A programme coordinated by the Institute
Project promotion: the Slovene Research Institute (SLORI)
Programme implementation period: 2000 – ongoing
Ever since its inception, the Institute has placed great emphasis on connecting the scientific and professional potential of Slovenes living in Italy. The programme Banka znanja (The bank of Knowledge) aims at promoting the intellectual development of the Slovene national community through a better integration of its experts into the social fabric of the minority. One of the main objectives of the programme is to strengthen the integration between local and cross-border scientific research and thus contribute to the creation of a common Slovene scientific space. Although the programme does not represent research work in the traditional sense, but rather professional work supported by research infrastructure, it has been one of the Institute’s priority activities for several years.
The programme has evolved in several directions. Its main activities include:
- Compilation of materials on the scientific potential of the Slovene national community in Italy, i.e., academics, researchers and doctoral students from various scientific fields working in the settlement area of the Slovene national community in FVG and beyond, in other Italian countries, in Slovenia or elsewhere abroad;
- Compilation of materials on the professional potential of the Slovene national community in Italy, i.e., experts from various fields working within the settlement area of the Slovene national community in FVG and beyond, in other Italian countries, in Slovenia or elsewhere abroad;
- Collection of materials from cross-border media (articles, interviews, etc.) focusing on young people from the Slovene national community in Italy studying and working abroad;
- Involvement of researchers, experts and doctoral students from the ranks of the Slovene national community in Italy in research projects and symposia organised by the Institute.
One of the established forms of integration is the organisation of regular professional meetings of Slovene lawyers in Italy, through which the Institute aims to promote professional networking among lawyers, notaries, judges and other legal profiles from the ranks of the Slovene national community in Italy. The third professional meeting of lawyers, held on 3 December 2020 (the first meeting was held four years ago in Gorizia/Gorica, and the second two years ago in Opicina/Opčine), took place in the virtual space of the ZOOM video-conferencing platform. These meetings set the stage for professional dialogue, training and strengthening of professional relations.
A strategic goal for 2020–2024 is to create a virtual information network which would connect Slovene scientists, experts and other professional profiles abroad with the local environment of the Slovene national community in Italy. Based on the assumption that the emigrated potential can be useful and beneficial for the community, as the acquired knowledge, skills and experience can be brought back to the home environment in different ways, for example through work, education or distance counselling. Our goal is to create an online platform which would combine the community’s demand for specific professional profiles with the supply of such profiles, a virtual business network modelled on LinkedIn, and to thus prevent the community’s intellectual potential from being lost. If the project is successful, the platform could become a model for effectively countering the process of “brain drain” in other minority contexts where this issue is increasingly relevant and important.