How does a mathematical idea move from basic research into real-world applications? And what kind of relationships need to exist for knowledge produced in universities and research centres to translate into innovation and address society's needs?
These are some of the questions at the heart of the public round table Mathematics, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer, taking place on Tuesday, 8 September, from 3:30 to 4:30 pm, in the Budinich Lecture Hall at ICTP in Trieste. The event is open to anyone curious about the often-overlooked role mathematics plays in driving innovation.
The round table brings together academic and industry figures from Italy and China to explore how mathematics fuels innovation, knowledge transfer, and the connection between research and society, with a particular focus on how basic research feeds into technological, economic, and social development.
Speakers will include Zhen Lei, Chair Professor at the School of Mathematical Sciences of Fudan University and Vice President of the China Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics; Gianluigi Rozza, Full Professor of Numerical Analysis at SISSA, President of SIMAI (Italian Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics) and Vice President of ECCOMAS (European Community on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences); and Giovanni Ge, a SISSA alumnus and Chief Technology Officer at AppLovin, a NASDAQ-listed company with a market capitalisation exceeding 100 billion US dollars (as of August 2026), specialising in AI-driven digital advertising, where he leads product and engineering teams following experience in machine learning research at Meta, BlackRock and Uber. Together with his wife, he is also co-founder of the Alessio Ge Foundation, which supports cultural and educational initiatives. Through the foundation, the couple is actively involved in the enhancement of Muggia Castle, with the aim of opening it to the public and promoting cultural activities in the area.
The event is organised within the framework of the 1st Italy–China Mathematical Bilateral Meeting, scheduled in Trieste from 7 to 9 September 2026. The meeting is organised by ICTP – Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, SISSA – Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati and INdAM – National Institute for Advanced Mathematics “Francesco Severi”, together with the Beijing International Center for Mathematical Research at Peking University, Great Bay University and Dongguan University of Technology, with the support of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Italy and under the patronage of the Italian Mathematical Union (UMI).