Italian Technology Award Programs

Italian Technology Award Programs Goes Beyond NAFTA, Hosting Students and Faculty From Across the World Offering Them Opportunities for Real-Time Hands On Experiences, While Making New Friends. Italian Technology Award Programs

Now in its second decade, the ITA—Italian Trade Agency (ICE-Agenzia, in Italian - www.italtrade.com), along with several partners, has sponsored the Italian Technology Award. ITA and its partners have made it possible for groups of students and professors, not only from NAFTA but from around the world, to gain firsthand knowledge of Italian technology for the machinery manufacturing industries, including machine tools, textile, plastic, ceramic, glass and packaging.

ITA program partners can now connect students, faculty members, and Italian companies and associations that have been part of the program since its inception through the newly established online alumni network of past and present winners. The ITA alumni network allows participants to continue exchanging ideas and experiences through social media. Previous and current students and faculty can gain access via the web site www.machinesitalia.org/itaalumni. ITA Program Visit to KART Factory

Italian Machine Tool Technology Award Program

The Italian Machine Tool Technology Award (IMTTA) program asks upper-level students attending premier North American universities to write theses on contemporary innovations and issues taking place in mechanical engineering-related industries. The aim of the program is to enrich engineering education and advance knowledge on issues of importance within the industry for the next generation of professionals. In the US over the last decade, the IMTTA has been coordinated and sponsored through the ITA’s Chicago Office, and co-sponsored in Italy by UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE - Association of Italian Manufacturers of Machine Tools, Robots, Automation Systems and Ancillary Products (www.ucimu.it), and recently in the US has worked with the SME-Education Foundation (SME-EF; www.smeef.org). And now this year will also see the first edition of IMTTA Mexico, coordinated by the ITA’s Mexico City Office. For the first time, Mexican students will have the opportunity to experiences educational and intercultural activities with their counterparts from other countries while in Italy,

Italian Packaging Technology Award Program

The Italian Technology Award program includes the Italian Packaging Technology Award (IPTA), specific to the packaging technology sector. The IPTA program awards student winners of a writing competition on technical innovations in packaging with a trip to Italy to visit leading packaging machinery manufacturers.

The IPTA program in North America is coordinated and organized by the Italian Trade Agency’s Chicago and Mexico City Offices, and co-sponsored in Italy by UCIMA - Italian Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Association (www.ucima.it) along with major academic institutions in the United States and Mexico recognized for their studies in packaging engineering.

Other Italian Technology Award Programs in Mexico The Italian Trade Agency Office in Mexico City also organizes various awards within the Italian Technology Award Program: namely, the Italian Plastic Technology Award (IPTA), and the Italian Ceramic Technology Award (ICTA). Each award had been organized alongside its respective Italian industry association: ASSOCOMAPLAST - Italian Plastics and Rubber Processing Machinery and Moulds Manufacturers’ Association (www. assocomaplast.org), and with ACIMAC - Association of Italian Ceramic Machinery Manufacturers (www.acimac.it)

Italian Technology Award Ceremony at Ville Ponti in Varese, Italy

Later this year, awarded students and faculty of these programs will take part in an educational program at Università Carlo Cattaneo (LIUC) in Varese, Italy, along with visits to leading Italian machinery manufacturers within their respective industries of study. In addition to the countries listed above, ACIMIT - Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers (www.acimit.it) will be bringing students and faculty from the technology award program it runs in Egypt and Indonesia, and ACIMAC will have students and faculty present as well from its technology award program conducted in Iran.