A renowned specialist in maritime and port economy

Hilda Ghiara, is Adjunct Professor and Tenured Researcher in Applied Economics, at the Department of Economics of the University of Genoa Italy where she is responsible for a full module dedicated to the port and maritime economy. She is also a member of the scientific board of the Italian Centre of Excellence for Integrated Logistics (CIELI).

She is the author, co-author, or editor of several scientific international publications. She is regularly a speaker/session chairman at scientific and professional conferences. She leads international research programs financed by the European Union and other private and public institutions.

One of the pioneers of the Port Center concept

Alongside the AIVP, Hilda was one of the promoters of the Port Center concept, a dedicated space helping to strengthen the relationship between the city and the port. In 2009 she was project manager of the Genoa Port Center (Port of Genoa Exhibition & Education Center), an initiative aiming to advance port communication and port knowledge exchange. The project won a special mention in 2009 for the ESPO award and in 2012 the Port of Genoa has been chosen to receive the ESPO Award for societal integration dedicated to the theme of Youth.

About twenty Port Centers have been created all around the world. These provide the public, initiated or not, with the possibility to discover, experience, and understand better contemporary port activities. As space opens to the widest public, it can cover subjects such as industrial port activities, the goods transported, international trade, the port professions, or again the integration of the port with its city and many others.

I chose to participate because, since the beginning of the work on the Port Centre in Genoa, I have witnessed an enormous amount of effort being put into raising awareness of the relationship between the port and the city. The natural progression at this stage is the emergence of joint projects that are capable of enhancing the local value of ports. These projects serve as a counterbalance to the positive economic effects of ports, which are becoming increasingly significant in the global economy.

Hilda Ghiara

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