On Wednesday 9 March, at the Italian Pavilion of Expo2020 Dubai, the round table Physics that catalyses growth and unites people was held, an event organised by INFN, partner of the Italian Pavilion. The protagonists of the meeting, which focused on the prospects of research in fundamental physics and the role of large research infrastructures for scientific activity and for innovation, growth, econom
y, culture and society, were Fabiola Gianotti, Director General of CERN, Anna Grassellino, Director of the SQMS Center at Fermilab, Andrea Lausi, Scientific Director of SESAME, and Antonio Zoccoli, President of INFN. The event also provided the opportunity to explain how INFN provides an important contribution to all three scientific institutes – CERN, SESAME and SQMS Center – pursuing the search for new knowledge and technologies, based on the ideals of collaboration and inclusion on which big science is based. Principles and objectives that are also the basis of new projects of international importance in which Italy, with INFN, is the protagonist, such as the Einstein Telescope, Europraxia and the new computer centre at the Bologna Technopole. Today, the key strategy for Italy must therefore be investment, thanks also to the resources provided by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, in research infrastructures of an international level, which also represent an important economic driver for the regions that host them. The collaboration between scientists belonging to different cultures, united and guided by the common goal of the search for knowledge, is also the most characteristic feature of contemporary physics that has managed, over the years, to achieve fundamental results, also representing a decisive element of development, able to overcome differences and promote relations between countries.
