THE PREMIO AWARD, HONORING ITALIAN WOMEN SCIENTISTS IN AMERICA

Bridges to Italy and ITWIIN Launch Annual Awards Program; Grand Prize Includes Trip to Italy and Honors at 2009 ITWIIN Conference.

Italian female scientists working in North America (US, Canada and Mexico) with at least one US patent, entered the inaugural The Premio Award, Honoring Italian Women Scientists in America competition, which is sponsored by Bridges to Italy and the Italian Women Inventors and Innovators Network (ITWIIN).

The winner will receive a three day/two night trip to Milan (Airfare and 3 nights Hotel accomodations) to accept the Premio Award in-person on June 18th at the 2009 ITWIIN Conference at Palazzo Serbelloni in Milan, Italy.

The winner may also be invited to the European Women Inventors & Innovators Network (EUWIIN) Awards in Helsinki in October.

The nomination deadline was May 25th. Now, a panel of distinguished judges will select three finalists. The winner will then be selected by popular vote by the Bridges to Italy community of peers via evaluation of the personal pages of the three finalists. The winner of the 2009 Premio Award will be announced on June 15th.

Come to www.bridgestoitaly.ning.com to vote for the WINNER starting JUNE 5th!

“We’re looking for very innovative Italian female scientists in North America, we know they are out there, they are brilliant and hard-working, but their exposure seems to be lower than their male colleagues;” said Bridges to Italy Founder Bianca Dellepiane. “Structuring the Premio Award nomination as a combination of the vote from expert judges and the popular online vote is a strategy to give these women scientists the highest level of visibility by widening the appeal and level of excitement of an otherwise technical set of subjects>>, even though most Bridges to Italy members belong to the scientific/technology world anyway."

About Bridges to Italy
BRIDGES TO ITALY™ is a non-profit business association headquartered in Los Angeles, Cal. aiming to advance business networking opportunities and investments between Italy and America, one of the strongest economic, research and innovation systems in the world.
BRIDGES TO ITALY™ is dedicated to helping American and Italian entrepreneurs, researchers and investors pursue new business opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic.

About ITWIIN
The Italian Women Inventors and Innovators Network (ITWIIN) is a non-profit organization aiming at stimulating wider inclusiveness of Italian women & the exchange of knowledge in areas of intellectual property rights, access to finance, international trade, equity & commercialisation. Creating opportunities for innovative women to benchmark their skills and take advantage of emerging opportunities. Intensifying inventive women’s impact on the innovation & knowledge-based sectors. ITWIIN is part of the European Women Inventors & Innovators Network (EUWIIN), which has the same goals at the European level.