The Diplomat
King Felipe VI toured Palermo yesterday with the presidents of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, and Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, on the occasion of the XVI COTEC Europe Meeting, to be held today in this southern Italian city with the central theme Innovation in Sustainable Finance.
The event will be held today at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo and will include speeches by the King, Sergio Mattarella, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and the European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni. Felipe VI is accompanied by Pilar Llop, Minister of Justice.
The Foundation for Technological Innovation (COTEC) was created in 1990 at the initiative of King Juan Carlos with the aim of promoting innovation as an economic and social engine. The summit, which has been organized since 2005 in a different country each year, in rotational order, brings together the heads of state of Spain, Portugal and Italy, the three countries in which the Foundation (of which the King is Honorary President) is established, along with authorities, businessmen and relevant personalities from the field of research, development and innovation (R&D&I) in Europe.
Since 2017, each meeting has been dedicated to a monographic content. The latest meetings, held in Naples (2019), National Palace of Mafra, near Lisbon (2020), Malaga (2021) and Braga (2020), dealt with the themes of Intangible Economy, Public Administration 4.0, Work 4.0 and Culture and Innovation. Spain has hosted the event five times, the first four in Madrid (2006, 2009, 2012 and 2017) and the 2021 event in Malaga.
