream research embedding Science in Society issues 35 3.3 Funding for research on Science in Society 35 3.4 Importance of Science in Society issues as evaluative elements for national research programmes and academic institutions 36

4 Activities related to Science in Society 37 4.1 National science communication trends 37 4.2 Science journalism and training activities 38 4.3 Young people and science education in schools 40 4.4 Communication activities 42

5 The Fukushima accident 49 5.1 Media coverage and public debate 49 5.2 Levels and modes of public involvement 50 5.3 Political responses and scientific advice 51

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0 Introduction The EU recognises the importance of ensuring that European research and research in Member States is firmly rooted in the needs of society, particularly in light of the constantly changing Europe. Efforts to reinforce the societal dimen- sion of research are channelled through the 'Science in society' (SIS) programme. The SIS programme supports activities focusing on the governance of the research system, research ethics, public engagement in science, women in science and the promotion of scientific education and science communication.

The Monitoring Policy and Research Activities on Science in Society in Europe (MASIS) initiative is a major undertaking under the SIS programme. Its aim is to map, steer and monitor the SIS landscape in the European Research Area (ERA) (http://ec.europa.eu/research/era/index_en.htm), in order for EU citizens and society to benefit the most from SIS efforts. MASIS also covers the eleven Associated Countries.

The national MASIS reports are cornerstones in this endeavour, as they contain the knowledge gathered by a network of national correspondents on SIS. The reports will be updated every six months. The reporting format was developed on the basis of advice from the network of national correspondents, as well as discussions with authors of the initial MASIS report (see this LINK, ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/sis/docs/sis_masis_report_en.pdf). In addition, the Commission and a network of national validators offered comments and advice.

In total, 38 national reports covering 38 (EU and associated) countries have been produced. This is the report on Italy. It consists of four main sections:

1. National context 2. Priority setting, governance and use of science in policy-making 3. Research related to SIS 4. Activities related to SIS. 5. The Fukushima accident.

The intention of this report is to provide a good general overview of the SIS situation in Italy, including public engagement in science, different models and use of scientific advice and expertise for policy-making, activities related to assessment and ethical issues of science and technology, SIS research activities and scientific culture as well as trends, policies, actors and activities. The last

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chapter on the Fukushima accident was added later to the original report and contains information on the national coverage and the role of scientific advice in connection with the accident.

Please note, in accordance with the terms of reference for the MASIS project, that the issue of „women in science‟ is not included in the mapping as this has been extensively mapped and reported in other European projects. Please note also that the present report follows the initial MASIS report in using the term „science‟ in its broadest sense, as in the German „Wissenschaft‟, covering also the social, economic and human sciences. A few subsections are concerned only with the natural sciences, and in these cases it is explicitly indicated.

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Statistical data sheet, Italy

2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 EU27 average/total, 2008

Research and development

Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD), in % of GDP1 1,05 1,09 1,13 1,18 1,18 - - 1,89 GERD by source of funds, % of total GERD1:

- Business enterprise sector - 39,7 40,4 42,0 - - - 55,0 - Government sector - 50,7 47,0 44,3 - - - 33,5 - Higher education sector - 0,1 1,4 1,3 - - - 0,9 - Private non-profit sector - 1,6 2,9 2,9 - - - 1,6 - Abroad - 8,0 8,3 9,5 - - - 8,9 GPD (million current PPP $) 1457574 1649438 1739784 1841573 1866480 1789675 1843150 15285005 Total researchers (FTE) per thousand labour force 2,8 3,4 3,6 3,8 3,8 - - 6,3 Total researchers (FTE) per thousand total employment 2,9 3,4 3,6 3,7 3,8 - - 6,6 Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D -- GERD (million current PPP $) 15248,5 17999,0 19714,1 21714,5 22127,7 - - 276734,4 Public R&D expen- ditures (% of GDP) 0,52 0,52 0,52** 0,52** 0,52* 0,52* - 0,66* Business R&D ex- penditures (% of GDP) 0,52 0,55 0,54 0,55 0,56* 0,57* - 1,16* Number of R&D per- sonnel1, % 1000 6,5 7,2 7,7 8,3 9,4 - - Number of R&D personnel by sector of performance1, % of total R&D personnel: 150.066 175.248 192.002 208.376 236.261 - - 2.455.192

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2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 EU27 average/total, 2008

- Business enterprise sector 43% 40% 42% 45% 43% - - 52% - Government sector 21% 19% 19% 17% 15% - - 14% - Higher education sector 37% 38% 35% 34% 39% - - 33% - Private non-profit sector - 3% 4% 4% 4% - - 1% Innovation indicators

- S&E and SSH graduates per 1000 population aged 20- 29 - 40,7 32,1 25,3* 20,0* - - 41,5* - S&E and SSH doc- torate graduates per 1000 population aged 25-34 0,32 0,89 0,89** 0,89* 0,89* - - 1,26* - Public-private co- publications per million population - 18,8 15,6 ------SMEs introducing product or process innovations (% of SMEs) - 33,9** 33,0 32,2* 31,4* - - 32,0* - Employment in me- dium-high & high-tech manufacturing (% of workforce) 7,63 7,37 7,59 7,59 7,59* 7,59* - 6,78* - Employment in knowledge-intensive services (% of workforce) 12,29 15,13 15,25 15,57 15,90* 16,23* - 14,80* Patents

Patent applications to the EPO, total2 3982 4802 5045 4827 - - - Patent grants at the USPTO, total2 2704 2993 3274 3376 - - - Triadic patent fami- lies, total2 680 780 783 769 - - - Patent applications filed under the PCT, total2

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2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 EU27 average/total, 2008

Human resources in science and technology

Total, % of labour force1 9 11 11 12 12 - - 16 - Scientists and engi- neers, % of labour force1 - - 2,2 - - - - - Networks and projects

National share of FP6 SiS budget - 10% 4% 10% - - - - No. of FP6 SiS projects managed in Italy - 26 19 7 - - - - National share of FP7 SiS budget - - - 10% 13% 52% - - No. of FP7 SiS projects managed in Italy - - - 1 25 27 - - Tertiary/higher education

Students at ISCED levels 5-6 enrolled in the following fields: science, mathemat- ics, computing, engineering, manufacturing, construction - as % of all students1 24,5 23,7 23,6 23,6 - - 24,94 Academic staff (ISCED 5-6), total in full time unit1

Public Understand- ing of Science (only 2005 og 2010 data) se pdf do- kumenterne

% of population very interested in new scientific discoveries and technological developments - 18 - - - 16

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2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 EU27 average/total, 2008

% of population very well informed about new scientific discoveries and technological developments 6 - - - - 7 % op population regu- larly or occasionally attend public meetings or debates about science and technology - 14 - - - - 13 % op population regu- larly or occasionally sign petitions or join street demonstrations on matters of nuclear power, biotechnology or the environment - 13 - - - - 16 % of population ‘agree’ and % of population ‘disagree’ that thanks to science and technology, there will be more opportunities for future gen- erations - 73/6 - - - - 66/12 % of population ‘agree’ and % of population ‘disagree’ that science makes our ways of life change too fast - 61/13 - - - - 60/18 % of population ‘agree’ and % of population ‘disagree’ that we depend too much on science and not enough on faith - 47/21 - - - - 37/30 % of population ‘agree’ and % of population ‘disagree’ that because of their knowledge, scientists have a power that makes them danger- ous - 54/19 - - - - 47/25

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2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 EU27 average/total, 2008

% of population ‘agree’ and % of population ‘disagree’ that in my daily life, it is not important to know about science - 34/36 - - - - 32/43 Notes: 1) Data from EUROSTAT, 2) Data from the OECD, 3) Data from EuroBarometer 73.1 (2010) and EB 63.1 (2005) 4) Data from 2007

*: extrapolation of data

**: imputed data *: extrapolated data

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National context This section sets the scene and describes political developments, public debates and policy initiatives of major relevance to the place of science in society in Italy.

1.1 The place of science in society - current debates A reasoned debate over the place of science and technology in Italian society and economy has been conspicuously absent in the political turmoil of today‟s Italy. Notwithstanding the fact that the Italian political system has been strug- gling with major structural reforms over the last decade, science, technology and innovation have rarely been issues high up on the political agenda. On the eve of the parliamentary elections in the spring of 2008 the journal Nature published a correspondence by leading Italian scientists who strongly urged both sides to promote and to foster policies that invest in science, technology and education.1

The European Lisbon agenda has provided a useful stimulus and guide although the objectives have not yet been met, and Italy is now increasingly look- ing to other European countries and elsewhere, in search of sources of inspiration on how to encourage and to sustain innovation. Most of the available international indicators of innovation delineate a somewhat stagnant situation in which Italy risks progressively falling behind the other large European economies and there is now a growing awareness in political circles that this trend needs to be reversed with some urgency. In terms of the place of science in wider Italian society it is interesting to note that the people of Italy are rather receptive to science, technology and innovation in general, but doubts and res- ervations are expressed over the ability of the political system to implement policies to strengthen Italian science and technology. The Italians are interested in science, technology and the environment but perhaps more importantly are much less interested in politics according to a recent Eurobarometer survey. Further, the Italians seem much more sceptical than other European citizens that studying science to a degree level will help with future employment.2

1 Bertini, I., Garattini, S. & Rappuoli, R. (2008) Italy must invest more in science and technology Nature 452, 685 (10 April 2008) see also Marino, I. (2008) Acceptance of peer review will free Italy‟s research slaves. Nature 453, 449 (22 May 2008) 2 “Sfide politiche, economiche e culturali della ricerca, dell'innovazione e della formazione” Tavola Rotonda, La Sapienza Università, Fondazione Antonio Ruberti under the Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, Rome 13th October 2010.

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Major debates that impact the research and university systems in Italy or the role of science and technology in society in general, can be divided into the following five categories:

• Privatisation • Brain drain • Competing epistemic authorities • Giving the public a voice • Made in Italy

Privatisation: The most controversial reforms in recent years regard a complete overhaul and restructuring of the entire Italian system of public education and research institutions. These reforms have been in preparation for years3, but the processes of gaining parliamentary approval were concluded in December 2010 and the bill was signed into law by the President of the Republic on the 30th of December.

The proponents claim that the reforms will modernised the system, make it more merit based but simpler and cheaper to run, the reforms will make Italian science and technology more competitive and will mark a significant step forward to raising the profile of Italian education and research on international levels. These reforms also involve a reorganisation of the relationship between public in private institutions as it would allow universities to move from being institutions of the state to become foundation regulated under private law. Fur- ther, the new law allows outside stakeholder to sit on the council of institution for research and education thus potentially opening up new horizons for interaction.

Critics, however, argue that the reforms represent both unacceptable and hastily prepared forms of privatisation of public institutions. In addition, given the difficult situation of public finances there are some concerns that, at least in the near future, the just reformed system will be unworkable in practice as the available funding is inadequate. In any case, even the staunchest critics of these reforms agree that the Italian system of public education and research has been in need for a major restructuring for some time.

The discussions over the bill on the reforms of the educations and research system in the Lower Chamber of the Italian parliament on the 14th of December 2010 saw serious public unrest and protests by the students movements and other representatives of the Italian education sector.4 The protests unfortunately ended in violent clashes between the protesters and the police. The bill was passed just a few hours after the government, lead by Silvio Berlusconi, narrowly survived a vote of no confidence amidst a shake up of the Italian party political system. Later the minister for education and research Maria Stella

www.fondazioneantonioruberti.it/Attivita/Convegni-e-conferenze/Sfide-politiche- economiche-e-culturali-della-ricerca-dell-innovazione-e-della-formazione 3 Various statements issued by stakeholders during the preparation of the reforms can be found hereError! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. 4 The text can be found here: http://www.camera.it/parlam/leggi/08133l.htm

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Gelmini wrote an open letter to Corriere della Sera, a leading national newspaper arguing the these reforms would finally give young Italians hope for future employment.

The Upper Chamber or Senate discussed the bill on the 22nd of December but as all the amendments made over the last two years might sometimes contradict each other, many parliamentarians, as well as journalists and other analysts, voiced serious concerns over formal and technical issues. The city of Rome had been braced for conflict and the centre was cordoned off by police. That did not deter the students movement that staged a series of peaceful but highly sym- bolic protests in other parts of the city. The President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napoletano decided to invite a delegation of students to a meeting to give them the chance to articulate their positions and concerns.5 The voting was delayed until the following day 23rd of December when the bill finally passed. The journal Nature published an interesting reflection on events.6

The President of the Republic did express his perplexities over the bill, including the quantity of amendments that were made in the parliamentary process but signed it into law on the 30th of December7, was published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana on the 14th of January and came into force on the 29th of January 2011.8 Whatever the future holds for the implementation of reforms of the Italian research and education system, the organised protests of young students might have left an indelible mark on future policy making in this field.

Brain Drain: Until recently the issue of Brain Drain was confined or almost contained, as an elite debate that did not find high levels of resonance with the general public or in main stream mass media. The concerns of experts are that although the Italian system does provide for high levels of education and spe- cialisation that forms outstanding expertise in science and technology, many of the country‟s best and brightest are forced to leave the country after years of study and expensive training as they fail to find suitable employment at home. In general, it is difficult for young people to enter the labour market in Italy, currently youth unemployment stands at 28%9, but as opportunities for research have been scarce, researchers salaries are very low and the working conditions generally unsatisfactory compared to international standards, the country risks losing the best educated part of the workforce while other economies reap the benefits. There are of course a few happy exceptions to this somewhat bleak

5 We interviewed one of the students present at the meeting and the students walked away content with being finally listened to after two years of organised protest. 6 www.nature.com/nature/journal/v468/n7327/full/4681001b.html 7 LEGGE 30 dicembre 2010, n. 240 “Norme in materia di organizzazione delle universita', di personale accademico e reclutamento, nonche' delega al Governo per incentivare la qualita' e l'efficienza del sistema universitario” (Regulation of the organisation of Universi- ties, recruitment of academic staff and delegating to the National Government measures to incentivate the enhanced quality and efficiency of the university system. 8 www.gazzettaufficiale.it/guridb/dispatcher?service=1&datagu=2011-01- 14&task=dettaglio&numgu=10&redaz=011G0009&tmstp=1295812116251 www.camera.it/465?area=31&tema=78&Interventi+per+l%27universit%C3%A0 9 http://en.istat.it is the Italian National Institute of Statistics.

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vision, but this debate has become very vocal in the last two years and is indeed highly pertinent at the moment.

Competing epistemic authorities The political debates over ethics, limits of medical intervention and scientific research were repeatedly high up on the political agenda over the last decade. The debate over human embryonic stem cell research neatly epitomises the wider ongoing societal dialogue over acceptable intervention of science and technology in human life, a debate that has a long history in Italian politics. It is a debate that is played out by science, politics and religion staking their claims on the basis of differing epistemic authori- ties10. This debate falls squarely under the umbrella of endemic debates as it revolves around two fundamental principles and ethical positions on human dignity in relation to the appropriate role of biomedical research.

On the one hand, there is the emphasis on the quality of human life lived and from this perspectives human embryonic stem cell research can offer new hopes and cures for those suffering debilitating diseases and therefore such research should be encouraged and sustained. The contrasting principle rests upon the central tenet that human life in all forms is sacred and ought to be protected from the moment of conception till the natural end. A position that regards the use of human embryos, for anything else than reproduction, abso- lutely unacceptable as the current techniques for harvesting embryonic stem cells destroys the embryo, tantamount to the destruction of other forms of human life. Further, matters become more complex with attempts to position the direction of scientific research in resonance with the frames of politics and religion, an anathema to some.11

Italian policymakers have long struggled with reaching a political consensus over adequate national regulation of reproductive technologies that are currently regulated by Law 40 from 2004 after a long legislative void in Italy. Be- fore that a memo had been issued by the Ministry of Health in 1984 that banned IVF involving donor material, in public structures while the private sector became known as the Far West of reproduction. The Law 40/2004, bans IVF with biological material from donors, allows the creation of up to 3 embryos and all of them have to be implanted to avoid the problem of left over embryos. It bans pre-implantation genetic screening as well as the use of human embryos for research purposes.12

The new law generated some very harsh responses and almost immediately a movement was formed to collect signatures to ask for a national referendum in order to abrogate the law. The referendum was held in June 2005 but failed to reach the required forum of 50% + 1 of the electorate. If the organisers ex- pected to be able to overturn the law, the outcome was the opposite. Some poli-

10 Cattaneo, E. & Corbellini, G. (2010) Science under politics: An Italian Nightmare EMBO reports advance online publication, 10 December 2010 doi:10.1038/embor.2010.198: http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v12/n1/full/embor2010198a.html 11 For further discussions of the fault lines of the Italian debate over bioethics see amongst others: Fornero, G. (2006) Bioetica cattolica e bioetica laica. Milano Bruno Mondadori 12 http://www.parlamento.it/parlam/leggi/04040l.htm

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ticians took a firm line against participation in the referendum, appealing to Catholic values and traditions of the country and some commentators claim that the Church drew upon its tight capillary network through local parishes, institutions and charities to underline that position. Others simply claim that the four questions in the referendum were simply too complex for the average citizen and that the media coverage and communications in the weeks before the referendum left a lot to be desired. The law has subsequently been somewhat modified through the courts but the ban on embryonic stem cell research remains firmly in place.

In any case it is worth mentioning that two separate Eurobarometer surveys were fielded in 2005, five months before and five months after the referendum.13 Both surveys included the same question on how science should be gov- erned and interestingly enough that while there were no important differences on an EU level over this time, there was a sharp rise in the proportion of Italian that stated a preference for public participation in the second survey. The Ital- ians might not have gone to the polling stations when called upon to do so but afterwards they appear to appreciate having been given the chance to have their voice heard on sensitive and controversial scientific and ethical issues.

Giving the public a voice. This is not a single debate but a useful umbrella term describes series of localised debates over science, technology and the environment. Disputes over high speed trains, alternative energy and waste disposal technologies are all good examples of epidemic debates. In most cases these debate stem from a similar source of discontent fuelled by a sense of exclusion or marginalisation from decision making process that impact the immediate living conditions of citizens. All three are technologies that have been actively promoted by both the centre right and centre left governments that have been in office over the last five years. All three categories have involved protests, debates, demonstrations and at times violent confrontation on a regional or a local level

The high speed train line between Turin and Lyon, as a link to Europe, is a good example.14 Local residents in Val di Susa, Valle d‟Aosta region in the Al- pine part of North West Italy were strongly opposed to the railway line; in their view it damaged the environment and brought them no tangible benefits as the trains would just speed by. In 2006 the Italian government set up a “Tavolo Is- tituzionale”15. Between December 2006 and November 2009, 111 meetings were held, experts‟ evaluation of the environmental, economic and societal issues were carried out and discussed with local residents and the original plan was modified to cater to the concerns of the local residents but the issue is not yet settled.

13 Social Values Science and Technology and Europeans and Biotechnology in 2005: Pat- terns and Trends reports available at http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/eb_special_en.htm 14 www.torino-lione.it/progetto.htm 15 a form of participation in decision making that derives from modalities of finding solu- tions to industrial disputes by bringing all the relevant stakeholders, or their representatives, to the table in order to come to a consensual agreement.

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There have been several localised debates over technologies that harvest alternative and sustainable forms of energy, for example discontent over geothermal power stations in Southern Tuscany or, for rather different reasons, the management of wind power technologies in Sicily.

The Campania region has been beset with serious problems of waste disposal for a long time, a problem that has returned time and time again with waste pil- ing up on the streets causing disruption and inconveniences to local residents. The issues revolve around the use of technologies and waste disposal facilities of the region and the problem has many times escalated into heated conflict and violent confrontations between citizens and authorities. At one point the army was called in to uphold law and order. Much to the grievances of many local authorities and residents the problem has not yet been resolved definitely.

These examples share a common feature, in all cases citizens have been striving to make their voice heard by authorities and have had some success in having citizens‟ voices taken into account in decision making processes. Sometimes public concerns regard the adequate management of technological developments.

Made in Italy. Italy has a very strong and world famous culinary tradition, after all Italy is the home of the Slow Food movement16. The last decade saw substantial investments in traditional, local and high quality agricultural products that are increasingly protected through a system of certification of origin, similar to France, and those products are by now enormously valuable exports. Thus it comes as no surprise that another endemic debate is the one over genetically modified food and crops. The saga of GM food in Italy has unfolded over time when major structural reforms were being implemented that give the regions more power over issues such as the environment and health.

The latest round in the GM food debate was initiated in 2007 by citizens‟ movements and grass root organisations when the Genetic Council movement set up the Foundations for Genetic Rights.17 In the words of their major exponents they were able to mobilise traditional capillary networks of farmers, vol- unteers association, cooperatives and other such groups, that continue to be very strong in Italy, to organise a series of local encounters across the country to garner support for calling for a ban on transgenic food. This initiative can best be described as viral and upstream, that is citizens groups were mobilized to set up stand in piazza or square and passersby were invited to join the discussion. A tried and trusted method in this country to create awareness and mobilise the general public. Although the national mass media was oddly silent on these events the organisers claimed to have made remarkable success. At the moment, transgenic crops are yet again an issue of contestation between the state and the regions, fought out on different levels of the juridical system, the ministry arguing that the ban on the cultivation of transgenic crops in some regions is against national law. The results from the latest Eurobarometer survey indicate that the majority of Italians rejects the “conventional” GM food.

16 www.slowfood.com 17 http://www.fondazionedirittigenetici.org/fondazione/en/

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1.2 Policy goals and priorities Generally speaking, the overriding goals and priorities for policy at the moment are clearly attempts to stimulate economic development and to stabilise public finances. Other priorities goals are to simplify bureaucratic procedures and reform public administration, to foster competitiveness, and most importantly for the purposes of this report, to effect a complete overhaul of the entire Italian education system and public research institution.

The Gelmini Reforms. These reforms regard the complete overhaul of the Ital- ian system of public education and research. Some of the interventions were contained in Law 133/200818 and later taken up in Law 169/200819 that reformed the education system. The regulations for primary and secondary education were in place on the 1st of September 2009 and for non obligatory secondary education on 1st of September 2010. The regulations for reforming universities were in place in January 201120. A candid initial assessment of the reforms was published as an editorial in Nature in the last week of 2010.21

ANVUR a central component for effective reforms of the Italian public research system is a new agency for the evaluation of the quality of research as the sole basis on which funds for research should be allocated22. This is very much work in progress and only the future will tell how the implementation will unfold23.

The reforms of the National Research Council (CNR). The National Research Council (CNR) is a public organization with the mandate to promote, extend, transfer and improve research activities in main sectors of knowledge and of its applications for the scientific, technological, economic and social development of the Country24. Founded in 1923 and became a public in 1945. In 2003 the CNR became a public research organisation with the aim of “creating value for the country through the competences of scientific research”25. Internal organisational restructuring has been underway since then, the CNR counts around hundred insti- tutes and 11 interdisciplinary departments26. About 70% of the funding comes from institutions of the Italian state while the CNR manages to attract the remaining funds from elsewhere. As in other areas of science and technology in Italy attempts are being made to raise further funds from the private sector. In early February il-

18 www.parlamento.it/parlam/leggi/08133l.htm 19 www.parlamento.it/parlam/leggi/08169l.htm 20 www.normattiva.it/dispatcher?service=213&fromurn=yes&datagu=2011-01- 14&annoatto=2010&numeroatto=240&task=ricercaatti&elementiperpagina=50&redaz=01 1G0009&newsearch=1&classeprv=1&paginadamostrare=1&tmstp=1296137206032 21 www.nature.com/nature/journal/v468/n7327/full/4681001b.html 22 www.anvur.it 23 www.istruzione.it/web/hub/riforma_universita#01 24 www.cnr.it/sitocnr/Englishversion/Englishversion.html 25 www.miur.it/0006Menu_C/0012Docume/0098Normat/3260Riordi_cf3.htm 26 www.cnr.it/sitocnr/IlCNR/Organizzazione/RiformadelCNR/Decretodiriforma/Decretodirifo rma.html

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Sole24ore, Italian financial paper carried on article with the title “Quiet revolution of the CNR”27

National Research Plan (PNR) is the main instrument available to the Italian government in order to stimulate and develop the guiding lines and to coordi- nate research activities in the whole country. The PNR for 2010 – 2012 has recently been published28.

The advance of the foundations The Italian Institute of Technology - IIT – in Genoa was created with the objective of promoting Italy's technological development and higher education in science and technology through organisational structure novel to this country. IIT is a private law Foundation founded through a special Government Law in 200329. IIT is making an effort to implement its scientific programme in this context, with the specific goal of integration between basic scientific research and the development of technical applications. The research is carried out in highly innovative scientific fields, which represent the most advanced frontiers in modern technology; their contents are widely applicable in multiple areas, from medicine to industry, from computer science to robotics, to life sciences and nanobiotechnology30.

More generally and according to the report on Italy published in the 2009 INNO policy trend chart31, the policy goals of the present government can be summarised as:

• To modernise and digitalise public administration, strongly linked to attempts to reform and innovation the public administration sector.

• To facilitate cooperation between the private and the public sector through the creation of public-private partnerships for conducting 'big' research and innovation projects

• To create clusters in order to reach critical mass, preferably at regional level, building upon existing regional competences and 'excellences (e.g. technological districts, high technology poles, centres of excellence etc.).

To re-launch R&D investments in the energy sector

1.3 National challenges, opportunities and trajectories The redefinition of the relationship between the public and private dire economic state and devolution from the state to the regions. The importance of the Third Sector, NGOs, CSOs, religious organisations and labour unions.

27 www.ilsole24ore.com/art/commenti-e-idee/2011-02-09/rivoluzione-tranquilla- 063826.shtml?uuid=Aa7yNo6C&fromSearch 28 www.miur.it/0006Menu_C/0012Docume/0098Normat/3260Riordi_cf3.htm 29 www.parlamento.it/parlam/leggi/decreti/03269d.htm and www.parlamento.it/parlam/leggi/03326l.htm 30 www.iit.it/en/home.html 31 www.proinno-europe.eu/page/innovation-and-innovation-policy-italy

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Politics and Identity. The Italian Republic was founded on a constitution in 1948 following a National referendum in 1946. Members of the Chamber and Senate are elected in general elections and sit for four years, but election can be, and are, called at any time. In 2011 Italy celebrates 150 years of national unity and the highest cultural institution of the country, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the oldest academy in the world founded in 1603 with Galileo Gali- lei amongst the founding father32 and Società Italiana per il Progresso delle Science33founded in Pisa in 1839, celebrate this anniversary by emphasising the role of the sciences in the development and history of the country and indeed national identity. The celebrations of national unity do however take place in a general context of political wrangling over the appropriate levels of regionalisa- tion a process in action since 2001 when the Italians voted in favour of a major change giving greater autonomy to the regions in health, education and environmental policies in the first Constitutional Referendum since 1946.

During the Cold War era the Italian political landscape was best described as a polarised pluralism: the extreme left and right of the political spectrum were formally excluded from power in a permanent, although frequently changing, coalition of centrist political forces, usually lead by the Christian Democrats, formerly the largest of the Italian political parties. That era came to an end with the Clean Hands corruptions investigation in the early nineties, when the former key political parties were all but wiped out. These were also the times when a new political force erupted on the political scene with Silvio Berlus- coni‟s Forza Italia bringing the experience of business to the heart of Italian politics. Until today Berlusconi led governments have been altered by centre left governments, the latest of which was in power between 2006 and 2008 when the ground was being prepared for the reforms being implemented at the moment.

The industrial boom and unintended consequences. During the two decades after the war Italy lived through times of profound social and economic transi- tion from being basically an agricultural society to being a major industrial na- tion. The FIAT34 based in Turin and the automobile industry is a very conven- ient example of highly successful Italian industries.

But there were of course other important industries as well, such as textiles in the North and the chemical industry was very strong. At noon on the 10th of July 1976 On midday of July 10, 1976 an explosion occurred in a TCP (2, 4, 5- trichlorophenol) reactor in the ICMESA chemical company in Meda, in the North Italy35. A toxic cloud escaped into the atmosphere containing high concentrations of TCDD, a highly toxic form of dioxin. The dioxin cloud polluted a highly densely populated area of six kilometres long and one kilometre wide, provoking the immediate death of many animals. A neighbouring municipality, Seveso was

32 www.lincei.it 33 www.sipsinfo.it 34 www.fiat.it 35 www.montagnadilombardia.com/incidente_seveso.html

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very badly affected, now this is commonly referred to as the Seveso incident, but the dioxin cloud affected a total of 11 communities.

The story of Seveso is often discussed in the context of other disasters such as Bhopal and Chernobyl and the latter had a profound effect on public opinion in Italy. The country had been grappling with securing sufficient levels of energy to fuel industrial development and substantial investments had been made in nuclear power facilities. The vision of nuclear power as an important energy sources came to an end following the outcome of a national referendum in 1987. Interest in reig- niting nuclear power has been on the political agenda in recent year as the government overturned the ban, but that decision will now be put to the test of direct democracy in a referendum in July 2011.

Ethics, technology and human beings. By the time of the Seveso incident the harmful effects on dioxin were already well document and contaminated soil was removed and replace with healthier earth from elsewhere and other measures take to repair or contain damages. The adverse effect on human health was of course of great concern and even if at the time abortion was illegal in Italy pregnant women were given the exceptional chance when there were grounds to expect sever health complications for the foetuses they were carrying. This had an effect on the debate over abortion that resulted in such practices to be legalised in 1978 and confirmed in a national referendum in 1981.

The debate over the ethics of acceptable intervention in human life has long been very lively in Italy. The new horizons opened up by new techniques of medically assisted human reproduction proved to be a problematic issue for Italian policy makers. In 1984 the Ministry of Health issued restrictions on the deployment of reproductive technologies in public health structures but that created the highly paradoxical position that within the private sector no restriction applied. This en- abled Italian private medicine to develop cutting edge reproductive services that were not exempt from controversy, such as the news of a woman in her sixties giving birth in the early nineties.

The news of Dolly the cloned sheep, alive and kicking, in Scotland in early 1997 drastically altered this curious situation of lack of national regulations on reproductive technologies. Within day the then Minister for Health, Rosy Bindi, issued a ministerial decree banning all forms of cloning. The decree was renewed every 90 days until a new regulation on reproductive technologies Law 40/200436 was in place. As time went by the decree was somewhat soften perhaps also because research on methods of reproduction of animals was already an important field of research in Italy. In 1999 media carried the story of a cloned calf, aptly named Galileo, had been confiscated by the authorities.37

36 A national referendum was held in 2005 to abrogate the law but the referendum failed to reach the required quorum. See section 1.1. of this report 37 http://edicola.unionesarda.it/Articolo.aspx?Data=19990925&Categ=4&Voce=1&IdArticolo =339065

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At the times of the debate over cloning another story about science and society pas- sionately captured the attention of the Italian public and the media. Luigi Di Bella a professor of physiology at the University of Modena heralded his own therapeutic approach to cancer38. The Italian health authorities were highly sceptical of those claims and in the end the outcomes of clinical trials indicated that the method was not a effective as claimed39. Somehow the whole issue became framed in terms of a conflict between science and alternative medicine as the latter, including homeopa- thy is still quite popular in Italy.

The debate over cloning diversified with developments in what is now commonly called stem cell research and distinction was made between reproductive cloning, considered unacceptable and therapeutic cloning. An ad hoc committee was set up to evaluate research on stem cell and that group issued a report, commonly called the Dulbecco report as Renato Dulbecco, an eminent Italian scientist working in the US was called upon to lead the group.40 Given the ethical sensitivities with regards to safeguarding human embryos it was not surpris- ing that the use of stem cells harvested from other sources than the embryo was encouraged. Human embryonic stem cell research is banned in Italy under the law 40 from 2004 on reproductive technologies. That is to say harvesting stem cells from human embryos is banned but not the importation of cells derived elsewhere.

Around the turn of the millennium another field of regenerative medicine re- ceived notable public attention, xenotransplantations, that is specially designing animals such a pigs to become donors of organs and tissues for human was an important field of research. In many ways the issue was framed in terms of both stem cell research and xenotransplantations being promoted as solution to the same societal problem, the lack of organs for transplantation. In 2001 the The Pontificial Academy for Life41, organised as series of meeting between repre- sentative of science and faith to discuss the future of xenotranplantations worldwide. These meeting resulted in a document on Xenotransplants: Scien- tific Aspects and Ethical Considerations, published in September 200142.

Food and Made in Italy. The final years of the last century were times of great societal questioning over the path of scientific and technological developments. Biotechnology became a field of contestation, issues such a “Patents on Life” were in the public eye. But these were also the years of the emerging re-

38 www.metododibella.org/en/mdb/home.do 39 www.bmj.com/content/318/7178/224.full 40 www.radioradicale.it/scheda/182141/bioetica-veronesi-ed-il-comitato-dei-saggi- presentano-il-rapporto-dulbecco-sulle-cellule-staminali 41 The Pontificial Academy of for Life was established in 1994 by John Paul II‟s Moto Pro- prio “Vita Mysterium” The Academy has a prevalently scientific character directed towards the promotion and defence of human life. The mandate is to study questions and issues pertaining to human life, to foster a culture of life and inform the Church, biomedical institutions, health care institutions and association, mass media and civil community in general about its study and research activities. http://www.academiavita.org/portal.jsp?lang=english 42 www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_academies/acdlife/documents/rc_pa_acdlife_doc_ 20010926_xenotrapianti_en.html

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evaluation of Italian traditions. In the context of a series of regulatory failures over food safety and new and influential movement gathered pace, the Slow- Food Movement43.

Traditional food products have become an increasingly valuable commodity, as is made clear by the boost in the markets of local produce. Evidently genetically modified food was at odds with these tendencies. The saga of GMO in Italy still rumbles on, currently in a stalemate between the state and many of the regions that are against GM agriculture.

To conclude, it does appear that the societal dialogues over science in society have now reached a turning point. Recent years have seen growing concerns over issues relating to the environment and energy but that does not necessarily entail a fall back on the modalities of debate such as those over nuclear power. Notwithstanding the harsh economic times of the moment there seems to be growing public awareness that new avenues need to be explored to facilitate socially and culturally sustainable paths of scientific and technological innovation.

43 www.slowfood.com

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Priority setting, governance and use of science in policy-making This section focuses on the different actors involved in shaping the relationship between science and society and the processes for governing science at national level. This includes government initiatives, institutions and organizations as well as public involvement and policy-making processes at all levels related to science and technology.

Different themes will be elaborated in the Italian context, including ethics in science and technology, equality, diversity and inclusiveness in scientific institutions, and ethnic or social minority groups in scientific contexts and careers. Moreover, this section will highlight actors in science communication and technology assessment. Public involvement in science and technology decision- making as well as the use of science in policy-making at the national level will be covered in this section.

2.1 Public engagement in priority setting

2.1.1 Formalised procedures for citizen involvement On a national level the most important provisions for public consultation and instruments of direct democracy are national referenda.44 The first institutional referendum was held on the 2nd of June 1946 in which the Italians voted in favour of a Republic over a Monarchy, by a wide margin. Italian law allows for national referendum to be called when 500,000 citizens have signed a petition in two instances. Firstly as a constitutional referendum for the approval or dis- approval of amendments of constitutional law. That was used for the first time in the history of the Italian republic in 2001 when the Italians voted in favour of a major structural change by giving greater autonomy to the regions in matters of health, education and the environment.45

Secondly, a legislative referendum to abrogate an existing law can be called, as was the case with the referendum on Law n.40 from 2004, held in June 2005 (see section 1.1 of this report). That referendum was held following a public petition calling for the abolition of the law on reproductive technologies, cryo- conservation of human embryos and their eventual use in medical research. The

44 http://elezionistorico.interno.it 45 Constitutional Law 3/2001 art. 118 www.parlamento.it/parlam/leggi/01003lc.htm

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referendum failed to reach the necessary quorum for the outcome to be valid so the law is still in place. Other national referenda that have profoundly impacted Italian society in terms of ethics, research and technology, would be the referendum on the Law nr. 898 from 1970 on divorce, held in 1974, the referendum in 1981 on Law nr. 194 from 1978 on abortion46 and the referendum on nuclear energy in 1987.47

In June 2011 three referenda will be held, of relevance to this report are the one on the privatization of water and another one on nuclear power.48

The last two decades have seen increased decentralisation with substantial political power handed over from the state to the regions. This is, for example, the case in health care as well as the environment and urban development. A modi- fication to law on the Italian Constitution resulting from the national referendum in 2001 introduced the principle of subsidiarity, under which citizens and associations can promote initiatives of “common interest”. This was a major step forward to enable and facilitate public engagement and dialogue in policy making processes.

There are important differences between the Italian regions in how far they have come in taking the opportunity an actively engage with citizens in decision making processes. The Tuscan Region has probably gone furthest and passed a regional law (Law 69) at the end of 2007 that effectively introduces public participation into key decision making processes in the region.49 This new framework has given rise to a series of initiatives, mostly relating to participating in urban design and development, environmental issues and waste disposal. (See section 1.1. of this report)

In any case, the formalization of procedures to involve citizens in decision making and policy processes is very a relatively recent development in Italy and all level of administration, the state, the regions, the provinces and the municipalities. At the moment of writing this report such procedures can best be described, or characterized, as an experiment in action thus making it trouble- some to make grounded judgments over longer term policy impact. That said, there are many interesting initiatives currently underway in this country so it will be interesting to monitor future developments as events unfold. The increased involvement of citizens in decision making in knowledge intensive policy decision making goes hand in hand with an increased openness to include stakeholders in policy making processes in general.

46 www.cittadinolex.kataweb.it/article_view.jsp?idCat=40&idArt=30717 47 www.ilsole24ore.com/art/SoleOnLine4/Italia/2007/10/Nuclerare-referendum-pro- contro.shtml?uuid=ddd6506e-7d86-11dc-8476-00000e25108c&DocRulesView=Libero 48 www.interno.it/mininterno/export/sites/default/en/index.html 49 http://partecipazione.formez.it/sites/all/files/Toscana%20L.r.%20partecipazione.pdf www.consiglio.regione.toscana.it/partecipazione/default.aspx?nome=saperne

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2.1.2 Citizen- or CSO-initiated activities with political impact Italy has a strong and a long standing tradition of civic engagement through citizens associations and the voluntary sector. In 2007 Fondazione Diritti Ge- netici50 in collaboration with other actors ably drew upon this tradition to reig- nite the debate over genetically modified organisms with the aim to take the debate further for the simple reason that the science has progressed on this front over the last decade (see section 1.1. of this report). The political impact was rather clear even if the national mass media somewhat ignored the issue.

An important development over the last decade has been the increasing role played by patient groups in shaping the political agenda in matters of biomedical science and research. Such groups have for example been vocal in the stem cell debate in the US but these forms of lobbying were something new in Italy. The most prominent example is the Associazione Luca Coscione51 The association was founded by Luca Coscione a medical doctor and a political radical who was afflicted by a severely debilitating progressive disease who made it his mission to fight for the freedom of scientific research in the context of the debate over human embryonic stem cell research (see section 1.1 of this report). The association has survived his death and has been highly influential in shaping the debate over bioethics in Italy, campaigning for issues such as the Living Will and Euthanasia in some very high profile cases in recent years.

On the other side of the spectrum of views on ethics and biomedical research a new Citizens Association, Scienza e Vita, was formed in defence of the Law 40 from 2004 on reproductive technologies and human embryonic stem cell research. This association has grown to be an important contributor to the bioethics debate in Italy as well.52

2.1.3 Importance of upstream engagement Nobody in Italy would use the term “upstream engagement”. It would simply not fit the vocabulary perhaps semantically the nearest equivalent would be the timidly emerging term of “scienza partecipata” that captures the growing de- mand and acceptance of public participation processes as a contribution to decision making in the policy arena. That said giving citizens a voice has become a very important issue in Italy in recent years but as can be seen from the examples given in this report, upstream engagement is very much work in progress and it will be interesting to monitor and to follow how things will evolve.

2.2 Public - private interaction Redefining the relationship between public and private is the hottest topic of Italian politics at the moment. Italy has been grappling with profound structural reforms in recent years and the reforms of the system of education and research in Italy is in itself the best example of this struggle (see sections 1.1. and 1.2 for

50 www.fondazionedirittigenetici.org/fondazione/en/ 51 www.lucacoscioni.it/ 52 www.scienzaevita.org

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a fuller description of the reforms). Many have observed that the private sector investments in Italian research still leave a lot to be desired.

Recent and current policy measures undertaken by the Italian government to foster public private interaction can be summarised as:

• The creation of public-private joint-labs in strategic sectors to sustain new high-tech industries

• Developing the 10 strategic programmes foreseen in the National Research Plan53

• Establishment of 11 Technology Districts54

• Promotion of Italian participation in Technology Platforms set up by the European Union

• The creation of strategic international research joint-labs

• Support the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and foster the adoption of ICT by enterprises.

• Encourage schemes that target sectors or activities identified as priority investment areas and that foster linkages between SMEs and research institutions (Innovation Technology Fund, Integrated Package Aid)

As the Regions are increasingly gaining autonomy they also have the opportunity to set their own innovation agendas that reflects the strength and tradition of each region. In many cases this means setting up Foundations (Fondazione), institutions designed to accommodate and manage funds from both and public and the private sector. Of many other very interesting example Toscana Life Sciences55 set up in the Region of Tuscany at the end of 2004 to oversee activities in Life Sciences in the region by fostering collaboration between actors on in the territory and by providing a range of new instruments to foster development and innovation. Although not strictly speaking a regional initiative la Fondazione Umberto Veronesi56 is an excellent example of a very successful public private interaction.

53 www.miur.it/UserFiles/3239.pdf 54 www.distretti-tecnologici.it/home.htm 55 www.toscanalifesciences.org 56 www.fondazioneveronesi.it

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2.3 Use of science in policy making

2.3.1 Formal procedures and advisory bodies involved Italy does not have a single centralised advisory body concerned with science and technological developments, rather but the procedures, mechanisms and structures depend and differ according to sectors. Further and more in general, scientific experts are called upon to give advice to ministerial groups and com- missions and working group of the Lower Chamber of Parliament and the Sen- ate. Traditionally, Italy has a highly technocratic institutionalised approach to policy making that is at the same time highly politicised.

Developments in Life Sciences lead to the two new advisory bodies being put into place. The National Bioethics Committee was established by a decree signed by the President of the Council of Ministers on 28 March 1990 as a consultation body that reports directly to the Council of Ministers.57

The National Committee for Biosafety, Biotechnology and Life Sciences was set up in 1992 in order to oversee the implementation of the two EC directives of genetically modified organisms.58 The CNBB has a clear mandate in terms of a scientific expert-led approach to risk while the National Bioethics Comittee (CNB)s mandate covers the ethical and moral issues surrounding biomedicine and life sciences.

2.3.2 Trends at national level We would describe the general trends in the use of research and scientific advice in policy making being fundamentally unaltered until very recently. It will be interesting to monitor developments on this front now that the reforms of the system of universities and research institutions have been signed into law.

What, however is changing is the citizens participation. The last five years have seen interesting experiments with diverse forms of public participation exer- cises up and down the country.

57 www.governo.it/bioetica/eng/index.html 58 www.governo.it/biotecnologie

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2.4 Key actors

2.4.1 Ethics in science and technology Name of actor and Type of actor Sector Brief supplementary description web-link if possible Comitato Nazionale Ethics coun- Public National Bioethics Committee An advisory body that report to per la Bioetica cils / commit- the Government, and parliament, its mandate also states that tees the CNB should involve the citizens http://www.governo.it/bioetica/eng/index.html

Pontificia Academica Religious in- Private The Pontificial Academy for Life was established in 1994 by per la Vita stitutions John Paul II‟s Moto Proprio “Vita Mysterium” The Academy has a prevalently scientific character directed towards the promotion and defence of human life. The mandate is to study questions and issues pertaining to human life, to foster a culture of life and inform the Church, biomedical institutions, health care institutions and association, mass media and civil community in general about its study and research activities. It has a strong influence on Italian policy making put please note that the Vatican is a separate state. http://www.academiavita.org/portal.jsp?lang=english

Associazione Scienza Other civil Private A pro life CSO that was originally set up to protect the 2004 e Vita society or- on reproductive technologies but is still active in shaping the ganisations bioethics debate http://www.scienzaevita.org/ Associazione Luca Other civil Private A CSO initiated in 2002 by Luca Coscione who suffered from Coscione society or- lateral amyotrophic sclerosis and was a radical campaigner for ganisations the freedom of research on embryonic stem cell research. One of the key promoters of the petition that resulted in the national referendum on the abrogation of the law from 2004 of reproductive technologies held in 2005 (see section 1.1 of this report). The founder has since passed away but the association is still active in shaping the ethics agenda in Italy http://www.lucacoscioni.it/ Fondazione Umberto Other civil Mixed A former Minister of Health set up this foundation (trust) in Veronesi society or- 2003 to promote science; it manages both public and private ganisations funds, carries out important research in molecular medicine and oncology, promotes public debates and has become an important contributor to shaping the trajectories of the Italian ongoing debate over bioethics. http://www.fondazioneveronesi.it/# Centre for Science, A leading independent research centre set up in Rome in Society and Citizen- 2002, specializing in advice on political, ethical and social ship issues raised by emerging technologies. Its overall aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the contemporary world by clarifying the human (social, cultural and ethical) factors which shape technological innovation. http://www.cssc.eu/index.php

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2.4.2 Equality, diversity and inclusiveness in scientific institutions and in educational systems Name of actor and web-link if Type of actor Sector Brief supplementary description possible Dipartimento per le Pari Opportu- Government and Public The Department of Equal Opportunities nità ministries of the Italian Council of Ministers. Cover www.pariopportunita.gov.it the whole range of issues relating to equal opportunities in Italian society on behalf of the other ministries. Il Comitato per le Pari Opportu- Universities and Public The Equal Opportunities Committee of nità del Consiglio Nazionale delle other higher educa- the National. Research Council. Very Ricerche tion institutions active in equal opportunities relating to www.cpo.cnr.it scientific research and technological development in Italy with a strong international focus as well. Codacons, Coordinamento delle Environmental or- Private The coordinating body of associations associazioni per la difesa ganisation concerned with environmental protection dell‟ambiente e la tutela dei diritti and the rights of users and customers. di utenti e consumatori Currently organising “Class Action” www.codacons.it against the Ministry of Education and single universities to vindicate the rights of a particular category of lecturers “pro- fessore a contratto”.

2.4.3 Science communication Name of actor and Type of actor Sector Domestic or Brief supplementary description web-link if possible foreign Ricerca Italiana Government Public Domestic An initiative of the Ministry for www.ricercaitaliana.it and ministries Universities and Research. For researchers and citizens alike. Very comprehensive and well organised Scuola Internazionale Universities Mixed Foreign The Master in Science Communica- Superiore di Studi and other tion and related research activities higher educa- have profoundly shaped how the Avanzati SISSA tion institu- issue of science communication has www.sissa.it tions been put on the political agenda. The main point of references in the country http://mcs.sissa.it/ (see also section 4.2 of this report) AgoràScienza Universities Public Domestic A science centre set up in Turin in www.agorascienza.it/en/ and other 2005 in collaboration of the Uni- higher educa- versities of the Piedment region home tion institu- (see sections 3.1.1 and 4.2 of this tions report)

Observa Science in Not for profit Private Domestic A non-profit, independent, legally Society research cen- recognized research centre promot- http://www.observa.it/D tre. ing the study and discussion of the efault.aspx?LAN=ENG interaction among science, technology and society, with the aim of stimulating dialogue among researchers, policy makers and citizens. (see section 3.1.1. of this re-

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port) Fondazione Diritti Ge- Other civil Mixed Domestic “The Genetic Rights Foundation netici society or- was set up to promote research and http://www.fondazionedi ganisations communication concerning bio- rittigeneti- technology. Established in 2007 as ci.org/fondazione/en/ a result of the activity of the Ge- netic Rights Council, it aims to promote and organize independent scientific research and social communication on the theme of bio- technological innovation, focusing in particular on environmental and social implications.” (see also sections 1.1 and 2.1.2 of this report)

2.4.4 Technology assessment Name of actor and web- Type of actor Sector Brief supplementary description link if possible Comitato per la Valutazione Government Public The Italian Technology Assessment Committee of the delle Scelte Scientifiche e and ministries Lower Chamber of Parliament, has not been all that active Tecnologiche publicly in recent years. http://vast.camera.it/italiano/290/schedabase.asp

There is no real tradition of institutionalised Technology Assessment bodies as such in Italy as is for example the case in the Netherlands, Denmark or German speaking countries.

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Research related to Science in Society This section is concerned with research activities related to science in society. The purpose is to describe the efforts in Italy, including the SIS research being undertaken and how SIS issues are embedded in mainstream research. The section will also elaborate on how SIS research is being funded and what the scale of funding is.

A distinction is made between SIS research on the one hand and SIS issues embedded in mainstream research on the other. SIS research are the studies particularly targeting public understanding of science, governance of science, science policy, science education, science communication, ethics in science and technology, the reciprocal relations of science and culture, young people and science and similar issues. However, SIS issues may also be present in other research activities, in which the main objectives of research are not SIS related issues, but in which SIS practices or perspectives are embedded. This could include studies within the natural sciences which apply innovative or extensive use of public involvement in the research process, new ways of communicating research results, ambitious efforts to bring ethical and societal issues into research, innovative ways of involving a variety of stakeholders (politicians, NGOs, industry, social scientists etc.). Such efforts are referred to as SIS issues embedded in mainstream research.

The section provides examples of Italian research projects and funding programmes related to SIS, cross-cutting and emerging themes of SIS. Moreover, the role of SIS in evaluative practices of research programmes and institutions are elaborated.

It should be noted that this section is concerned with mapping research activities which are not fully EU funded. The subsections are concerned with national as well as international research efforts, but not activities funded solely under the European framework programs. Such research activities are already well-documented elsewhere.

3.1 Research on Science in Society

3.1.1 Research projects On the whole, the science in society scene in Italy is really dynamic and innovative when it comes to action, that is to say to organise and promote activities

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that facilitate the dialogue be science on society (see section 4 of this report) and what can be generally described as engagement activities but when it comes to conducting empirical research the picture changes drastically. That might, however, be due to the lack of institutional mechanisms that would help in making such research activities more visible and accessible to the outside community. The research projects mentioned in the table below are but examples of what we could find.

Name of project (incl. web- Local, national, Institutions Budget and Field of study link or contact information) or cross-country participating funding source Test genetici e biobanche: National Coordination: Ministry of Uni- Governance of sci- problemi bioetici tra diritto e Università di versities and re- ence società Bologna search Ethics in S&T FIRB 2008/2011 www.cirsfid.unibo.it/CIRSFI D/Ricerca/Progetti/SchedaAtti vita.htm?ID=Cirsfid:67

The targets of scientific com- Regional Agorà Scienza Piedmonte region Science communica- munication. A survey on Italy tion and the Piedmontese area

www.agorascienza.it/en/resear ch/alfieri

Progetto Parco: Partecipazione Regional Observa, Sci- L‟Ato Valle del Science communica- e comunicazione per la tutela ence in Society Chiampo: tion dell‟ambiente Organisation of

13 municipalities in the North East

Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.

EcoGenEtic.com Observa, Sci- The autonomous Ethics in S&T ence in Society province of www.observa.it/view_page.as Trento px?ID=685&IDattivita=- 1&LAN=ENG

GEN-ETICA National Coordinator: Ministry of Uni- Ethics in S&T Università Cat- versities and re- http://docenti.unicatt.it/web/sc tolica del Sacro search heda_progetto.do?cod_docent Cuore, Milan FIRB 2008/2011 e=02051&language=ITA&id_ progetto=98 Genetic data, Security and National Observa, Sci- Italian National Public understanding Public Opinion in Italy ence in Society Committee for of science Biosafety and Biotechnologies

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http://attiministeriali.miur.it/anno-2006/dicembre/dd-01122006-n-2688Ric.aspx

3.1.2 Trends in research There seems to be have been a shift in recent years focusing away from a focus on issues of understanding, educations and communication towards a greater interest in ethical issues in a wide sense. Science in society has not quite emerged as a research field or a stream for funding in its own right in Italy but ethical issues are of high concern and perhaps the most notable trend is how ethics as the main focus of research has moved well beyond the disciplinary boundaries of philosophy to include first of all law and more recently social sciences including anthropology, sociology and psychology.

The main actors: Some very interesting and promising loci of research activities on science in society can be found in various parts of the country, the reader should bear in mind that this short review is not meant to e exhaustive and all due apologies for any eventual and unfortunate omissions.

In the Northernmost parts of Italy, we are pleased to indicate AgoràScienza in Turin59 and Observa, Science in Society in Vicenza60. Some of the main Univer- sities have centres that promote research, such as the Centre for Bioethics61 of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore.62 The University of Milano-Bicocca, has the The MACSIS center at the department of Sociology and Social Re- search.63 Bocconi, the leading Italian business University recently set up KITeS, Knowledge, Internationalisation and Technology Studies64 but many other universities have research programmes dedicated to the economics of innovation. Several foundations have been highly active in this field, for example Fondazi- one Gianni Bassetti65, or the more visible Fondazione San Raffaele di Monte Tabor66. Let us not forget the pioneering activities of Fondazione Umberto Veronesi67 that is also related to the European School of Molecular Medicine and the research carried out in the doctoral programme FOLSATEC, Founda- tions of the Life Sciences and their Ethical Consequences68. In Trieste the SISSA69 through the ICS group70 and the University of Trieste have long been

59 www.agorascienza.it/en/home 60 www.observa.it/Default.aspx?LAN=ENG 61 http://centridiateneo.unicatt.it/centro_di_ateneo_di_bioetica 62 www.unicattolica.it/2220.html?rdeLocaleAttr=en, seats in Milan, Piacenza & Cremona, Brescia, Campobasso and Rome 63 www.macsis.unimib.it 64 http://portale.unibocconi.it/wps/wcm/connect/Centro_KITES/Home 65 www.fondazionebassetti.org/en 66 www.fondazionesanraffaele.it/EN_home/index.html 67 http://www.fondazioneveronesi.it 68 www.semm.it/phd_folsatec.php 69 www.sissa.it

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at the forefront of research and reflections upon the relationship between science and society.

Rome, the capital is home to Italian National Research Council CNR71, of which IRPPS72 Institute for Research on Population and Social Policies has been actives in research on science in society issues on a social level while ISTC73 the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies is involved in research on the more intimate and cognitive ramification of scientific and technological developments. Out of a whole range of other important actors operating in the capital we would like to draw attention to the work carried out by the

CSSC Centre for Science, Society and Citizenship, a leading independent research centre specializing in advice on political, ethical and social issues raised by emerging technologies.74 The research of this centre is interesting as not only does it have an European focus but moreover is very active in collaboration that in- volves the Mediterranean and non European culture, in areas such as international public health and Science for Peace.75

Moving south we come to Naples and Fondazione IDIS Città della Scienza76 that has been very active promoting new forms of interaction and dialogue between science and society and has also been an important player in research projects.

Where do we go from here? Recent years have witnessed an upsurge in research interests that can best be described by the umbrella term: What does it mean to be human? There are several high level research groups in Italy that conduct research on neurological sciences, for example the cluster of groups in the Trieste area and many others. This coupled with research in human genetics in Italy has generated research interest in the social, legal and ethical ramification of rapid developments in these fields. In 2006 the Ministry for Universities and Research published a call for research proposal funded by FIRB77, the fund for investment in basic research in the field of bioethics with a total budget of 1.5 million euro, the only major investments in the science in society agenda so far. The projects funded under this call are all still active and we will have to await the results to report on the eventual impact. In any case, it is reasonable to predict that this is a field of research where science meets society that is going to gather strength and momentum in the near future.

70 http://ics.sissa.it 71 http://www.cnr.it/sitocnr/Englishversion/Englishversion.html 72 http://www.irpps.cnr.it/ 73 www.istc.cnr.it/about 74 www.cssc.eu/index.php 75 www.nato.int/science/calendar/current%20calendar%20-%20Jan%202011.pdf 76 www.idis.cittadellascienza.it/ 77 www.miur.it/0003Ricerc/0524FIRB_-/index_cf3.htm http://attiministeriali.miur.it/anno-2006/dicembre/dd-01122006-n-2688Ric.aspx

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Engineering, communication technologies and robotics constitute another broad field of science and technology in which we report a growing level of interest in research on how developments might impact our sense of self and relations with the environment and with each other. These are surely areas of growing interest for empirical science in society studies in Italy.78 Further, on the basis of the structural reforms that are underway (please see section 1.1, 1.2 and 2.2 of this report) it seems reasonable to predict that fields of research that are organised on a public – private interaction basis, such as these and the ones described in the paragraph above, that are able to attract industry funding are the most likely to fund empirical research into the social, legal and ethical aspects of development either as dedicated or stand alone science in society research projects or as empirical research component embedded within larger integrated research projects.

Finally, we observe increasing attention towards environmental and sustainability issues (see section 2.1 of this report). Although perhaps not adequately rep- resented in the table in section 3.1.1. we report growing interest in promoting research on local sustainability issues, at times coupled with a revival of more traditional ways of handicraft, living of the land and managing natural resources. Such eventual research efforts are more likely to receive regional or provincial funding and to be locally rather than nationally managed. Given the uncertainties over suitable forms of governance and persistent structural ine- qualities between the North and the South of Italy this trend is set to contribute to the increased prosperity of the Northern regions.

Perhaps the explanation of the relatively absence of Italian national empirical research on science is to be found in the very structure of traditional Italian highly corporatist organisation of academic life. Both entry into the system in terms of tenure and carrier progressions are tightly controlled and skilfully managed by, sometimes narrowly defined, scientific and technological disciplinary sectors. By the same token all university curricula are rigidly organised in terms of which sectors can be taught in any programme based on a rather rigid ministerial lists.79 This means that any scientific output that does not match well the core definition for any given sector might not exactly contribute to the carrier of promising researchers. Thus, the system does not encourage interdisciplinary work or research that falls short of being mainstream according to the core ministerial definitions. In other words, science in society research is no exception to that logic but it is not at all the only promising field.80

In recent years many of the research activities could find a common home within the disciplinary boundaries of sociology and in 2005 the Italian Associa- tion of Science and Technology Studies was formed in order to foster network- ing between Italian scholars working in this field.81 In September 2009 STS

78 www.tecnoetica.it is a blog that collects news and comments in this field. 79 Note that this logic does not apply to the category of Italian Masters courses that are often, at least in part, externally funded but (see section 4.2 of this report) 80 There have been attempts to open up the agenda by redefining the sectors, for the latest version please see http://attiministeriali.miur.it/anno-2005/marzo/dm-18032005.aspx 81 www.stsitalia.org/UK/index_uk.html

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Italia helped organise the conference of the European Association of Studies of Science and Technology in Trento where Italian research was well repre- sented.82

3.2 Main stream research embedding Science in Society issues

3.2.1 Trends and good examples It is probably really early days to be talking about science in society issues being embedded within main stream national research projects beyond what we have reported on above. Not least because of the scarcity of funding for scientific research in Italy over the last few years. Notwithstanding our attempts to finds suitable examples of embedded SiS practices in terms of empirical research, we regret that at the moment we are unable to report on sources of inspiration. That might simply be an oversight on our behalf, something that we would be most happy to correct in the future. However, as we discussed in section 3.1 developments in converging technologies as well as the restructuring of the Italian research environment might be about to open up new and exciting opportunities for future research on the relationship between science, technology and society.

3.3 Funding for research on Science in Society Italy has no specific funding devoted exclusively to research on science in society, other than issues such as the economics of innovation and area that fall outside the boundaries of this report. The only exception that we can report on at the moment was the strategic programme on bioethics and humanities for 2008 to 2010 with a total budget of € 1.200.000 issued in 2006 and awarded in 2008.83

However, there is national funding available for activities aimed at promoting the diffusion of scientific culture in Italy.84 These funds are intended for example to the organisation “La settimana scientifica” (The week of science) that is organised every year through the regions.

82 http://events.unitn.it/en/easst010 83 http://attiministeriali.miur.it/anno-2006/dicembre/dd-01122006-n-2688Ric.aspx

84 http://attiministeriali.miur.it/anno-2010/luglio/dd-19072010.aspx

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3.4 Importance of Science in Society issues as evaluative elements for national research programmes and academic institutions As the reforms of universities and research institution in Italy is in the making it is quite frankly impossible to answer this question now. Hopefully the question of the relative importance of science in society issues as evaluative elements for research programmes and institutions will become clearer in the new year.

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Activities related to Science in Society This section relates to SIS as a field encompassing a variety of different activities particularly concerned with public communication of science and technology in Italy. The issues addressed are formats for science communication and the actors involved in science communication as well as trends at the national level.

4.1 National science communication trends In contrast to issues of science in society as an empirical research agenda we are very happy to report that Italy has developed a vibrant culture of science communication activities and can surely be regarded as a source of great inspiration for other European countries. This is probably mostly due to sustained educational efforts in this area (see section 4.2) Italy was one of the forerunners in this field of activities, from the early nineties picking up around the turn of the century and gathering pace over the last five years.

Recent years have seen the consolidation of a body of professional expertise on all levels of communication, from public and institutional communications activities through traditional media and increasingly exploiting to the fullest the potential of new communication technologies. Highly trained science communicators now operate within the press and public relations offices of both private and public research institutions and universities and have found employment in the diverse environments of traditional media.

There seems to be a growing recognition of the expertise of science communicators in an otherwise somewhat grim labour market for the young in Italy. Of- ten is has been the case that bright and motivated young scholars have paved the way for a new expertise that did not quite fit into the traditional categories of registered journalists or publicists. Young, dynamic and energetic science communicators have made good use of their education, sound science literacy coupled with a profound understanding of the mechanisms of communication processes, be the technologies traditional or recent, to foster forms of dialogues between science and society. In other words, Italy abounds with science communication activities that surely interest other European countries (please see other subsection in section 4 of this report for some examples.) It was therefore rather fitting that Turin hosted the Euroscience Open Forum in July 201085 and

85 www.esof2010.org

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Florence will host the international public communication of science and technology conference (PCST) in the spring of 2012.86

4.1.1 Good practises There are so many examples of highly successful initiatives in public communication of science and technology in Italy that it is hard to choose which one to present in this report. All due apologies to those who are not mentioned.

Museums and festivals. First of all we like to mention Il Festival della Scienza87 in Genoa that attracts a very large general audience each year. The idea of science festivals has been very successful in Italy. If festivals are recurring struc- tured science events, museums are permanent structures. Given Italy‟s immense cultural heritage is unsurprising that the country has a strong tradition of museums, a tradition that has been greatly strengthened in recent years trough the expansion and modernisation of existing structure and increased professionali- zation of personnel (see sections 4.4.4 and 4.4.6 in this report for examples). Indeed, many trained science communicators work within the systems of museum. The notion of science or scienze in Italian culture is a very broad one and embraces also social science and the humanities. This trends as a whole is surely one of the success stories of public communication of science and technology in Italy in recent years. Most of the relevant museums are very active in outreach and public engagements activities, often in collaboration with local schools.

Regional initiatives. As we have mentioned in several parts of this report Italy has been undergoing some major structural changes over the last twenty years where many aspects of state power, for amongst other issues health and environment, are being taken over by the regions. Some regions are more organised than other, also more affluent, but Agorà Scienza88 in Turin is a good example novel ways of organising public communication of science and technology in the Piedmonte region.

Finally we present La Ricerca Italiana89 the portal of Italian research set up by the ministry of education, universities and research. It is an extremely useful point of reference for a wide range of actors as Scienzainrete90 is indeed also.

4.2 Science journalism and training activities Italy was one of the first European countries to set up university based training activities in science communication. The SISSA, International School for Ad- vanced Studies based in Trieste, was a forerunner in science communication in Italy by setting up the first postgraduate Masters course in the subject in 1992, the same year in which the first UK Masters course was set up in collaboration

86 www.pcst2012.org 87 www.festivalscienza.eu/site/en/Home.html 88 www.agorascienza.it/en/home 89 www.ricercaitaliana.it 90 www.scienzainrete.it/en

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between Imperial College and Science Museum in London. We are happy to report that the master is still going strong.91 Note that Master courses in the Ital- ian system have a very professional focus, are usually part time and can attract external funding in contrast to the more traditional two year post graduate courses offered by the Italian University system.

Not only did the SISSA set the trend in forming a new professional figures, science communicators, but it also created an environment that fostered the growth of a community of scholars by organising yearly national Italian conference on science communication from 2000 onwards, set up research groups, set up an online journal that publishes both articles and research articles on science and society in Italian and English92 and opened a forum for discussion over science communication practices.93 A recent survey of alumni of the Master showed that most of them are very happily employed and engage in the diverse aspects of science communication, collaborating with science news agencies, working for major national and international media organisation, working in the public relations and press offices on major scientific institutions, moving on to pursue research on science in society related topics and the list goes on.

The students of the Masters at SISSA also have excellent placement opportunities for example with Zadig an editorial company specialising in science, technology and ethics94 and an important actor in the societal dialogue in Italy, as well as most major national media. Further, the international connections are strong with possibilities of visiting periods at major international media institutions (for example with the Nature publishing group) research institutions or other training course abroad. Some of the former students have been instrumen- tal in setting up new science communication agencies, Formicablu95 is a very good example, and they are engaged in practicing communication, research and organisation of courses.

A more recent initiative is Agorà Scienze96 a science centre created in Torino in 2006 in collaboration of the four universities in Piemonte that coordinates research, training and education. For example, they run a summer school in Sci- ence Communication for scientists and others interested in the relationship between science and society.

The beginning of the science communication activities at the SISSA in Trieste in 1992 coincided with the launch of a new type of interdisciplinary university degrees in Scienze della Comunicazione (Communication Sciences). These new degrees offered education in all aspects of communication in modern societies, inclusing at times the relationship between science and society, the first of such new courses was set up at the University of Siena followed by DAMS97 in Bo-

91 http://mcs.sissa.it/ 92 http://jcom.sissa.it/ 93 http://jekyll.sissa.it/ 94 www.zadig.it 95 www.formicablu.it 96 www.agorascienza.it/en/home 97 Discipline delle Arti, della Musica e dello Spettacolo

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logna. In recent years, universities across the country offer degrees in communication sciences.

From 2003 to 2008 the University of Siena offered a full time two year post graduate degree in science communication with an emphasis on nature and environmental issues, the only one in the country. Other Italian universities which offer Masters courses are the University of Milan, Bicocca98 Department of Physics and the University of Padova99 University of Rome II, Tor Vergata100, la Sapienza University in Rome101. The University of Bari offers a Masters course in Communication and Science Education102 and the University of Siena offers a Masters course specialising in Museum and Naturalistic collections.103

By now science communicators in Italy do form both formal and informal communities and the Association of Science Writers in Milan is an excellent example.104

4.3 Young people and science education in schools

4.3.1 Skills and interest There have been so many interesting and innovative initiatives and activities in this field in Italy in the last five years that it is difficult to know where to begin and perhaps more importantly, it is difficult to know where to draw the line in reporting on interesting initiatives that might inspire others

The first example regards Astronomy and Space and is called “SAINT-ROCH ÉTOILES” designed and implemented at a bilingual (Italian, French) school in Valle d‟Aosta and covers all the cycles of the Italian education system from primary school onwards.105 Both Italy and France are active in the European Space Programme children here look at Italian astronauts with great admiration and this project has been a great success.

Another initiative is based in Milano in collaboration with the Lombardia re- gion106 A final example comes from Rome, where in response to chronic short- age of adequate equipment to teach science in local school led to novel ways of interaction between the schools and scientific structures and laboratories in the capital, in collaborations with the network of museums, where pupils enter real laboratories to get hands on real experience of science. This project is in the

98 www.macsis.unimib.it/ 99 www.fisica.unipd.it/index.php?id=master 100 http://comunicazione-scienza.uniroma2.it 101 www.mastercomunicazionescientifica.org 102 www.ssscienza.uniba.it/didattica/masterdidatticascienza.htm 103 www.unisi.it/dl2/20100928152420805/brochure_master_tutela.pdf 104 http://sciencewritersinitaly.wordpress.com/abou 105 www.scuole.vda.it/stroch/images/progetto_etoiles/frame2.htm 106 www.scienzaunder18.net

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early stages and has given some very interesting results, but, as most activities that depend on public funding has some problems on that front.107

Reporting on interesting approaches is at least as valuable as describing single projects, however successful those might be. The association Psiquadro108, based in Perugia, Umbria has been doing a great job in organising a series of initiatives and activities in collaboration with schools in Central Italy. Their offers are diversified according to the four cycles of obligatory education in Italy. Immaginarioscientifico109 in Trieste (see section 4.4.6 of this report) is another example of an association that organises initiatives and activities in collaboration with schools in the local area

These initiatives are also motivated by economic factors as recent years have seen sever cuts in public funding of education. A recent survey indicates that only 42% of pupils are able to effectively use existing laboratories110. Instead, it makes more sense for regions, provinces and even municipalities to collaborate with outside service providers, such as the two just mentioned, in attempts to attract children to science, technology. In most cases these kinds of collaboration involve other local actors such as museums or natural parks.

4.3.2 Societal issues and critical reflection The implications of the mapping of the human genome project were the main source of inspiration for the Bioweek2009 organised by the Mueseo Tridentino di Scienze Naturale in Trento.111 This was a week dedicated to the societal aspects of new biology aimed at a general audience with the collaboration of the scientific community and local schools, through a wide range of activities and meeting with the objective to discuss the issues of the ramification for society.

The Bioweek2009 is a piece of a much large puzzle that regards the biological sciences and in particular the biology of evolution in the context of yearly cele- bration of the scientific legacy of Charles Darwin in February every year from 2003112. A further impetus to these initiatives was provided by the reforms to the national curricula in 2004113 where the theory of evolution risked dropping out of the science curriculum. May municipalities and research institutions organise a yearly wave of events under the general banner of DarwinDay.

Another example regards how to confront seismic risks, highly pertinent in a country with active volcanoes. Edurisk:Itinerari per la reduzione del rischio is a programme that aims to help citizens, schoolchildren included to use facts to fight the fears of natural calamities, such as volcanic eruptions and earth-

107 www.cips-roma.it 108 www.psiquadro.it 109 www.immaginarioscientifico.it/is1/attivita.html 110 http://archivio.pubblica.istruzione.it/argomenti/gst/allegati/dichiarazione_berlinguer.pdf 111 www.bioweek2009.it/ 112 www.pikaia.eu/easyne2/homepage.aspx 113 These reforms are commonly referred to as the Moratti reforms.

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quakes.114 This project is supported by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia an institution that has been extremely active and successful in public communication over issues such as natural disasters and more recently climate change.115 A final, but a very sweet example is Non chiamarmi terre- moto.116 L‟Aquila a town in Abruzzo in central Italy was almost wiped out in a devastating earthquake in the spring of 2009. The Italian authorities were strongly criticised over the handling of this natural disasters. A group of science communicators took the opportunity to use their skills to empower the local embattled population, in particular schoolchildren and made what they called a “docufiction” a short film, together with a class of 12 year old school children who are the real stars of the film, on how to behave when an earthquake strikes.

Several actors and associations have been both very active and influential in shaping the debate over environmental matters, for example the Italian branch of Greenpeace117, Legambiente118, or trade unions such as the CGIL119. Con- sumer organisations and movements for the protection of civil rights such as ADUC120 and Codacons121 have also pulled their weight.

The ethical aspects and ramifications of developments in the Life Sciences have been highly salient in public discourses in recent years and have given rise to numerous initiatives have been organised and promoted throughout the coun- try122.

4.4 Communication activities Means Much less Less Same More Much more Science TV programmes X Radio X Newspapers X Magazines X Large scale festivals X Web-based communication X Museums, exhibitions X Citizen- or CSO initiatives X

114 www.edurisk.it/eng/the-project.html 115 www.ingv.it 116 www.nonchiamarmiterremoto.it 117 www.greenpeace.org/italy/it/ 118 www.legambiente.it/ 119 www.cgil.it/organizzazione/dipartimenti/ambiente_territorio.aspx 120 www.aduc.it/ 121 www.codacons.it 122 See amongst others www.scienzaevita.org , www.lucacoscioni.it, www.fondazioneveronesi.it, www.cssc.eu

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4.4.1 TV programmes Programme title (and web-link if Frequency Duration Target audience Themes covered possible) (in min- 1. utes) Passsaggio a NordOvest Weekly 90 min General audience, Science and history RAI1 late afternoon http://www.passaggioanordovest.rai.it/ Superquark Weekly 90 General audience, General science RAI1 prime time eve- http://www.superquark.rai.it/ ning Ulisse Weekly 90 General audience, General science RAI3 prime time satur- http://www.ulisse.rai.it/ day night TG Leonardo Daily 15 Afternoon, follow- Daily science news RAI3 ing the maingen- bulletin http://www.leonardo.rai.it/ eral news La Macchina del Tempo Weekly 90 General science RETE4 http://www.macchinadeltempo.com/

4.4.2 Radio programmes Programme title (and web-link if Frequency Duration Target audi- Themes covered possible) (in min- ence utes) Radio3Scienza Daily, late morn- 30 General but Spans almost the RAI3 ing tendentially well whole spectrum http://www.radio3.rai.it/dl/radio3/progr educated with ammi/PublishingBlock-aaee447d- interest in sci- 8a68-46e9-b13f-43525399e0d8.html ence, technology and society. Con parole mie Daily, early af- 30 General History RAI1 ternoon http://www.rai.it/dl/radio1/2010/progra mmi/Page-bcc437d5-8aa2-43e7-af36- 9656521dd6fd.html

4.4.3 Popular science articles in newspapers and magazines Title of newspaper (and web-link if Frequency of No. of Target audi- Themes covered possible) science section print runs ence Corriere della Sera Daily 687.879 The national Science and technol- www.corriere.it newspapers of ogy in general, highly www.corriere.it/scienze_e_tecnologie/ the Italian elite, attentive centrist outlook, Milan based

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La Repubblica Daily 620.810 Another some- Science and Technol- www.repubblica.it what highbrow ogy in general, highly www.repubblica.it/scienze/ newspaper, cen- attentive www.repubblica.it/tecnologia/ tre. Based in www.repubblica.it/ambiente Rome left lean- ing, national

Il sole24ore Daily 399.944 The Italian fi- Science in general www.ilsole24ore.com nancial paper. but strong focus on Closely associ- technology. The ated with Con- Thursday edition dis- findustria the tributes a special in- Italian Associa- sert on science and tion of Industry. technnology: Nova La Stampa Daily 417.367 Based in Turin cloa- www.lastampa.it sely associated with www.lastampa.it/_web/cmstp/tmplrubr FIAT. Has a special iche/tecnologia/hrubrica.asp?ID_blog= sections on technol- 30 http://www3.lastampa.it/scienza/ ogy, science and the http://www3.lastampa.it/ambiente/ enviroment

Panorama Weekly General edu- Often runs special http://blog.panorama.it/hitechescienza/ cated audience, features on issues centrist right relating to science, technology, ethics and the environment L’Espresso Weekly Same editorial Often runs special http://espresso.repubblica.it/ group as la Re- features on issues pubblica, gen- relating to science, eral educated technology, ethics audience and the environment

Popular science magazines: Title (and web-link if possible) Frequency No. of Target audi- Themes covered print runs ence Le Scienze Monthly Italian version Science in general http://lescienze.espresso.repubblica.it/ of scientific published by the publishing group that American also published la Repubblica and L‟Espresso (see above) Darwin Less than Adult and edu- Science in general http://www.darwinweb.it/ monthly cated members with an emphasis on of the general natural science public Focus Monthly The Italian ver- Science and technol- http://www.focus.it/ sion of Focus, ogy in general general public a very well done website as well and young peo-

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ple Newton Monthly General public Science and technol- http://www.newtonline.it/ ogy in general published by the same group as il Cor- riere della Sera e Panorama (see above)

4.4.4 Festivals, science weeks, etc. Activity title Activity Organiser Frequency Number of Venue Short description (and web-link if type participants (city/region- possible) (approx) /national) Festival della Festival Associazi- October Genova, An incredible suc- Scienza one Festival every year Liguria cessful national

della from 2005 science festival, http://www.festiv al- Scienza scienza.it/site/Ho me.html Festival delle Festival Auditorium Yearly Rome the Scienze Parco della capital of the

Musica, Italian Re- http://www.audito rium.com/eventi/4 Rome public 952242 http://www.a udito- rium.com/ Festival Associazi- Yearly from Perugia,in Interesting initiative Perugia Science one Gurdulù 2003 Umbria of young profes- Fest and sional science http://www.perugi Psiquadro asciencefest.eu/ communicators! Festival della Festival City of Sar- Yearly from Sarzana, Advertised as the Mente zana, Liguria 2005 Liguria first festival of

creativity in http://portale.festi valdella- Europe, science of mente.it/en/events the mind, neurosci- ences Festival Festival Province of Yearly from Trento, Economics dell’Economia Trento 2005 Trentino

http://2010.festiva lecono- mia.eu/en/node/89 3 http://www.giove discienza.org/

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4.4.5 National portals, blogs Activity title (and web- Activity type Number of Themes covered Short description link) users (if known) www.ricercaitaliana.it The Portal of Ital- Very broad sci- An initiative of the Ministry for ian Research ence and tech- Universities and Research. For nology researchers and citizens alike. Very comprehensive and well organised www.telethon.it/en The Telethon Research on Set up in 1990 initially as fund foundation. genetics and raising activities for research on genetic diseases. Every Decem- diseases ber RAI1the main state TV channel host a televised show that last for a few days called Telethon. In recent years their activities have branched out and now this has become a very important portal. www.scienzainrete.it/en Private enterprise Very broad sci- The 2003 Group was formed in ence and tech- the summer of 2003 by bringing together Italian scientists work- nology with an ing in Italy who are listed emphasis on among the world's most cited science policy scientists in scientific literature and governance www.30righenews.it www.pianetascienza.it Pianetascienza è a broad range of 30 SCIENCE un portale che specific topics COMUNICATION is a com- vuole raccontare and fields, in- munications agency which pro- giorno dopo cluding science, jects and provides multitarget giorno cosa ac- health, envi- media products and services. cade nel mondo ronment, en- della scienza, so- ergy, technol- www.marescienza.it prattutto quella ogy, research www.terrascienza.it che si occupa di policy and edu- www.climascienza.it studiare il nostro cation. Pianeta nelle sue varie componenti: Mare, Terra e Clima. www.media.inaf.it The communica- Space and as- tions department trophysics of Instituto Nazi- onale di As- trofisica www.enea.it The TV portal of Energy and the http://webtv.sede.enea.it/ ENEA The na- environment tional Agency for new technologies, energy and sustainable economic

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development. www.galileonet.it An online multi- Science and The target audience is the gen- media science technology in eral interested public. A special publication general section is devoted managed by the masters students in science communication at La Sapienza University in Rome (section 4.2 of this report) www.cieloblu.it Online chronicle All aspects re- Caters for the community of on Astronomy and lating to astron- those interested in astronomy Space omy and space that enjoys a widespread general interest for historical reasons. http://ulisse.sissa.it/front- The portal of the Very broad sci- Target audience those interested page science network ence and tech- in science. In association with nology the Master in Science Commu- nication at the SISSA in Trieste (see section 4.2 of this report)

4.4.6 Science museums and centres Activity title (and web- Activity Number of Themes Venue Short description link if possible) type visitors/year covered (city) Museo Nazionale della Museum Very Milano, The National Museum of Sci- Scienza e della Tec- and a sci- broad sci- Lombardia ence and Technology was set nologia Leonardo da ence centre ence and up in 1953 and was for a very Vinci technology long time the most important http://www.museoscienz one a.org/english/

Città della Scienza Science Very Napoli, A very active science centre http://www.cittadellascie centre, out- broad Campania with strong international ties nza.it/ reach and education Immaginario Scien- Interactive Science in Trieste in Very much involved in out- tifico and multi- general but Friuli, reach activities in Trieste a http://www.immaginario media mu- highly Venezia, major centre for excellence in scientifico.it/ seum and sensitive Giulia Italian scientific research science to the centre themes of research conducted in the area Aquario di Genova Aquarium Everything Genova, A classic destinaiton for Italian http://www.acquariodige to do with Liguria family trips nova.it/jsp/index.jsp marine life Planetario di Roma Planetarium Astronomy Rome This is one example of science http://www.planetarioro related museum and centers of ma.it/ the association of Museums of

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the Municipality of Rome http://www.museiscientificirom a.eu/ Museo Galileo Museum History of Florence, http://www.museogalileo science Tuscany .it/en/index.html Museo Tridentino di An inte- Natural Trento, Scienze Naturali grated sys- sciences Trentino http://www.mtsn.tn.it/ tem of sci- Alto ence muse- Adige ums in Trentino Museo regionale di Museum Natural Torino, scienze naturali sciences Piemonte http://www.regione.piem onte.it/museoscienzenatu rali/

This list is far from being exhaustive as Italy has so many interesting museums and centres that cover themes surrounding science and technology.

4.4.7 Citizen- or Civil society organisations initiatives Activity title (and web-link if possible) Activity Fre- Number of Short description type quency participants Forma Scienza, in Rome organise Science Science Café monthly Café

http://www.formascienza.org/en_caffe.asp

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The Fukushima accident

5.1 Media coverage and public debate When the accident at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant occurred in March 2011 Italy was already in the midst of a very heated public and political debate over the future role of nuclear power in the country. Therefore, the issue was framed as both a scientific and highly political issue.

The context is that following the energy crisis from 2005 to 2008 (e.g. soaring oil prices and political tribulations surrounding the provision of gas from Rus- sia and Libya) the fourth Berlusconi government decided to invest in the development of nuclear power. That decision turned out to be highly controversial as plans for nuclear power stations in Italy had been halted by the outcome of a national referendum in 1987. The government went ahead with the plans, in February 2009 an agreement of collaboration in the development of cutting edge technology for the generation of nuclear power was reached with France and with the US in September the same year. In April 2010 leading exponents of one of the opposition parties, Italia dei Valori, formally proposed a referenda on the future on nuclear power in Italy and organised a national petition to collect signatures. In June 2010 a not for profit association for the promotion of the debate about nuclear power Forum Nucleare,123 while on the other side the referendum was approved by the constitutional court in January 2011.

By that time, however, an eminent professor of oncology and former minister for health and a leading figure in societal dialogue over science and technology in Italy, Umberto Veronesi, had accepted to become the first president of the new Italian authority on nuclear safety. Only a week before the fateful incident he gave an interview to a national newspaper in which he claimed that the outlook for energy provisions in the country was so bleak that the country would die without the development of nuclear power124. Tensions over the future of nuclear power were already running high.

In other words, the news of the disaster at Fukushima struck the already in- flammable debate in Italy like a lightning. The configuration was already there both for proponents of the development of nuclear power in Italy and the oppo-

123 http://blog.forumnucleare.it/ 124 http://www3.lastampa.it/politica/sezioni/articolo/lstp/391438/

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nents. The images of the ravishing force of the tsunami, that had such devastating effects, resonated heavily with potential worst case scenarios in the public imagination. Italy is one of the few European countries with active volcanoes and considerable ongoing seismic activity that at times results in devastating earthquakes and that is one of the main arguments against nuclear power. Un- derstandably, the Italian media was highly receptive to news of the accident. The unfolding of events at Fukushima was the prime running story in all media and various social media were quite literally ablaze. The Ministry for Health launched an information campaign with regular updates on the situation and potential risks to Italy and the Italians as did the National Entity for Alternative Energy.125

Seismic risks, as an argument against further development of civic nuclear power, came straight to the fore in the discussions along with concerns over radiation. Initially, climate concerns played a relatively minor role in the debate, perhaps an issue at the time somewhat overshadowed by the more press- ing need for a drastic overhaul of the system of energy provision in the country. The safety of the latest generation of nuclear power plants and technologies was put into question as was the ability of authorities to manage and contain a disaster of this magnitude.

5.2 Levels and modes of public involvement The Italian case is an interesting one as a national referendum, asking citizens whether they would want the new law on the development of nuclear power plants to be abrogated, had already been prepared for 12th and the 13th of June 2012, just three months after the accident in and the results were very clear indeed.126 95% of voters rejected the plans to re-launch the development of nuclear power.

The referendum was actually divided into four parts, the first and second regarded the liberalization of water supply, distribution and management. The third on was on nuclear power while the final one regarded the then highly po- litically sensitive issue of the abrogation of a new law from 2010 through which members of government were granted “legitimate impediment” i.e. de facto immunity from court proceedings while in office.

In wake of the disaster in Japan, Italian civil society groups and organisations, for the most part close to the opposition to the government, immediately mounted attempts to mobilise public opinion and to raise awareness of the importance of the referendum. Many previous referenda had been invalidated as the required quorum had not been reached. Main mass media, including the RAI (the national broadcasting services of the Italian state) were severely criticised for failing to provide citizens with adequate information about the refer-

125 http://www.enea.it/it/enea_informa/incidente-nucleare-a-fukushima 126 http://elezionistorico.interno.it/index.php?tpel=F&dtel=12/06/2011&tpa=I&tpe=A&lev0=0 &levsut0=0&es0=S&ms=S

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endum. The skillful use of new technologies of communications and social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, smartly tied in with street demonstrations and campaigning, provided the opportunity structure for the promoters of the referendum to ensure substantial turnout at the polling stations. Not only did these efforts raise awareness of the importance of the referendum, voter were also given instructions on how to vote. 127

Many have observed that this referendum marked the moment when the inter- net truly became a prime forum for discussions and democratic debate in Italy while others remark the outcomes of the referendum was mostly due to unacceptable exploitation of the emotional impact of the Fukushima disaster.

5.3 Political responses and scientific advice In the immediate aftermath of the accidents at Fukushima, Stefania Prestigia- como, the then minister for the environment, announced while in Brussels that the position of the Italian government on the development of nuclear power would not change and go ahead as planned.128 However, on the 23rd of March following calls to do so from the opposition, the government announced a one year moratoria on the development and construction of nuclear power plants in Italy.129

Scientific authorities expressed concerns over the potentially adverse effects on ongoing research in the field of both the emotional public response to the disaster and the political sensitivities associated with the upcoming referenda.130 The role played by scientific advice and evidence became paramount as the debate shifted somewhat away from risk and safety issue surrounding the civil use nuclear power towards re-shaping the agenda of the development of alternative sources of energy for the country. In this context more attention was devoted to climate change.

On the 19th of April, Giulio Tremonti the then finance minister proposed in a speech to the European Parliament that the tragic accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant served as a stark reminder to the Europeans that the time has come to activate Jacques Delors‟s idea of a sustained programme of in-

127www.fermiamoilnucleare.it/ www.ilcambiamento.it/beni_comuni/guida_referendum_acqua_nucleare.html 128 http://tg24.sky.it/tg24/politica/2011/03/15/nucleare_stefania_prestigiacomo_italia_legambi ente_zaia_veneto_lombardia_piemonte.html http://www.greenstyle.it/nucleare-litalia-non-si-ferma-nonostante-fukushima-2295.html 129 http://www.leggioggi.it/2011/03/24/moratoria-sul-nucleare-il-governo-vara-il-decreto- legge-e-fissa-i-referendum-per-il-12-13-giugno/ http://www.corriere.it/politica/11_marzo_22/rinvio-nucleare_71572320-5490-11e0-a5ef- 46c31ce287ee.shtml 130 It is worthwhile reminding the reader that Italy , and has been for a long time, at the forefront in research in for example nuclear physics see www.infn.it that goes way beyond the issue of civil uses of nuclear power.

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vestments in the development of technologies for the exploitation of alternative sources of energy.131 He further proposed that the initiative should be financed by issuing the so-called Eurobonds.

95% of those who voted in the referendum voted for the abrogation of the law, thereby halting the nuclear power plans of the previous government. The Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi and his government resigned on the 12th of Novem- ber 2011. On the 16th of November Giorgio Napolitano, the President of the Italian Republic, asked Prof. Mario Monti, a former EC Commissioner for Competition, to form a technical government until parliamentary elections will be held, currently scheduled for the spring of 2013. Monti‟s government of experts, non parliamentarians, is backed by a wide coalition of political parties and enjoys surprisingly high levels of public support and confidence, notwithstanding the severity of the profound reforms his government is attempting to enact. Members of his government have at times suggested that perhaps it would be time to discuss nuclear power again but such comments have generally been met with outcry and framed as a clash between the technocrats and the outcome of a democratic national referendum.

131 http://www.corriere.it/scienze_e_tecnologie/11_aprile_19/stopcentrali_a3f25026-6a79- 11e0-9c18-e3c6ca1d1dc5.shtml