06.12.2018  15:00

Kenya Vice President William Ruto visits Politecnico di Milano

Africa is a strategic geographical area for Politecnico di Milano, both for its internationalization policy and for its research activities. The opportunities for innovation that can arise for the continent in areas such as mobility, energy and in general the management of resources or urban planning, enabled by increasing digitalisation, are extraordinary and have potential repercussions at local and global level.

Thanks to a more than ten-year commitment, today Il Politecnico is a university whose work on the continent is recognized by the reference institutions such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, the Italian Cooperation Agency, the Directorate-General for Development of the European Commission, the African Union.

It is within this context that we received with pleasure the visit of His Excellency William Ruto, Vice President of Kenya, to deepen the opportunities for institutional collaboration with our University. Within the “Big 4” Agenda, launched by President Kenyatta, the relevance of four key themes is recognized: Food and nutrition security, Manufacturing sector development, Health for all and social housing.

At the center of the discussion is the role that human capital, and therefore training and professional and institutional development, can have in the implementation of the Country Agenda, with particular reference to energy as an enabling factor in each of the 4 key sectors.

Politecnico will work alongside the Italian Cooperation Agency and the Vice President's staff to support the formulation of a program dedicated to the development of centers for the training of trainers and specialized figures able to contribute to the transition that is required by the new agenda of the country.