Atlanta (GA) – For the first time in the history of the state, Georgia hosted the Made in Italy Expo, a week entirely dedicated to Italian excellence: fashion, cinema, kitchen, design and enterprise. An event that brought together over 1,000 live participants in a week and more than 30,000 online.
The frame could not be more significant: In the last ten years, Georgia has recorded an increase in labour productivity of 11.2% and a real added value increase of more than 34%, consolidating itself as one of America’s most dynamic industrial and logistics hubs. Atlanta, the economic capital of South-East, is today the ideal crossroads for a comparison that surpasses stereotypes and tells Italy today.
Italy already plays a leading role in this growth: with a contribution of over 4 billion dollars of turnover and more than 6,000 occupied in Georgia, the Italian community is an integral part of the state’s productive and social fabric.
“A great success – said Davide Ippolito, President of IARL (Italy America Reputation Lab) – confirms our mission: strengthen the reputation of Italy in the United States. Georgia is a strategic hub for tomorrow’s America, and our commitment is to build here a solid and lasting bridge between Italian excellence and American development. It is not an event, but an investment of reputation and long-term relationships that marries with the project of Media Powerhouse started for two years”.
Davide Ippolito, Presidente di IARL, e Nicola Vidali, Managing Director della Camera di Commercio Italiana in Georgia
The week offered a rich and transversal program: a review of Italian cinema, a fashion show curated by Cassandra Wilson, activations in Italian showrooms and restaurants, business talk with international guests, tastings and showcases that involved institutions, entrepreneurs and public. Among the companies present were Riso Acquerello and Urbani Tartufi, which led to Atlanta two of the products symbol of the Italian agri-food tradition. Their participation has contributed to underline how Made in Italy is not only fashion and design, but also quality food and wine capable of dialogue with international markets.
“This Expo – said Nicola Vidali, Managing Director of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Georgia – was the occasion to enhance the Italian productive realities already rooted in the territory, and to place Atlanta and Georgia on national radar as a highly specialized region and open to international dialogue”.
The inaugural ceremony included representatives of the state of Georgia, the city of Atlanta, business and diplomatic leaders, including the Honorary Consul of Italy in Atlanta, Filiberto Calascibetta, who noted “the importance of initiatives capable of strengthening cultural and economic relations between two communities sharing a vision of growth and innovation”.
The congratulations also came from the delegations of other countries, including France and Japan, to confirm the international reach of an event that has staged the best of Made in Italy in a highly expanding economic context.
The event was made possible thanks to the initiative of IARL, in collaboration with the South East Chamber of Commerce – Georgia Chapter, and with the contribution of entrepreneurs who for years promote Italianity in the territory: Carolina Rossini, Marco Rebuffi, Riccardo Ullio, Pietro Gianni, Antonio Pedrina, Ryan Kurtz and Emilio Rinaldi.
Made in Italy Expo in Atlanta is the first step of a path that aims to transform South-East American into a strategic platform for Italian companies in the United States.
L’articolo Made in Italy Expo in Georgia: the story of the protagonists comes from IlNewyorkese.
