Meeting Report of “La Tempesta di Cervelli”, November 28-29, Rome, Italy

The first meeting of “La Tempesta di Cervelli” took place in Rome last November 29-30, 2014.The was meeting organized by Chiara Bertolaso (a resident medical doctor in Rome), Samanta Mariani and Luca Cassetta (both researchers in Edinburgh). The aim of this workshop was to stimulate a discussion about issues related to Science and Public Health in Italy, with the ultimate goak of identifying possible improvement strategies. About sixty participants, representing different academic “generations” from the most recent graduates to senior professors, joined the discussion with great enthusiasm and a positive approach and agreed that the current state of neglect that universities and research institutions experience is deleterious for their role as a reservoir of ideas and innovation, and that a great potential for the country lies largely unused. Yet, the spirit of the meeting was constructive and the energy and ideasproposed contributed to the succes of the initiative.