A Saturday morning characterized by three parallel events, curated by Regione Veneto, Motore Sanità, and VIMM - Veneto Institute of Molecular Medicine. The tragic current events of the war in Ukraine entered the forum with the words of Oleksandr Porhun, Minister for Veterans' Affairs of Ukraine, in a video connection with the Motore Sanità hall: "In light of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, prosthetic programs are gaining particular importance," said Porhum. "Technologies and innovative approaches in this field are opening up new opportunities for veterans, allowing them to return to an active and meaningful life. In Ukraine, we are actively working to expand and improve these programs, seeking to introduce advanced practices and technologies. Our work in these areas cannot succeed without strong partnerships and international cooperation. We believe that sharing experiences, knowledge, and resources is essential for progress. The World Health Forum represents a unique opportunity to establish and deepen such interactions, and we are open to cooperation and the development of new partnerships."
Also Yevgeniy Imas, Rector of the University of Medicine and Sport in Kiev, which is involved in the rehabilitation of amputees, spoke in the Motore Sanità hall: "The University is committed, with the support of our president and government, to completing the rehabilitation project in a short time. Only with your participation and support can we realize this project. The future of health meets in Veneto, in this forum, and we hope that the various meetings with companies in the Veneto medical sector will lead to a real and positive outcome for health in Ukraine."
Guest of the Regione Veneto hall, Prefetto Bruno Frattasi, Director General of the National Cybersecurity Agency, addressed the topic of cyberattacks in healthcare: "Health data is highly coveted by hacker organizations. There is also another issue related to the security of medical and healthcare devices, which are, in most cases, interconnected in a network, the so-called IoT, Internet of Things. Ensuring the security of this network, which continuously exchanges information, is fundamental."
The connection between medical research and space exploration was at the center of Paolo Nespoli's testimony, former ESA astronaut and renowned scientific communicator: "A person's health in space changes because there are different conditions. In the absence of gravity, some things are not visible, and others explode and are measurable, manageable, and applicable, then these data are brought back to Earth. Gravity is like an elephant that covers everything, but you don't care about the elephant, you care about the ant that is nearby. If you want to see it, you have to remove the elephant, that's what happens in space."
At the meeting organized by VIMM, Mauro Giacca of King's College London emphasized the need to think "outside the box," quoting the famous phrase by Henry Ford, "If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said 'faster horses'." In his speech, he also stressed how research requires time and significant investments and therefore constant and effective collaboration between research centers, universities, and venture capital.
To cap off this intense four-day marathon, which made Padova and Veneto the "capitals" of future healthcare, space was given to narration: in the Giotto Hall of Padova Congress, the Fondazione del Teatro Stabile del Veneto – Teatro Nazionale staged "Ars medicina. Literature, theater, and faith as the breath of man." The conference-performance featured interventions by Pier Luigi Pizzi, Father Antonio Spadaro, and Giampiero Beltotto, with reflections accompanied by readings from texts by Sophocles, Molière, Thomas Mann, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, performed by Silvia Luise and Cosimo Grilli, actors graduated from the Carlo Goldoni Theater Academy, while tenor Cristian Ricci interpreted the notes of Astor Piazzolla, Giuseppe Verdi, and Giacomo Puccini. Alongside the recited texts was an intervention by Joshua Possamai from the coordination of university pastoral care of the Diocese of Padova.
World Health Forum Veneto is promoted by Regione del Veneto, Comune di Padova, Università degli Studi di Padova, Camera di Commercio di Padova, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo, Motore Sanità, VIMM, Venicepromex, and Veneto Innovazione.
