TOMSK, Apr 21 – RIA Tomsk. Banca Intesa (the Russian subsidiary of the Italian banking group Intesa Sanpaolo) intends to cooperate with Tomsk State University (TSU) and help the university to bring its promising developments to the European market, the TSU website reported on Wednesday.
It is specified that a delegation from Italy has visited Tomsk. Within the framework of the visit, TSU Rector Eduard Galazhinsky met with the Banca Intesa Chairman of the Board of Directors and the President of the Conoscere Eurasia Association Antonio Fallico. They discussed possible ways of cooperation.
“It is interesting for us to cooperate with TSU - both as a bank and as an Conoscere Eurasia Association. For the last 10 years in the innovation center (Banca Intesa), we have been investing in a large number of breakthrough developments, ranging from biotechnology, blockchain, Internet of things to nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and superintelligence," Fallico is quoted.
The Italian delegation noted that TSU is a powerful platform for the creation of new knowledge and breakthrough technologies, and can also assess from the inside the prospects of a particular idea for the world market. The bank's representatives expressed their readiness to act as investors or raise the necessary funds for the development of new companies, gradually preparing the startup to enter the markets of Europe, the USA or China.
"There may be several lines of interaction. <...> We would look and select specific technologies and developments that could potentially be of interest to you, and then we can try to enter the European market together," Galazhinsky commented in turn.
Among the promising developments, according to the rector of the university, is an autonomous generator of oxygen and paints with biocidal materials that are capable of disinfecting surfaces they are painted with. The Italians were also interested in TSU technologies for the production of implants and new materials, low-tonnage chemistry and university projects in the field of artificial intelligence.
According to open sources, Banca Intesa is the Russian subsidiary of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group, Italy, which is the largest in the eurozone. Conoscere Eurasia Association promotes economic relations of Italian and European companies with the Eurasian Economic Community and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.