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Italian-born British technology innovator and businessman Dr Maurizio Bragagni has been appointed Consul of San Marino in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

He will be responsible for furthering the interests of San Marino, supporting friendly relations among the two countries.

San Marino has around 32,000+ citizens who enjoy a home territory of just 24 square miles and surrounded on all sides by Italy.  It is the third-smallest state in Europe after the Vatican and Monaco. Until the independence of Nauru (1968), San Marino was the smallest republic in the world.

As a Consul to the State Dr Bragagni will have a significant role in representing the state – which has official relations at the diplomatic level with Britain, across political and economic relations and social and cultural affairs internationally.

Dr Bragagni’s role will include furthering the development of commercial, economic, cultural and scientific relations and, where required, assisting both individuals and corporate bodies.  

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His post also, from time to time, will require Dr Bragagni to undertake various diplomatic missions.

The largest Sammarinese ex-patriate community is in Detroit, USA, with smaller settlements in France and Switzerland. Despite its small population, the country has consuls posted around the world.

This pretty state sits on the slopes of Mount Titano on the Adriatic side of central Italy between the Emilia-Romagna and Marche regions and in 2008 Mount Titano and the historic centre of San Marion were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The country’s economy mainly relies on finance, industry, services and tourism. Despite having a small economy for a nation-state, it is one of the wealthiest countries in the world in terms of GDP (per capita), with a figure comparable to the most developed European regions. San Marino is considered to have a highly stable economy, with one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe, no national debt and a budget surplus. 

Dr Bragagni is CEO and Chair of advanced technology cable company Tratos, which has research, development and production facilities in the UK and Italy and offices worldwide.

Tratos Ltd CEO Maurizio Bragagni has stepped up to a Vice-Presidentrole for the Council for Management Board at theItalian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the UK(ICC) with a remit to help build a closer bond between the two countries.
Dr Bragagni joined the board two years ago, just a year after receiving the ICOC’s Keynes Sraffa Award for his ongoing commitment to promoting greater co-operation between Italy and the UK.

In the new role he is one of two vice presidents with responsibilities across the industrial sector.

Tratos, an innovation-led cable manufacturer, has bases in the UK and Italy and offices across the world. The company has made a significant investment in the past four years in its UK manufacturing infrastructure in Knowsley. The company is dedicated to innovating business for growth alongside pure product innovation.

Read more on Medium

https://link.medium.com/grFigayTRU

By late 2017 the number of Italians living outside the country reached 5.4m — almost 10 per cent of the population — a figure which grew 3.5 per cent the year before.

In the last few days when Italy took the decision to turn away incoming migrants it is worth considering how our own outgoing population contribute to their adopted countries — and perhaps why they’ve left the mother country.

Data gathered — and subsequently then reported in the Financial Times in November of 2017 (November 13, 2017) * — highlighted Italy’s dysfunctional labour market and a community of disaffected young, ambitious people who felt unfairly treated. It also painted a picture of an economic recovery that young people felt excluded from.

If the leavers are a symptom of a wider discontent, then it’s little surprise that those who remain have been unenthusiastic about anything other than change at any cost. And, as I’ve said before, change is certainly a feature of the current political scene in Italy.

https://medium.com/@mauriziobragagni/italians-abroad-and-the-lost-dolce-vita-23dc6c280c74

The Northern Irish approach to achieving faster broadband is interesting.

There are around 783,272 dwellings in Northern Ireland (April 2017)*. Some 27.4% are described as small rural settlements or isolated rural dwellings.**

For the Northern Irish government that is a significant proportion and, despite the perceived challenges, there is a will to create a framework for broadband that is inclusive of even those living in the most far-flung areas of the countryside.

Most interesting of all is the calculation around return on investment.

The government puts the economic, social and environmental benefits of its proposed £150m investment in ultra-fast fibre broadband in rural areas of Northern Ireland at £1.2 billion. To me that spells a very clever investment.

So it doesn’t have to be a particularly brave step to make investments like this. In the context of government budgets, £150m is small beer.

https://medium.com/@mauriziobragagni/mainland-uk-fiddling-while-rome-burns-c2d395234c22

The British have a saying. ‘You have to kiss a lot of frogs.’ The inference is of course that that frog-kissing is a precursor to finding a prince.

I’m afraid Italy may be close to settling for a frog — anything rather than this interminable indecision and dithering.

As Italy says farewell to a revolving door prime minister, whose time in post can be counted in hours and was a political novice, what next?

We have an interim prime minister, a Eurozone test during new autumn elections and a big wobble on the Italian markets (uncertainty can do that — and let’s face it — the one thing that’s certain about Italian governance in 2018 is uncertainty).

The country’s populist parties are falling out with everyone.

https://medium.com/@mauriziobragagni/frog-kissing-and-revolving-door-politics-22e7fdbf6455

https://medium.com/@mauriziobragagni/international-uncertainty-and-the-challenges-companies-face-for-innovation-66754013b7f2