Parisi calls for Europe to invest more in research.

Europe must invest more in research , promoting policies that move in this direction, and in Italy small increases are not enough to bring about change . Nobel laureate Giorgio Parisi said this at the meeting on research and Europe organized in Forlì, in memory of science journalist Pietro Greco, by the Associazione Nuova Civiltà delle Macchine with the Progetto Ruffilli Association and the Alighieri Forlì-Cesena Association, with the support of the Municipality. In Europe, investing in research is essential to meet new international challenges , from growing competition from China to the increasingly prominent role of private sector : "If Europe fails to focus on research, this will be a problem," observed Parisi, recalling the proposal made in the early 1990s by the then President of the EU Commission, Jacques Delors, to divert research spending from the budget deficit . That proposal later lapsed, but according to Parisi it is still valid: "Europe could push its member states to invest more" through " economic policies that support research ." Having a strong public research program is also necessary to withstand competition from a country that is investing heavily in science, like China, and which "is demonstrating a constant interest in investing in science." Funding public research also means having an important tool for dealing with the rise of private funding: "It is essential that there is the public capacity to finance science . The public must share knowledge, while private funding may not be interested in doing so." Investing in scientific research is also crucial for Italy , where small increases are not enough: they only help offset inflation, he noted, and would take a very long time to represent a substantial increase : "Rather than proceeding with small increases, we should instead completely change course ." Our country, he added, also lacks venture capital willing to invest in projects presented by brilliant young researchers and allow them to realize their ideas. "Through the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, the Italian government could sign contracts of this type, obviously with caution, but this," the Nobel Prize winner noted, "is not being done." A strong indication of the difficulties that brilliant young researchers face in Italy is evident, for example, in the rankings of funding awarded by the European Research Council : "If we look at the rankings by nationality of researchers, Italians are at the top , but in the rankings by country , Italy is lower ."