Dear friend,

The Consulate General of Italy in New York, the Region of Tuscany, Arpa Foundation and Endocas are pleased to invite you to the conference "THE ENDOCAS PROJECT: INNOVATION IN SURGICAL TECHNOLOGY -TUSCANY MEETS NEW YORK". The aim of the conference is to discuss, from an interdisciplinary and international point of view, the main issues linked to the innovation and the evaluation of frontline technologies with regard to surgery and their impact on healthcare practice and healthcare systems. During the event the activities and international initiatives of Endocas, centre of excellence for computer assisted surgery of the Italian Ministry of University and Research and reference point for Tuscany for minimally invasive surgery and new technologies in surgery will be presented. Several Tuscan institutes of excellence within regard to research into biomedical technologies are part of Endocas, among which the University of Pisa, the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, the CNR (National Research Council), and the Azienda Ospedaliero Universtaria di Pisa (Pisa University Hospital).

The conference will take place June 6th 2008 at 1:30 pm, at the Italian Consulate in New York, 690 Park Avenue. It will be an important opportunity for scholars, companies and Italian and American venture capitalists to meet, and we hope that the event will lead to interesting opportunities for collaboration.

This event will be the first in a series of seminars on scientific culture promoted by the Consulate General of Italy in New York City under the title “Colloqui newyorkesi di cultura scientifica italiana”, in partnership with the Italian Cultural Institute, ISSNAF and the Italian Academy Foundation.

We are happy to include the programme of the event and we hope to meet you at the conference.
Yours sincerely,

Consul General of Italy in New York
Dott. Francesco Maria Talò

President and Councillor for Health of the Region of Tuscany
Dott. Claudio Martini e Dott. Enrico Rossi

Director of Endocas and President of Arpa Foundation
Prof. Franco Mosca