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Every year, Politecnico di Milano selects five research projects with a high social impact and, with the financial contribution of people who choose to allocate their 5x1000 Irpef donations to the University, supports them during the implementation of concrete and incisive 'pilot experiences':

In 2022, for instance, we dealt with 'Local Development and Ecological Transition'. The five selected research groups have until the end of 2024 to concretise their ideas, which are usually short-term realisable projects, though aiming to be replicable and have a long-term effect.

Five projects: one to be developed in Milan, three in Africa and one in Brazil. Their common goal is to green our planet starting with very specific contexts: turning waste into fuel without cutting down trees; tackling climate change in cities; a project for a super-efficient farm that makes the best use of the land’s assets; techniques to breathe new life into a valley in Algeria by combining ancient knowledge and state-of-the-art technology; and cutting-edge orthopaedic solutions to improve health in Lombardy while saving money and respecting the environment.

They are:

I-FERME – INTELLIGENT INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN FOR A MULTIFUNCTIONAL EFFICIENT FARM

In this research project, Politecnico’s researchers are tackling problems related to food poverty. The case study examines Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a city of 13 million inhabitants where the poorest sections of the population cannot afford to eat meat and suffer from advanced malnutrition. As early as the 1980s, the Catholic University of Congo (UCC) established a farm in the village of Mpangala, about 40 km from Kinshasa. This farm covers more than 400 hectares and is a multifunctional farm, i.e., it is used for food production as well as training and research activities by the UCC Department of Economics and Development. To date, the farm lacks connection to the national electricity grid, has no cold storage rooms and accessing it is difficult due to the collapse of some of the bridges connecting it to Kinshasa. The I-FERME project aims to improve Mpangala’s access road infrastructure (bridges) and upgrade the support infrastructure for food processing and storage, so that the existing farm can be fully utilised.

The Politecnico’s team is working on three fronts: the first was the electrification of the farm through the design of electricity grids based on photovoltaic panels and batteries; this was followed by the design of road infrastructures (bridges/viaducts), with low cost and environmental impact, to maximise the use of local resources; and the third is design and implementation of intelligent cold rooms for food preservation. Achieving the set objectives will make it possible to improve food production as well as to store food properly and transport it to neighbouring cities (first and foremost, Kinshasa). The end result will be the availability, even to the poorest urban population, of products at affordable prices, which will help tackle the problem of malnutrition and hunger.

With a view to prototyping and extendability to similar contexts, the researchers have developed simplified tools, such as open-access software, abacuses and tables, that are accessible and easy to use and that will also enable the students of the partner Catholic University of Congo and the local population to acquire specific basic knowledge that can be used and exported to other contexts. In particular, at this stage the team is working on the construction of a specific MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) dedicated to the simplified tools developed during the project.

In 2023, the Polisocial Awards contest (to find out what it is about, see (here) identified and selected five research projects to be funded with the 5x1000 Irpef donations, thanks to all the Alumni who decided to allocate them to Politecnico di Milano.

The researchers started in November and will work for 15 months to frame situations of gap and need in certain neighbourhoods of the city of Milan. At Politecnico, the 5x1000 contributions are usually invested in projects which can be implemented in the short term while aiming to be replicable and have an effect in the long term; they are generally case studies that concretise solutions studied in larger projects and allow students and researchers to put into practice what they have learnt.

CITTÀ-IN – INCLUSIVE CITIES AND QUALITY OF PUBLIC SERVICES

Access to and use of public services is a challenge for everyone - and we are well aware of that. For foreign and immigrant families, linguistic and cultural distance exacerbates difficulties and, in addition to being an obstacle to inclusion, can lead to the denial of fundamental rights. Trivially, if a person does not manage to obtain a SPID, is not digitally literate or has no access to a computer, it becomes complex for him/her to even enrol his/her children in school or be assigned a GP. What if there is no one in a family who can read Italian?

This is also what the research groups at Politecnico di Milano are concerned with: not only technological advances but innovative solutions that address the everyday problems of the fragile. We talked about this with Maryam Karimi, a researcher working on the Città-IN project: ‘Innovation does not simply mean using technology or digitising systems. It is about changing mindsets, organisational structures and policies to promote inclusion and diversity'.

Empowering marginalised people (such as immigrant children and their families, but the same could apply to the elderly) to understand their rights - the right to inspiration, growth and learning - means real inclusion; and it is one of the first steps in addressing contemporary challenges, laying the foundations for a stable future for all.

The Città-IN project goes in this direction and represents the actualisation of a broader Politecnico project: the experimental application of 'Mediation Grammar', a quality standard for public services that facilitates interaction between people and their administrative rights. This standard was developed by Politecnico di Milano itself in the context of a European research project and adopted by the European Commission.

Learn more about the Mediation Grammar developed by Politecnico di Milano for the European Commission

Karimi and colleagues are working in the Off Campus space in the San Siro neighbourhood with around 40 foreign families, three comprehensive schools in the neighbourhood, and several local authorities providing school integration services. The first goal is to provide direct support to schools, families and students; but, in the long term, it will facilitate the development of a scenario to ensure the sustainability of this interface and build a replicable model for the evaluation and application of Mediation Grammar.

Learn more about the Città-IN research project and its applications

Every year, Politecnico di Milano selects five research projects with a high social impact and, with the financial contribution of people who choose to allocate their 5x1000 Irpef donations to the University, supports them during the implementation of concrete and incisive 'pilot experiences':

In 2022, for instance, we dealt with 'Local Development and Ecological Transition'. The five selected research groups have until the end of 2024 to concretise their ideas, which are usually short-term realisable projects , though aiming to be replicable and have a long-term effect.

Five projects: one to be developed in Milan, three in Africa and one in Brazil. Their common goal is to green our planet starting with very specific contexts: turning waste into fuel without cutting down trees; tackling climate change in cities; a project for a super-efficient farm that makes the best use of the land’s assets; techniques to breathe new life into a valley in Algeria by combining ancient knowledge and state-of-the-art technology; and cutting-edge orthopaedic solutions to improve health in Lombardy while saving money and respecting the environment.

They are:

NBSOUTH - NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS VIA RETROFITTING FOR CLIMATE ADAPTATION: A CASE IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH

The effects of desertification are strongly felt in urban areas as well. The city of Brasilia, in particular, with its size and criticality, has been hit by frequent droughts in recent years, which have prompted the city to declare a state of emergency several times, leading to the closure of schools and parks, with serious social consequences. NBSouth explores nature-based solutions (NBS), namely the sustainable management and use of natural resources to address socio-environmental challenges such as climate change, water risk, water pollution, food security, human health and environmental disaster risk management.

The fieldwork team is developing strategies for ad-hoc green infrastructure management and contributing to the definition of policies for socio-economic development and environmental resilience. Special attention is paid to water management, thermoregulation and infrastructural adaptation of densely populated urban areas.

Find out more

In 2023, the Polisocial Awards contest (to find out what it is about, see (here) identified and selected five research projects to be funded with the 5x1000 Irpef donations, thanks to all the Alumni who decided to allocate them to Politecnico di Milano.

The researchers started in November and will work for 15 months to frame situations of gap and need in certain neighbourhoods of the city of Milan. At Politecnico, the 5x1000 contributions are usually invested in projects which can be implemented in the short term while aiming to be replicable and have an effect in the long term; they are generally case studies that concretise solutions studied in larger projects and allow students and researchers to put into practice what they have learnt.

They are:

In 2023, the Polisocial Awards contest (to find out what it is about, see (here) identified and selected five research projects to be funded with the 5x1000 Irpef donations, thanks to all the Alumni who decided to allocate them to Politecnico di Milano.

The researchers started in November and will work for 15 months to frame situations of gap and need in certain neighbourhoods of the city of Milan. At Politecnico, the 5x1000 contributions are usually invested in projects which can be implemented in the short term while aiming to be replicable and have an effect in the long term; they are generally case studies that concretise solutions studied in larger projects and allow students and researchers to put into practice what they have learnt.

BIOLOOP - experimental lab to support local, circular and participatory economy practices

Within the municipal area, the southeastern part of Milan emerges as one of the most problematic. Situations of economic, social, housing and educational fragility coexist there. Furthermore, it still features a pronounced dichotomy between the intensively built-up urban fabric and the countryside (where large agricultural fields supporting local farmsteads still prevail). This is where almost all of the city's agricultural land is located, mainly for the production of rice, corn and wheat, as well as the highest density of urban vegetable gardens (for example, in zone 5 there are 66 acknowledged and registered vegetable gardens covering an area of approximately 2,600 square metres).

The district between Corvetto, Porto di Mare and Chiaravalle, which surrounds Cascina Nosedo, home to one of the Off Campuses of Politecnico di Milano, is a perfect representation of this reality. Currently undergoing major decommissioning and demolition, from the the local circular economy perspective this area gives an opportunity to mend these two souls of the city by offering support to one of the most vulnerable brackets of the population. With BIOLOOP, researchers focus on the development of methods, materials and devices for agricultural production on land integrated into the built environment; on sustainable distribution; on mapping the relationships between local stakeholders; and on the creation of a 'resource material library'. The direct objective is related to supplementing the income of residents and reducing food poverty.

Each year, the Politecnico di Milano selects 5 research projects with high social impact and, with the economic contribution of donors who choose to donate their 5 per mille Irpef to the University supports them in a phase of grounding “pilot experiences” with concrete impact.

In 2022, for instance, we dealt with 'Local Development and Ecological Transition'. The five selected research groups have until the end of 2024 to concretise their ideas, which are usually short-term realisable projects , though aiming to be replicable and have a long-term effect.

Five projects: one to be developed in Milan, three in Africa and one in Brazil. Their common goal is to green our planet starting with very specific contexts: turning waste into fuel without cutting down trees; tackling climate change in cities; a project for a super-efficient farm that makes the best use of the land’s assets; techniques to breathe new life into a valley in Algeria by combining ancient knowledge and state-of-the-art technology; and cutting-edge orthopaedic solutions to improve health in Lombardy while saving money and respecting the environment.

They are:

AMAZING

ATLAS MOUNTAINS, AURÈS ZONE. INTERCONNECTING LOCAL SCIENCES AND GLOBAL

The Aurès region around Biskra, not far from the Algerian Sahara, is facing difficult challenges directly and indirectly linked to climate change: desertification, lower agricultural productivity, the crumbling of the rural community fabric, depopulation in the ancient nuclei of traditional settlements and the loss of the knowledge that has made the area habitable and productive for millennia. However, as older inhabitants recall, the valley was once populated by water mills. Our countryside as well could experience a similar fate. The history of the local hydraulic system contributes to giving dimension to the impact of climate change'. The question being answered by researchers is crucial: how can we counteract this state of neglect and restore value to the territories?

The AMAZING project is contributing to making the Uadi Abiod valley, today among the driest in Aurès, the centre of an active network of knowledge production capable of combining technology and traditional sciences in dealing with climatic, natural and social challenges. Prof. Giovanni Porta, from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, talks about it in an interview with Frontiere. ‘It is a vicious circle: as water disappears, agricultural production falls, the workforce leaves, ancient knowledge disappears, villages empty out, shrubs replace palms (and with them a thousand-year-old landscape) and what remains is a barren land with poor development prospects’.

Find out more

Every year, Politecnico di Milano selects five research projects with a high social impact and, with the financial contribution of people who choose to allocate their 5x1000 Irpef donations to the University, supports them during the implementation of concrete and incisive 'pilot experiences':

In 2022, for instance, we dealt with 'Local Development and Ecological Transition'. The five selected research groups have until the end of 2024 to concretise their ideas, which are usually short-term realisable projects , though aiming to be replicable and have a long-term effect.

Five projects: one to be developed in Milan, three in Africa and one in Brazil. Their common goal is to green our planet starting with very specific contexts: turning waste into fuel without cutting down trees; tackling climate change in cities; a project for a super-efficient farm that makes the best use of the land’s assets; techniques to breathe new life into a valley in Algeria by combining ancient knowledge and state-of-the-art technology; and cutting-edge orthopaedic solutions to improve health in Lombardy while saving money and respecting the environment.

They are:

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OFF CAMPUS? WHAT’S THAT?

We have created real Politecnico centres where, instead of being in the classroom, experiments are carried out in the field, on the road: innovative teaching, focused on work in real contexts as a means of developing new skills; responsible research, attentive to the inclusiveness of knowledge production processes; co-planning with local stakeholders, to implement interventions with a positive impact on the community. The aim is to have a direct impact in activating services for the territory and neighbourhoods and training activities addressed to local communities.

Politecnico di Milano is the second university in Italy for distribution of the 5x1000 Irpef donation: 692,215 euros from 7,686 donors in 2022 (this is the latest figure released by the Italian Revenue Agency). For many years now, the University has chosen to allocate the majority of this contribution to scientific research with a high social impact: projects that have a concrete, short-term effect on improving the quality of life in the areas where they are developed.

Find out about the 2022 and 2023 projects continuing into 2024!