Ponti Summit Opens in Venice to Forge UK-Italy Tech Alliances across AI, Quantum and High-Performance Computing

‍Inaugural event brings together 75 leaders from technology, research, government and finance to develop collaboration opportunities across Europe

Venice, 1 October 2026 - The inaugural Ponti Summit opens today in Venice, gathering 75 leaders from government, research, industry and finance in the UK and Italy. The goal is to convert Europe's disparate scientific and technical strengths into concrete pan European partnerships, investment opportunities and deployable capabilities. 

Hosted by StateUp and the University of Warwick in collaboration with the British Embassy in Rome and UK Government Science and Technology Network, Ponti has been designed as a working summit providing a unique space for leaders in government and across the technology ecosystem to identify opportunities for collaboration and develop projects and alliances.

A strong foundation for UK-Italy collaboration

Italy is already a significant European centre for advanced technology research. 

• Under Horizon Europe (2021-2027), Italy participates in 5,414 AI projects.
• About 1,724 of them (32%) also include a UK partner, making the UK Italy's sixth-largest AI collaborator.
• Despite this depth, Europe's capabilities remain fragmented across universities, companies, investors, research infrastructure and public bodies. The Summit aims to connect them and move from research excellence to commercial scale.

What's on the agenda 

The main programme runs on Friday 2 October at Palazzo Lolin, home of the University of Warwick's Venice centre, comprising six working sessions: Frontier AI; High-performance computing; Technology finance; Quantum technologies; Critical infrastructure; and Industrial opportunities from converging technologies.

Who's joining us - participants include

• Government and public sector: Stephen Hickey (British Ambassador to Italy), Alessandra Poggiani (Director General, CINECA), Kadri Tammai (Regional Director, NATO DIANA), and representatives of the Bank of Italy
• Research: Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, a pioneer of modern microchip design, and the Hartree Centre
• Founders and operators: Jascha Achterberg (Callosum), Andrea Ferrari (CamGraPhic), Fabio Fregi (Nscale Italy), Stefano Bonetti (RARA Factory), plus Domyn and Deda
• Capital: Generali, Compagnia di San Paolo and Sony Innovation Fund
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The opening reception on the evening of October 1 will be hosted by Ambassador Hickey at Palazzo Vendramin Calergi, and will be attended by Venice Mayor Simone Venturini. Venice was chosen as a historic crossroads of trade and ideas that is now positioning itself as a platform for technology, sustainability and economic growth. Ponti Summit and the opening reception are under the patronage of the Comune di Venezia. 
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Dr Tanya Filer, CEO and Founder, StateUp: "As Britain’s future relationship with Europe evolves, technology is one of the clearest areas where closer cooperation can produce tangible outcomes: growth, resilience, and strategic capability. The UK and Italy already bring complementary strengths in AI, quantum and advanced computing—from world-leading research infrastructure and compute capacity to industrial application, investment and specialist engineering. But the next challenge is to connect these assets more deliberately: across borders, and between government, companies, investors, and major research facilities.

We have designed Ponti with that aim: bringing the people and organisations shaping this agenda into the same room, and turning connections into projects, investment, infrastructure and technologies that can be deployed at scale.”

Dr Paolo Turrini, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Warwick (translated from Italian): "We are building the AI of the future to address the challenges of our time: energy, security, infrastructure and, above all, trust, with the wellbeing of our societies as the central goal. In this effort, Italy and the UK share resources and interests, and the Ponti Summit is proud and ambitious to help them grow, for technological progress that serves everyone."

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