One foundation and 12 companies, the Politecnico di Milano Alumni and the University itself hhave donated to promote 25 scholarships worth €24,000 each (€8,000 per year) for girls who want to study Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano, undertaking undergraduate engineering degree courses with a low female presence: Aerospace Engineering, Automation Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Production Engineering.
Girls@Polimi is an opportunity to incentivise aspiring engineers to enrol at the Politecnico; in fact, the project is aimed at female students who are still in their fourth and fifth years of high school and are thinking about their future at university. The project is part of the POP-Pari Opportunità Politecnicheprogramme, through which the Politecnico di Milano is committed to guaranteeing an inclusive study and work environment where everyone's uniqueness is respected.
After the success of previous editions, as well as ongoing support from Alumni, the year one foundation – Fondazione r.e.ACT ETS – and 12 companies have decided to donate scholarships: Autostrade per l’Italia Group, Energy Dome, Esselunga, Fastweb, Hitachi Energy, Intesa Sanpaolo, Leonardo, Gruppo Lutech, MEDIOBANCA, Gruppo Nestlé in Italia, Reply and SIAE MICROELETTRONICA. According to the Politecnico, the participation of companies has the objective of engaging with local communities and entities in the name of social responsibility to raise awareness about issues such as diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities.
“This project supports and promotes female talent in STEM fields and, in particular, aims at supporting girls that choose to put themselves to the test in sectors that are key for technological development on a global scale, where female participation is unfortunately still particularly low. The fact that many so companies and one foundation decided to stand by our side confirms the attention on said topics and demonstrates to young women and the society as a whole that the choice to study engineering sets the pillars to pursue important career paths and achieve economic independence”
says professor Mara Tanelli, Rector’s Delegate for Diversity and Inclusion.
Tra i tantissimi nuovi progetti di ricerca che partiranno nel corso del prossimo anno al Politecnico di Milano ce ne sono 8, in particolare, selezionati dalla Commissione europea tra migliaia di proposte per ricevere un finanziamento ERC, che sta per European Research Council: ne abbiamo parlato spesso sui canali Alumni, si tratta di un importante strumento della Commissione europea che sostiene ricerche pionieristiche e di frontiera.
ERC grants (i.e. funding) are awarded every year on the basis of certain criteria indicated in the framework programmes for research and innovation of the European Union, such as Horizon Europe - the framework programme currently in force - that covers the period 2021-2027. Our University is performing really well on this front: within Horizon Europe - i.e. from 2021 up until now - it has achieved an extraordinary result: 126 projects, among which 17 ERC, have been selected and have received funding for over 64 million euros.
At the moment the success rate of the "applications" submitted by research groups at the Politecnico is 20.45% compared to about 15% at European level: with these new funds the Politecnico di Milano has received a total of 60 ERC grants. As far as the number of funded projects is concerned, the Politecnico ranks fifth out of all universities in the European Union (Cordis data as of 16/01/2023).
These numbers are an important recognition, open up possibilities in the scientific field and at the same time facilitate the attraction of talent:: the Politecnico sits at the top of the world university rankings also because of the cutting-edge scientific research carried out in its laboratories.The achievement of this Italian record has been possible thanks to the work of the about 3,500 scientists and researchers of the Politecnico. Some of them are “ERC researchers”: It is said that they are among "the brightest minds in Europe", scientists that could be responsible of new and unexpected scientific and technological discoveries.
THE “FANTASTIC EIGHT”
So, we received eight new ERC research grants. These 8 new projects will address issues related to space, energy, sustainability, autonomous driving, medical technologies, technologies for the economic and cultural sphere, i.e. some of the most pressing challenges of our time.
A Consolidator Grant was assigned to the research group of Prof. Camilla Colombo, of the DAER, for the project GREEN SPECIES (we talked about it here). Consolidator Grants are intended for researchers with a consolidated scientific curriculum, who aim to strengthen their research team and develop their career in Europe.
Four Starting Grants went to Fabio Ferrari, Margherita Maiuri, Paola Occhetta and Gianvito Vilé (discover more about them here). Starting Grants are checks for emerging researchers with just a few years of experience. Other 3 researchers have been awarded Proof of concept (PoC) ERC funding. Proof of Concept funding is assigned to researchers that already have an ERC project underway or have recently completed it and want to transform basic research in applied research.
There are also other types of ERC grants for the period 2022-2023 that have not been awarded yet; we are talking about Advanced Grants for outstanding and prominent scientists who were able to open new paths in their research fields, and Synergy Grants (like TOMATTO, of which we talked about here), that promote substantial advances in the frontier of knowledge and encourage new research streams.
PROOF OF CONCEPT (POC): SCIENCE TESTING THE FACTS
The objective of the team coordinated by Prof. Carlo Spartaco Casari is to develop a new printable anti-counterfeiting system (PYPAINT) based on carbon-based nano-structures with a specific optoelectronic response that allows the creation of a unique identifier code for an artwork invisible to the human eye. The project stems from the research activity at the NanoLab of the Energy Department as part of the ERC Consolidator grant EspLORE project, and is carried out in collaboration with the start-up DayOne, headquartered in Rome.
The system is conceived for immediate application in the art market, which has always grappled with the problem of counterfeiting. Artworks are generally not protected with dedicated security devices that enable the unique identification of the work. Historically the problem has to do with the fact that the alteration of the work itself must not be visible and with the relative lack of non-invasive security systems. PYPAINT aims to help safeguard the extreme value of artworks in Europe and the rest of the world.
Carlo Spartaco Casari
The CATALYSE project of Professor Matteo Maestri is centred around the development of a software for multi-scale modelling of industrial catalytic processes, combining rigorous adherence to core principles with advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms. The software will provide a plug-and-play framework for the inclusion of detailed atomistic-level kinetics in advanced chemical reactor models, serving as a key tool to support the development of new technologies for energy transition and sustainable use of resources.
Matteo Maestri
Prof. Francesco Topputo obtained funding for his GUIDO project, which will lay the foundations for the realisation of an autonomous driving unit for satellites in deep space. Steering a satellite means planning and controlling its trajectory as well as deciding how to direct its thrusters during manoeuvres. The innovative element of GUIDO is its ability to find trajectories with reliable optimization algorithms that can run on a low performance and low energy consumption circuit board. The GUIDO PoC will be developed at the DART Lab, the laboratory managed by Topputo where steering and navigation algorithms for space probes are tested through simulations with integrated hardware.
The Politecnico di Milano is undertaking an important project to study the sustainability of space missions. With increased activity in recent years, the issue of space debris orbiting the Earth has become increasingly pressing. This debris may pose a threat to future space missions, as well as to the environment.
The GREEN SPECIES project by professor Camilla Colombo at Politecnico di Milano, who received a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for this project, addresses these concerns.
GREEN SPECIES: HOW DOES IT WORK?
GREEN SPECIES, “Robust control of the space debris population to define optimal policies and an economic revenue model for sustainable development of space activities”, will develop an interdisciplinary approach for modelling space debris and predicting its progression.
A probabilistic model of space debris will be developed, in which all physical, financial and political variables will be considered. As a novel element, the project will take on the management of the debris environment through a robust controller applied to the space debris model, described as a complex dynamic system.
Model feedback control actions will be turned into policies and guidelines, through quantitative indices, assessing both the environmental impact and the social and economic benefit of space missions through the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
SUPPORT FROM ERC
The project was selected from over 2,200 proposals received by the ERC. This is a great result for the Politecnico, given that this year only 14.4% of the projects submitted have received funding. The Politecnico di Milano has reached a total of 60 ERC grants, including 14 Consolidator Grants.
Under Horizon Europe (the European Union's funding programme for research and innovation 2021-2027), the Politecnico has, to date, achieved an extraordinary result with 126 winning projects, including 17 ERC projects, worth more than 64 million euros. Currently, the Politecnico's success rate is 20.45% compared to the rest of Europe, which is about 15%. The Politecnico is the fifth largest university in the European Union in terms of the number of funded projects (Cordis data as of 16/01/2023).
ERC Consolidator Grants are intended for researchers with at least seven years of experience after their PhD and who have a very propitious scientific career. These are scholars who aim to consolidate their independence in research, strengthen their research group and continue to develop a career in Europe. Funding can be up to €2 million per individual project for a maximum duration of five years.
Politecnico di Milano, early 1980s: a group of professors among which Umberto Bertelè, Francesco Brioschi, Armando Brandolese, Adriano De Maio, Francesco Jovane and Renato Wegner creates the programme “Ingegneria delle Tecnologie industriali ad indirizzo economico organizzativo”, later known as “Management Engineering”.
But this is just the beginning of a story that today is on full display at the permanent exhibition “Made in Polimi – Storie di Ingegneria Gestionale”The exhibition itinerary – inside building BL26/b in the Bovisa campus – tells us about the creation and evolution of management engineering at the Politecnico di Milano in over 50 years.
The exhibition recalls the most significant phases in five multimedia panels: degree programme, department, observatories, graduate school. The exhibition venue is a physical and digital space where the visitor - on a daily basis - can regain full awareness of the "roots" of a programme that has been in place for 40 years.
Management engineering at the Politecnico has been a very successful programme from day one: the goal was to create a hybrid professional figure that would combine "the rigour of the engineer with expertise in the economic field". For years freshmen had to study on notes and handouts, because the subject was new and official textbooks did not exist.
“The idea was to create an innovation engineer, a manager able to combine understanding of technologies and knowledge of organizational and management issues. Before the programme was launched, to acquire such skills students had to graduate in engineering and then obtain an MBA (Master of Business Administration) from a business school,”
The RESTART project at the Politecnico di Milano has officially started. RESTART stands for“RESearch and innovation on future Telecommunications systems and networks, to make Italy more smart”. The project is structured as an extended partnership funded by NRRP resources, which involves 12 universities, 3 national research institutes and 10 private entities. It aims at creating a network connecting universities, research institutes, private citizens, businesses and public administrations to improve our country's ability to use telecommunications in a wide range of sectors such as agriculture, commerce, energy production and distribution, finance, industry, healthcare and mobility.
LET’S GIVE A LITTLE BIT OF CONTEXT
Extended partnerships are developed within the scope of Mission 4 - component 2 of the NRRP with the objective of strengthening the supply chains of fundamental and applied researchat a national level and to amplify the impact of such research activity on strategic, European and global value chains. This component focuses on technology transfer and on the creation of a solid and structured ecosystem for research and innovation, which is crucial for the country's competitiveness. Over the next 5 years about EUR 6 billion will be allocated to supply chain research and technology transfer: "component 2" concerns the transfer of scientific and technological results from research institutes to businesses. Over the long-term, this process aims at making the country more competitive from a technological, educational and productive point of view.
Thanks to the investment of EUR 116 million it will be possible to finance doctoral programmes and fundamental and applied research activities, projects to support the creation and development of start-ups and spin-offs, and training activities in collaboration with other universities and businesses. The project will encompass specific initiatives for industrial districts and the south of Italy as well, e.g. to support the design and construction of tech islands and ecosystems, such as private 5G/6G networks with related services and cloud edges. Digital transformation of businesses/administrations and business efficiency will be among the key points and the same goes for the creation of new businesses and the increase in their average size.
"The recent technological changes have triggered a transformation of the communication infrastructures so that now it is possible to conduct research in two directions which seem promising in terms of economic impact. On the one hand, we can programme the communication network by shifting innovation to software development where the entry barriers are lower, and in the meantime good ideas from researchers can have a strong impact on the economic fabric of a country like Italy. On the other hand, thanks to the unbundling of the network we can leverage our skills in basic technologies, even in niches, to foster innovation without having to compete with international giants in the sector."
stated Capone during the kick-off event at the Politecnico di Milano.
Today we want to talk about five Alumni and Alumnae who have become famous architects and designers and have made a fundamental contribution to their "action fields". To talk about them we’ll start by quoting their own words, because "people change, but characters and virtues are handed down", especially in the case of the values at the core of Politecnico.
As always, before we start we want to stress that this list does not constitute a ranking. It is not easy to summarize the life and the career of these great professionals in a few lines, and without a doubt many other Alumni who have made a fundamental contribution will come to your mind. Therefore we encourage you to bring them to our attention in the comments, we will be happy to write a second "episode"!
GAE AULENTI
Ghettoisation in general makes me furious. And I get particularly angry when I ear people say: I needed an architect and I chose a female one.”
Gae Aulenti graduated in 1953 and started her career as a designer at a time of profound evolution in the Italian architectural culture. After graduating from Politecnico, she approached two of the main sites of theoretical elaboration on architecture of the time.
For Aulenti, architecture looks ahead, beyond the gender conditions from which it must free itself and towards a new destiny to be designed and built with knowledge. She rejects the idea of the "woman architect", which she finds ghettoising. She sees talking about architecture and design in terms of gender as reinforcement of the idea that these two specialities for women are something that limits them to surfaces and decoration, while the heart and skeleton of the project are reserved for male designers.
''Architecture gives me a sense of being, it is a synonym of freedom, a freedom that must be constantly monitored and protected through the study of history, through an accurate research, through the loneliness of imagination, through disinterested reflection... "
Alumna in architecture in 1947, Liliana Grassi graduated together with Ambrogio Annoni and assisted the latter for several years, both at university and on the building site. Years later she started teaching Restoration of monuments. Eminent figure in the Lombard and Italian cultural landscape, Liliana Grassi held various prestigious institutional positions, gaining recognition above all for her great practical and theoretical contribution in the field of restoration. Her most important achievement is the restoration in the name of philological rigour, love and respect for the artistic object of the ancient Ospedale Maggiore di Milano, distrutto dai bombardamenti del 1943 e poi adattato a sede dell’Università degli Studi, connotato dal rigore filologico, l’amore e il rispetto per l’oggetto artistico.
Credits: Sara Calabrò (a cura di) “Dal Politecnico di Milano protagonisti e grandi progetti”
Source: “Dal Politecnico di Milano protagonisti e grandi progetti”
FRANCA HELG
"Details are essential for the definition of the whole, a detail can determine a project and for sure characterize it. The overall result of the work is connected to details, in terms of design and quality. Details affect the spatial and volumetric values of what is built"
After graduation in 1945 she associated with , Franca Helg , with whom she collaborated until his death. In her designing work, Franca Helg has always shown meticulous attention to details, fusing modernity and classicism, rationality and creativity, giving life to works characterized by elegance and simplicity, unlinked to the cultural trends of the moment. And we must not forget industrial design: Helg created vases, handles, chairs, suspension lamps, desk lamps, floor lamps and the Primavera armchair in cane and wicker.
Credits: Sara Calabrò (a cura di) “Dal Politecnico di Milano protagonisti e grandi progetti”
The teaching of Architectural Composition represented an important part of her life: earlier at the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia (IUAV), then at the Politecnico di Milano, where she became full professor in 1984.
In 1945 Gio Ponti wrote this sentence in the style magazine that he had founded and of which he was director in order to stress that mere reconstruction would not be sufficient to give everyone a house in the immediate post-war period: in the construction field there was a significant amount of backlog work to be carried out.
Credits: Sara Calabrò (a cura di) “Dal Politecnico di Milano protagonisti e grandi progetti”
Painter, decorator and designer, in 1928 he founded Domus, a magazine in which, in 1952, he wrote: “Let's go back to chairs that are chairs, to houses that are houses, to works without labels, without adjectives, to the right, true, natural, simple and spontaneous things”. Two years later he created the Compasso d'Oro award. For may years he worked as a professor at the Faculty of Architecture of the Politecnico where he designed the buildings Trifoglio and Nave. His works also include the Grattacielo Pirelli (1960) and the "Superleggera" chairs.
“No form can exist when separated from colour, just as no colour is conceivable if detached from a form”
Architect, urban planner and designer, Marco Zanuso graduated in architecture in 1937 from the Politecnico di Milano, where he then returned as a professor in 1969.
During his professional activity, he devoted particular attention to the relationship between architect and industry, between project and experimentation, between product functions, form and materials. He created a vast array of objects - Arflex and Gavina furniture, Brionvega radio and television equipment, Borletti sewing machines - for which he received multiple awards, including seven Compasso d’Oro and six international awards at the Triennale di Milano; moreover several of his pieces are part of the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Credits: Sara Calabrò (a cura di) “Dal Politecnico di Milano protagonisti e grandi progetti”
Zanuso was first and foremost an "architect of the mind", always ready to redefine codes, to undermine conventions. He had a forward-looking mindset, but he was always committed to revolutionize everyday life with simple, turnkey solutions.
Sources: “Dal Politecnico di Milano protagonisti e grandi progetti” Area Arch
Last December saw the launch of activities linked to the project ““ECCSELLENT- Development of ECCSEL - R.I. ItaLian facilities: usEr access, services and loNg-Term sustainability”, which aims to strengthen Italian research facilities in the field of carbon dioxide capture, utilisation, transport and storage.
This is a particularly important topic with regard to the efforts to mitigate climate change: alongside improving energy efficiency and harnessing renewable energy sources, CCUS (CO2 Capture, Utilisation and Storage) technologies have also been identified as a strategic measure with a view to reducing carbon emissions.
For the next three years, the ECCSELLENT project, which has been created as part of the European ECCSELL network, will be responsible for developing new technologies and research infrastructure in the field of CCUS, while simultaneously encouraging access to and enhancing the services and sustainability of the laboratories in the network that already operate within the CCUS sector, making it possible to reinforce scientific excellence and providing the national research system with the tools necessary to promote the decarbonisation of industry, one of society’s biggest challenges.
ECCSELLENT will be financed by 16.5 million euros from the Ministry of Universities and Research as part of NRRP Mission 4 “Education and Research” - Next Generation EU. The partners, coordinated by the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics – OGS, are the University of Bologna, the Politecnico di Milano (in partnership with LEAP, the research centre founded by the Politecnico di Milano which operates in the energy-environment sector), ENEA and the National Research Council of Italy (CNR).
Thanks to this important project, the Politecnico di Milano will be equipped with a mobile experimental system for carrying out applied research activity relating to CO2 capture processes which are crucial for the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate industry sectors
stated Manuele Gatti and Matteo Carmelo Romanoprofessors at the Politecnico's Department of Energy .
From February 8 until May 15, a piece of Italianfashion history will be on display at the Italian Cultural Institute in LosAngeles in the exhibition ‘Gianfranco Ferré. Design Principles’, curated by the Gianfranco Ferré Research Centre at the Politecnico di Milano.
The exhibition explores Gianfranco Ferré's unique approach to fashion designthrough a selection of drawings and iconic garments, offering visitors animmersive experience enriched by a digital connection with the Ferré archivethrough images and videos that provide a closer look at thecreation/development of the exhibition.
The DRAWINGS WALLis a journey into Ferré's vision of fashion design,understood as a dynamic process, a continuous search for a synthesisbetween art and science, inspiration and compositional rigor, cultural contentand technical innovation.
The garments on display take visitors on an experiential journey into Ferré'sstylistic research, in which the principles of design materialize in the infinitevariations of the archetypal white shirt, a true icon of the designer's creativework.
“‘Design Principles’ is the first exhibition since the Research Centre wasestablished at the Politecnico, which made it an opportunity for reflection on thedesign principles underlying the work of Gianfranco Ferré, so representative of thepolytechnic culture and the continuous trend towards harmonizing the culture oftechnology and science with that of art. This exhibition also gives us the opportunity toshare some of the very first research experiments that will lead to thedevelopment of an ambitious ‘augmented archive’ project over the next threeyears."
says Paola Bertola, professor of Designat the Politecnico di Milano.
The drawings and shirts on display are part of the designer's archive –recognized as a heritage ‘of particular cultural interest’ by the Italian Ministryof Cultural Heritage and Activities – Archive Supervisory Authority forLombardy - and today part of the Historical Archives at the Politecnico di Milano.
To quote a great scientist (not from Politecnico, unfortunately), “Where we're going, we don't need roads”. We do need vertiports, however, which are the facilities necessary for the take-off and landing of flying taxis - for the time being, we are talking about small aircraft, suitable for transporting a maximum of two people and one piece of luggage, but in the near future they will be real flying buses, with vertical take-off and landing.
In Milan, plans are already ongoing to build two vertiports within the city, at Citylife and Porta Romana, and two more at the major airports, namely Linate and Malpensa. Work to build them will start in 2024 and the first flights are expected in 2026, by the time of the Winter Olympics. On behalf of SEA, the major newco shareholder responsible for the design, construction and management of vertiports, Politecnico di Milano conducted a feasibility study to analyse the areas in Lombardy that are suitable for accommodating them. 9 urban areas and 6 more areas across the region have been identified, giving priority to provincial capitals.
In 2026 reaching the centre of Milan by air from Malpensa could cost around 120 euros per person. Afterwards, the price should settle around 80 euros, which sounds competitive with a car rental with driver. We are moving towards a consolidation of the service within the next 10-20 years: according to the Politecnico researchers' estimation, 2,000 passengers per day will be travelling in flying taxis by 2030.
'From a technological point of view I don’t see any particular difficulties, because we start from a well known knowledge base in the aeronautic field. These machines (known as eVTOL, acronym for electric vertical take-off and landing, ed.) will fly soon. Efforts are being made towards the goal of the Paris 2024 Olympics and the Cortina and Milan 2026 Winter Olympics to create air taxis connecting airport hubs to the places where sports competitions will be held, such as stadiums'.
Today, researchers focus on the issues of the satellite activities around this new reality, on the software part (some of the aircraft will be controlled automatically, Zanotti explains), on certifications, on city air traffic regulatory plans and on the psychological aspect, that should never be underestimated, especially in the context of autonomous driving. Applications range from tourism to supply chain up to social purposes, for instance flying ambulance city services.
MIT students and professors conducted ten days of fieldwork, travelling to some of the most economically disadvantaged and poorest areas of Europe in inland Sicily (Favara, Vizzini and Centuripe), exploring the role of cultural heritage, digitization and WFH as tools to promote new forms of sustainable development. From this perspective, the digital transition is an opportunity that cannot be missed. The class also compared similar conditions of marginalisation in the Alps (Valtellina, Tirano and Teglio). Gli studenti stanno ora lavorando ai loro progetti finali, concentrandosi su alcuni temi come: metriche spaziali dell’abbandono in Sicilia, proposta per un piano regionale del lavoro a distanza in Valtellina, sensibilizzazione digitale delle piccole imprese, opportunità della Valtellina in vista delle imminenti Olimpiadi invernali e linee guida di progettazione su turismo e produzione alimentare in Sicilia.
https://dusp.mit.edu/news/smart-villages-italy
The project was developed by Prof. Giovanna Fossa (Department of Architecture, Construction Engineering and Built Environment) together with Prof. Brent Ryan (MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning) who says:
It is the first time that MIT has organised an urban planning course in Italy on the subject of depopulation and widespread historical heritage. The students were exposed to new and unique situations that bear witness to the cultural richness of the Italian hinterland, but also to the fragility of an economically and demographically impoverished territory.
The research group of this MIT-Politecnico collaboration includes Carmelo Ignaccolo, researcher in urban planning at MIT, Cristina Boniotti , researcher in restoration at the Department of Architecture, Construction Engineering and Built Environment of the Politecnico di Milano, and Andrea Pimpinella , researcher in telecommunications at the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering of the Politecnico di Milano.
Credits home: https://www.caldana.it/
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