Experts from Italy and Central Asia met at the University of Bologna for a School of Policy on the technological and environmental challenges facing agriculture. The programme focused on water resource management, precision agriculture and climate change adaptation, and was organised as part of the international BRIDGE project by the University’s Department of History and Cultures and Asia Institute.
The BRIDGE project (Building Resilient Institutional Dialogue for Governance and Education) is an advanced training initiative created to strengthen long-term cooperation between Italy and its Central Asian partner countries. Coordinated by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the project turns high-level diplomatic dialogue into practical cooperation through knowledge sharing, institutional capacity building and the development of joint initiatives.
As part of the project, the partner universities established a network of Schools of Policy that bring together public officials, technical experts and private sector representatives from Italy and Central Asia. The event organised by the University of Bologna was attended by around twenty officials from various Central Asian states working at ministerial level on technological innovation in agriculture and on the ecological transition.
The initiative combined academic sessions, in-depth input from professionals and field study visits to illustrate how agriculture responds to rising temperatures, water scarcity, soil degradation and extreme weather events, without relying on abstract theories, but focusing on what works in practice.
