Cooperation between Italy and Canada in science and technology is strong and longstanding, based in part on the Agreement on Cultural Cooperation signed in Ottawa in 1984. Among other things, the Agreement supports and promotes researcher exchanges and joint research projects. The Agreement is implemented through the re-negotiation, every three years, of an Executive Program that identifies the areas of greatest research interest to both countries.
Click here to see the most recent Executive Program between Italy and Québec.
The Office of the Science Attaché at the Embassy of Italy coordinates and supervises science and technology cooperation between the two countries. It facilitates the internationalization of Italy’s research system and contributes to the development of bilateral relations.
To contact the Office, click here.
An Institutional Overview
The Canadian federal department responsible for research and development is:
with the support, as regards science policy, of the Chief Science Advisor.
The main agencies at the national level that conduct and finance research and development are:
- National Research Council Canada
- GenomeCanada
- Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
- Canadian Space Agency (CSA)
The main agencies involved in research and development at the provincial level are:
The main universities and research centres in Canada are:
- Universities
- Research centres affiliated with federal Departments
- The Perimeter Institute (Institute for Theoretical Physics)
- Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS)
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR)
Science and technology cooperation between the two countries is most active in the following fields: physics, biochemistry, nanotechnology, photonics, and medical sciences.
Canada is home to numerous Italian researchers (around 450) working in both universities and research centers in the various ERC fields. Although Italian researchers are present all over the country, they are mainly concentrated in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia, areas where three research associations operate: CISC, AIRIcerca Toronto Chapter, ARPICO. Their representatives are, respectively: Valerio Piscopo, Emilia Luca e Nicola Fameli.
Cooperation Agreements with Canada
Of particular note among the cooperation agreements and executive programs are:
- Italy-Canada Action Plan 2015
- Agreements between universities in Italy and Canada – a databank supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) by the Italian Ministry of Universities and Research (MUR), and by the Conference of Presidents of Italian Universities (CRUI).