Alessandro Damiani has been Head of the Science, Technology and Education section at the Delegation of the European Commission in Washington, D.C. since September 2002.

A graduate of the University of Genoa, Italy, he initially worked in market research for the Italian Steel Industry. He began working in Brussels in 1981, first at the European Union’s Council of Ministers, then at the European Commission. In the early 1990s, Damiani was seconded from the European Commission to work in Rome, where he founded the Italian Agency for the Promotion of European Research and served as its first director. He has been involved in European research matters for more than 20 years, dealing mainly with policy design, priority setting, the decision-making process, and program management. Prior to assuming his post in Washington, D.C., he was Head of Unit in charge of the Research Framework Program (conception, preparation, negotiation, and coordination of implementation aspects).

• Era-Link: a Growing Bridge Across the Atlantic (April 19, 2006)
• Losing Dominance - Is the U.S. Lagging Behind in S&T? (July 20, 2004)