2 min.
The prestigious candidature of the City of Rome, promoted by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, made the finals, too, but the International Federation chose to assign the organization of the 2012 World Robotics Championship to Mexico City. The decision was based on many factors, but especially a geographic fact: Istanbul that will host the 2011 edition and Rome are both in the Mediterranean area, while Mexico City represents an entirely new strategic area.
Other weak points of the Roman candidature include the scarce Italian presence in Singapore both competitively in terms of schools and universities and in terms of institutional support. The proposal advanced by Rome, was not as developed as the Mexican candidature, which found strong political and economic support in Singapore.
The challenge for FMD starts from Singapore and the decision to invest in educational robotics so that Italy can regain the international leadership it had in the past. This is based on a dual strategy:
- The challenge of starting a national programme to diffuse robotics throughout the Italian schooling system
- Strengthen the RomeCup, the International City of Rome Robotics Trophy that has reached its fifth edition and increase its significance as a meeting point for Italian schools and universities in world competitions.
