Summary

Since 2000, the University of Udine and the B.M. Science Centre in Hyderabad are running a joint initiative focusing on Information Sciences and Applicable Mathematics as research topics in their own right and as a new medium for cross-cultural fertilization. The initiative which intends to foster collaborations and mutual understanding between India and Italy, includes a PhD programme in Informatics and Mathematics, a joint Master Degree in Information Technology, and a series of two annual events: the “Indo-Italian Workshop on IT: Research, Education and Industry” and the “Summer School on Informatics”, the latter two sponsored also by the Italian Embassy in Delhi. This initiative has spurred a number of related activities: the “ICT for EU-India Cross-Cultural Dissemination” project, within the framework of the EU-India Economic Cross-Cultural Programme, and the sixth and the ninth editions of the International Symposium on Frontiers of Fundamental Physics, held respectively in Udine from 26 to 28 September 2004 and from 7 to 9 January 2008.