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.
7 startups, €280,000 of funding and one project, Encubator, which was created to reward the innovation of businesses that focus on sustainable development.
The winning businesses, from Italy and abroad (with the usual quota of Politecnico alumni), were announced on 11 January 2023, from among as many as 168 applications submitted from across the world by university spinoffs and early-stage startups capable of providing solutions to the biggest challenges in the fields of Climate Tech and sustainability, to accelerate the energy transition towards a carbon-free model of development , to make urban environments and transport more sustainable and to reduce waste, moving towards a circular economy model.
The task of selecting the best projects for the first edition of Encubator fell to a jury made up of representatives from the Politecnico di Milano, PoliHub, the Chamber of Commerce and each of the programme's partners and sponsors, in addition to various experts from the worlds of industry, venture capital and intellectual property protection.
“Every day we hear worrying news about the climate crisis but few people are proposing solutions. We have decided set to work in order to find them. Almost 170 startups have responded to our appeal with practical solutions. The seven winners were adjudged to be the best prepared to implement them. With this first edition of Encubator, we are embarking on a journey of identifying the brightest people who are capable of creating the technologies needed to fight the climate crisis,”
remarked PoliHub CEO Enrico Deluchi.
THE 7 WINNING STARTUPS
The Milan, Monza and Brianza Chamber of Commerce has awarded grants to:
AraBat– transforming spent lithium-ion batteries into new products, using citrus waste (PNI)
Gaia Turbine – has developed a plug and play hydroelectric microturbine which is ideal for aqueducts and environmental flows, with an efficiency of greater than 90%.
Kinsect– intends to save the planet by producing proteins from the circular economy by farming insects with innovative and proprietary technological solutions.
Reco2– comprising alumni Désirée Farletti, Luca Spiridigliozzi and Daniele Nora - transforms industrial waste into innovative materials for sustainable architecture.
Volta Structural Energy – developing the new generation of structural batteries for aerospace and automotive solutions, guaranteeing safety and savings in terms of mass and volume.
A grant from BCC Milano, an Encubator Partner, has been awarded to ReHouseit, a startup which is remodelling the nature of spaces by adapting materials and advanced technologies in the construction sector, while H2go Technology, a startup that manufactures solid oxide fuel cells to facilitate an energy transition led by hydrogen, has received a grant from Innovatec, another Encubator Partner.
In addition to receiving a €40,000 grant, the winning businesses will participate in a 4-month acceleration programme organised by PoliHub to support their technological growth and the validation of their business structure, while they will also have access to a network of companies, founders, mentors, subject matter experts and investors from the worlds of business, energy and the circular economy.
“Vision, talent and technology are essential ingredients for the green transition. The winners of the first edition of Encubator have risen to the challenge of sustainable and technological innovation that focuses not only on the environmental impact, but also the economic and social consequences. This programme could provide practical, cutting-edge solutions to the challenges of Climate Tech and sustainability, promoting a circular development model”
added Donatella Sciuto, Rector of the Politecnico di Milano.
In 2021, we saw her given the title “star of engineering” by Forbes and with a long list of prizes (the latest were the British Women of the Future Award and the engineer of the year prize from the Royal Academy of Engineering). Despite the prizes, she has a desire to do even more.
Bolpagni, an Alumna who obtained her doctorate in 2018, has been living in the United Kingdom for the last 5 years and today leads international digital implementation at Mace, a construction and consultancy firm which, among other projects, also built the celebrated London Eye. But the recognition did not stop there, because 2022 also proved to be full of success for Marzia: she was included by Corriere della Sera journalists in a list of 50 women who have left a mark on 2022.
“Her ambition: to bridge the gap between academia and industry. She is the chair of the Modelling & Standards Committee of the European Council on Computing in Construction (EC3). She also leads a European working group for the digitalisation of construction where she represents Italy and the lead author of European Standard EN 17412-1 for specifying the level of information need.”
Over the course of this year, the Alumna has also won the Rising Stars Award, which celebrates the best 5 professionals in the Infrastructure, Transport & Logistics category.
«Il gender gap? È un problema da risolvere e spero che il mio percorso possa motivare tante donne a intraprendere o continuare una carriera nella digitalizzazione dell’ambiente costruito, una carriera in salita ma ricca di soddisfazioni!» aggiunge Bolpagni al Corriere della Sera.
Girls@Polimi: with a voluntary donation (you choose the amount!) you can contribute alongside other donors to the creation of scholarships that support one or more female students enrolling on the first year of the Laurea Magistrale (Equivalent to Master of Science) programmes in Engineering, which currently have low female representation. Give now
Credits home: Corriere della Sera
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