The Hub was established under Italy's G7 Presidency
Rome, Italy | 24 June 2026 — The Centro Studi Americani hosted a closed-door consultation on the AI Hub for Sustainable Development — the initiative led by UNDP Digital AI & Innovation Hub established under Italy's G7 Presidency and anchored in the UNDP Italy partnership with the Mattei Plan for Africa. Facilitated by the U.S. Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome, the session brought together a bipartisan staff delegation from the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee alongside Italian government institutions, transatlantic private-sector partners, and African innovators. The consultation was opened by Agostino Inguscio, Director of UNDP in Italy, and Keyzom Ngodup Massally, Director of the AI Hub for Sustainable Development and Head of Digital and AI Programmes at UNDP.
The Italian institutional presence underscored the Government's active ownership of both the Mattei Plan and its AI for development agenda. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation was represented by Minister Plenipotentiary Fabrizio Lobasso, Deputy Director General for Growth and Export Promotion; the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy by Eva Spina, Head of the Department for Digital, Connectivity and New Technologies.
African innovators and G7 private sector partners from the AI Hub's portfolio presented concrete, deployed applications across health, agriculture and digital infrastructure: Crane AI Labs from East Africa, DeepLeaf from Morocco, and Horus Labs from Rwanda. They were joined by U.S. and Italian technology partners who form part of the Hub's growing private-sector coalition.
The exchange centered on a partnership model built on trade and investment to complement aid, and surfaced concrete opportunities for cooperation across AI infrastructure, local-language models, and the mobilization of private capital toward the continent's AI economy.
Participants were welcomed by Giusy De Sio, Deputy Director of the Centro Studi Americani: "Hosting this consultation reflects CSA's mission — to strengthen the transatlantic bond and bring together public and private actors around the issues shaping the relationship between the United States, Italy and Europe."
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