Bologna Ambassadors award ceremony 2022

On Monday, April 11, 2022, at 6:00 p.m., at the Cappella Farnese in Bologna, the fourth edition of the project "Bologna, the city of Events - Bologna Ambassador 2022 Award" was held, during which the twelve personalities who won the prestigious award this year were awarded.

Now in its fourth edition, the initiative is aimed at authoritative personalities from the academic, medical, scientific, professional, business and institutional scene of the city who are interested in nominating Bologna as the venue for a future conference or other type of event. The award is promoted by the Municipality of Bologna, upon the initiative of the Bologna Convention Bureau.

Thanks to their prestige and to their network of national and international relationships, the award-winning personalities can be spokesmen for the value of the destination and influence decisions in the choice of Bologna for important events, thus becoming real "Ambassadors" of the territory and contributing to improve the visibility of the destination and its scientific, cultural and economic development.
To support the city's Ambassadors, the Bologna Convention Bureau offers, free of charge, concrete services for the success of the event, such as the preparation of the candidacy documentation or the identification of spaces, the selection of the best suppliers, as well as activating and facilitating relations with local institutions and providing organizational, communication and economic support both in the candidacy phase and during the event itself.

In the last years Bologna has officially ranked in the Top100 among worldwide cities for the number of international events organized - at the same level of Istanbul and before Frankfurt, Venice - as well as in the Top5 in Italy. During the event were recalled the services that Bologna as a destination provides for organizers and promoters of events; it was also an opportunity to thank the protagonists who have excelled by dedicating themselves to the destination, i.e. the personalities who during the 2021 and 2022 years have achieved the important result of bringing to Bologna national and international congresses or events with at least 500 participants.

Contextually to the awarding of the Ambassadors, a great news was presented, that is "Bologna Welcomes Events", the incentive plan for event organizers. With this initiative, the Municipality of Bologna dedicates a fund up to 500,000 for three years to the congress sector for the post-pandemic recovery and wants to offer contributions designed to facilitate the realization of major events in metropolitan Bologna for the years 2023-2026, with the aim of stimulating the organization of congresses and events in the destination, involving highly qualified local operators.

Giovanni Trombetti, President of Bologna Welcome, opened the event and during the ceremony intervened Matteo Lepore, Mayor of Bologna, Simona Tondelli, Vice-Chancellor of Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, Mattia Santori, President of the Touristic Territory Bologna-Modena, Gianpiero Calzolari, President of BolognaFiere, Prof. Silvia Cagnone, Associate Professor, Department of Statistical Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna.

From left to right: Giovanni Trombetti, Simona Tondelli, Matteo Lepore, Mattia Santori e Gianpiero Calzolari.

Below are some brief excerpts from the institutional speeches:

In conclusion, the awarding of the twelve Bologna Ambassadors 2022.

Here are the names of those awarded with this prestigious recognition:

Emanuela Angeli

Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon
Pediatric and Adolescent Cardiac Surgery Unit
IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero- Universitaria of Bologna
S.Orsola Polyclinic

Promoter of the event: 
Summer talks in Bologna on Pediatric and Congenital Cardiac Surgery 2022

Gaetano D. Gargiulo

Ordinary Professor - University of Bologna
Director of Pediatric and Developmental Cardiac Surgery
IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria of Bologna
S.Orsola Polyclinic

Promoter of the event: 
Summer talks in Bologna on Pediatric and Congenital Cardiac Surgery 2022

Silvia Cagnone

Associate Professor
Department of Statistical Sciences "Paolo Fortunati", University of Bologna

Promoter of the event: 
International Meeting of the Psychometric Society - IMPS 2022

Pietro Cortelli

Ordinary Professor of Neurology University of Bologna
Operational Director IRCCS-ISNB AUSL Bologna

Promoter of the event: 
European Huntington's Disease Network Plenary Meeting - EHDN

Giuseppe d'Onofrio

Professor of Hematology and Clinical Pathology
Catholic University of Rome

Promoter of the event: 
International Society of Laboratory Hematology Symposium - ISLH

Paolo Giacomelli

First Researcher / Dr.
National Institute of Nuclear Physics
Bologna Department

Promoter of the event: 
41st International Conference on High Energy Physics - ICHEP 2022

Lorenzo Bellagamba

First Researcher / Ph.D.

National Institute of Nuclear Physics
Bologna Department

Promoter of the event: 
41st International Conference on High Energy Physics - ICHEP 2022

Guido Gottardi

Ordinary Professor of Geotechnics
Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering (DICAM), University of Bologna, Italy

Promoter of the event: 
International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing - CPT'22

Patrizia Pelosi

Researcher at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità - Rome

Promoter of the event: 
14th European Pesticide Residue Workshop - EPRW 2022

Davide Pacini

Full Professor Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna
Director of Complex Unit of Cardiac Surgery Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria IRCCS of Bologna

Promoter of the event: 
The Aortic Forum, Bologna Heart Surgery Symposium

Gianfranco Ferilli

Vice President Senaf

Promoter of the event: 
MECSPE International Fair

Virtus Segafredo Bologna

Champions of Italy 2020-21

Luca Baraldi, amministratore delegato

At the end of the award ceremony, the guests of the Bologna Convention Bureau were served refreshments by La Casona Eventi.