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New model of agriculture and competition for water resources
Lasers allow discovering how DNA protects itself from sunlight
QS Ranking: sign up and join the Global Employer Survey
As every year,Politecnico participates in the QS University Global Rankings, the most prestigious ranking of the best universities in the world.
In 2021 the University achieved an excellent positioning in the Ranking, ranking 142nd university in the world , and an even better result in the QS ranking by faculty, in which the university gained 5th place in the world for Design, 10th for Architecture and 20th for Engineering .
Several factors contributed to this result, such as the excellence of the teaching, the dedication of the students , but the collaboration of the Alumni was essential .
Indeed, one of the most significant indicators is the Global Employer Survey , in which participants are asked to express their opinion on the quality of graduates
We would like to receive the opinion of our Alumni in this regard again this year.
Join the survey via sign-up at this link:
The hospital 4.0 version is being designed at Politecnico
What will the hospital of the future be?
The Department of Architecture, Construction Engineering and Built Environment and the Politecnico di Milano Foundation, which together lead the Joint Research Platform on Healthcare Infrastructures , are trying to answer this question.
This platform of excellence is aimed at companies and institutions in the health field to develop innovative projects that will lead to the creation of a 4.0 hospital.
HOSPITAL 4.0: WHAT DOES IT ENTAILS?
Mario Cucinella Architects, Philips, Politecnica Ingegneria e Architettura, Eredi Rossini Domenico, Siemens SpA and Tecnicaer Engineering , Together with Politecnico, will develop a sustainable “user center” healthcare model, which puts the patient and not the hospital at the center.
The ambition of the JRP Healthcare Infrastructures is to define the new paradigms for the Hospital of the Future. It 's the first example in Italy for which the world of research, business and institutions activate a joint working table that aims to address the social, epidemiological and technological challenges related to innovative and sustainable healthcare infrastructures. The JRP is a new multidisciplinary initiative by Politecnico di Milano that will generate multiple frontier actions with important spin-offs for the world of healthcare
says Stefano Capolongo, Professor of Hospital Design at Politecnico di Milano and Scientific Coordinator for this initiative.
In fact, it has been shown that user centered hospitals improve the satisfaction of patients and the healthcare personnel who work there, increasing productivity, reducing management costs, reducing the risk of falls and infections.
The new hospital will be designed "by developing, validating and testing design models for the different functional areas of the hospital (Operating and Critical Patient Area, Diagnostic Area, Emergency Area, Outpatients Area, Inpatients Area, General, Logistic and Technical Services Area) or the strategic characteristics (flexibility, resilience to major emergencies, sustainability) ".
On a national level, current guidelines all focus on investing in healthcare by creating people-centred systems. With JRP Healthcare Infrasctractures we promote a new vision of Hospital 4.0 and best practices in healthcare. As a foundation, we know that, in order to create valuable services for citizens, it is essential to understand the needs of society through dialogue with all stakeholders and to connect the industry sector with that of academia and the institutions. With this project we bring together major players in the healthcare sector, academia and the institutions in order to share the direction of development in healthcare infrastructures
says Andrea Sianesi, President of Fondazione Politecnico di Milano.
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Agreement between A2A and Politecnico di Milano
The A2A Life Company Group and il Politecnico di Milano have started up collaboration for the development of innovation, research and training initiatives in the Energy & Utility sector, to support Italy’s ecological transition. The recently signed partnership model is based on two agreements with a otal value of 8 million euros and a duration of 5 years.
Specifically, the agreement calls for the establishment of a Joint Research Platform to implement multidisciplinary experimental projects on specific topics such as sustainable mobility, development of renewable energy and hydrogen, batteries recycling, and the study of new technologies for waste treatment and material and energy recovery, for a total of 5 million.
At the same time, the partnership will give rise to a Joint Research and Innovation Centre inside the Innovation District which Politecnico di Milano is developing at the former Bovisa gasometer park and in which A2A will take part with a total investment of 3 million euros. The Joint Centre will be entirely dedicated to innovation in the following thematic macro-areas: "Technologies for the environment and energy" and "Technologies for sustainable mobility", also touching on the themes of energy transition and the circular economy.
The agreement was signed by the Rector of the Politecnico, Ferruccio Resta and by Alumnus Renato Mazzoncini, CEO of A2A, n the presence of the President of A2A, Marco Patuano, the Mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala eand the President of Regione Lombardia, Attilio Fontana.
The JRP - Joint Research Platform proves to be one of the most valuable tools to strengthen the understanding between universities and business. To activate an ever-closer synergy on issues of common interest and meet the challenges that the JRP poses to our country: from energy transition, to sustainable mobility, to renewable energy. These are some of the objectives of the agreement that sees the Politecnico di Milano alongside A2A. A company among the most active in encouraging this shared growth path. Ready to support joint research in an open and supply chain perspective. In fact, this agreement represents the common will to give life to a real ecosystem of innovation that goes beyond applied research projects for the development of a flagship project on which the Politecnico will focus in the coming years
have declared Ferruccio Resta.
Innovation is a strategic factor that affects all our activities: we deal with the environment, energy and water, sectors for which A2A is committed on a daily basis to building innovative infrastructures essential for the ecological transition. For our Group, this agreement with the excellence that is the Politecnico, is an opportunity for sharing a common path: becoming protagonists of the decarbonisation process and making Italy increasingly competitive, in line with the provisions of European directives
have commented Marco Patuano.
Innovation is a strategic factor that affects all our activities: we deal with the environment, energy and water, sectors for which A2A is committed on a daily basis to building innovative infrastructures essential for the ecological transition. For our Group, this agreement with the excellence that is the Politecnico, is an opportunity for sharing a common path: becoming protagonists of the decarbonisation process and making Italy increasingly competitive, in line with the provisions of European directives
have commented Renato Mazzoncini.
Girls@Polimi scholarships: Politecnico bets on future engineers
15 scholarships in 2022 of € 24,000 each (€ 8,000 per year, for the entire three-year period): these are the Girls @ Polimi scholarships, for girls who choose to study Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, who are attending courses with a low female presence (Aerospace, Automation Engineering, Electrical, Electronics, Information Technology, Mechanics and Industrial Production).
The project was funded by Politecnico together with 9 companies (Bain & Company Italy, Banco BPM, Eurofins Foundation, Fastweb, Gruppo Autostrade per l’Italia, Gruppo Nestlé in Italia, Intesa Sanpaolo, Leonardo, NHOA) and thanks to Alumni and Alumnae, who donated to support young girls in achieving their study and career goals in innovation and technology in STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
"There is the prejudice that a person does not have a talent for science, but it is worth noting that no one is born with a talent for something and viceversa - explains Vice Rector Sciuto - The context and the environment and even the teachers who meet during the course of study create this type of prejudice. The problem is that when this idea sticks to it, then it stays. For this you have to work a lot on children. We must ensure that this prejudice does not exist "
comments Vice Rector Donatella Sciuto to SkyTG24.
Girls @ Polimi is an opportunity to encourage girls to become engineers by enrolling at Politecnico: the project is aimed at female students who are still attending the fourth and fifth years of high school and are thinking about their university future . It is a crucial moment in which young women and young people make decisions that will affect their academic and professional future. Intervening at that moment in the life of female students is crucial to intercepting the potential engineers and scientists of the future.
Unfortunately, even as of today, professions such as engineering are considered a "natural habitat" for men and an achievement for women - as stated by the Vice Rector Sciuto in the book Alumnae - Engineer and Technologies -. Often pursuing an engineering career requires girls to be extra motivated due to prejudices and models imposed by conformist society .
For this reason, Politecnico has created Girls@Polimi, a project of economic support for merit and the right to study, located within Gender POP - Equal Opportunities Politecniche , one of the strategic lines of development through which the University is committed to guaranteeing female students, in addition to the financial contribution, an inclusive environment.
An action of cultural transformation that starts from the corridors and the university classrooms, able to support the students during their studies with training and placement actions so that they can reach the own professional achievement. And contribute to triggering a virtuous circle, in turn becoming a model for the students of tomorrow.
You too can support the Girls @ Polimi scholarships with a donation starting from 10 euros. Click here .
Things that sound like something from science fiction but aren’t - quantum batteries
Unless you are an expert in the field, the expression “quantum batteries” will probably mean nothing to you. Perhaps you will associate it, just as this writer does, with words you hear in science fiction films. And yet, for the scientific and technological community, it means a lot. The feasibility, not only theoretical but also experimental, of the quantum battery has been demonstrated for the first time by researchers Giulio Cerullo, from the Physics Department at the Politecnico di Milano, and Tersilla Virgili, from the Institute of Photonics and Nanotechnology at the National Research Council, in a study developed in collaboration with international research groups and published in Science Advances.
THE LARGER THE BATTERY, THE QUICKER IT RECHARGES
This phenomenon is called superabsorption and has the potential to lead to the development of a new class of energy storage devices based on models and prototypes developed by scientists. The central core of the model is the idea that larger systems absorb energy more quickly. With this as a starting point, Cerullo and Virgili have developed experimentally for the first time a prototype of a quantum battery: in simple terms, the device consists of microcavities filled with organic molecules, dispersed in an inert matrix, charged using a laser.
“Each molecule represents a unit that can exist in a quantum superposition state of two energy levels”
the authors of the work explained: to allow the various units to exist in superposition, the whole system is allowed to behave collectively. This behaviour, known as quantum coherence, allows the units to act cooperatively, giving rise to a hyper-fast charge that depends on the number of molecule-units.
“Each molecule represents a unit that can exist in a quantum superposition state of two energy levels (fundamental and excited), similar to the way a qubit, the basic unit of quantum information, can be both 0 and 1 simultaneously in quantum computers,” Cerullo explained. Ultrafast optical spectroscopy allows us to observe charging dynamics at femtosecond resolution to demonstrate charging rates and storage capacity.
AN IMPORTANT STEP IN ENERGY TRANSITION
We are still a long way from commercial use of this type of battery, but the development of new energy capture, storage and transport technologies, combined with interconnections between networks, is vital in all energy transition scenarios and essential to integrating renewable energy intermittency. Cerullo and Virgili now plan to develop a fully working prototype of a quantum battery which may pave the way to new power systems for electric vehicles and electronic devices.
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DC4DM Project
Fish and chips for me, thanks
100 times thinner than cling film (to keep the kitchen metaphore). The record, published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications, bears the mark of Politecnico: it is the work of the Alumnus and researcher Mario Caironi and his research team (which includes several Politecnico Alumni) and comes from the laboratories of the Italian Institute of Technology.
These are transistors with a thickness of less than 150 nanometers : the previous record, 300 nanometers, was from the University of Tokyo. They are produced with innovative printing techniques, developed by the team, using materials and processes with low environmental impact. "The printable transistor even on a finger is an electronic skin - explains Caironi in an article from Il Corriere della Sera - which, for example, can be used to read heart rate and breathing or to work on recovering functions that have been lost, such as tactile functions. We are already working to make these results possible".
Caironi, Alumnus in Electronic Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, where he also obtained a PhD in Information Engineering, is the coordinator of the Printed and Molecular Electronics laboratory of the IIT Center for Nano Science and Technology , in Milan. Recently he had already made headlines for his results in the field of edible electronics: the project " Electronic Food" (ELFO) , funded by the European Commission, follows in the wake of research on implantable and ingestible electronic medical devices (" edible devices "), which can be taken orally and facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of diseases .
The new technology developed by the research group goes further, developing electronic systems that are not only ingestible, but also digestible : they can perform a function and then decompose within the organism (as well as in the environment) , without harming our health.
He has always talked about it Caironi on the stage of Wired in 2019 , almost at the beginning of this research project, about the changes in the food industry: in the future, he explains,
"There will be edible batteries, antennas to eat, and we will arrive at complex electronic systems that are completely edible, to be applied to drugs as well as to individual foods".
We hope they are also tasty.
DID YOU KNOW THAT...
The degree course in Food Engineering started in 2019 at Politecnico and the first Alumni graduated in 2021. Read more about Il Sole 24 Ore
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D-DUST: satellites and artificial intelligence to study fine dust
Climate and extensive anthropisation of the area make the Po Valley one of Europe’s most polluted regions, despite emissions being actually comparable to those of other industrialised districts. Particulate matter, or fine dust, heads the list of the most critical polluting agents.
Long-term exposure to high concentrations of particulate matter increases the incidence of both cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Industries, traffic and domestic heating are some of the leading sources of fine dust emissions. However, even intensive livestock breeding and agricultural activities can contribute to the dissemination of this harmful pollutant. To date, few studies have been conducted on the topic.
The D-DUST project (Data-driven moDelling of particUlate with Satellite Technology aid) vaims to bridge this gap by providing important data to investigate the impact of emissions from agricultural and livestock activities on our health. D-DUST, funded by Fondazione Cariplo, ’s 'Data Science for Science and Society' call for proposals, counts on Politecnico di Milano, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DICA) as lead partner, in partnership with Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering /strong> (DEIB) and l’Università degli Studi dell’Insubria (DiSAT) as scientific partners.
Maria Antonia Brovelli, Geographical Information Systems professor who is coordinating the project, explained that
the D-DUST project will test new analytical and predictive procedures for the generation and diffusion mechanisms of particulate matter from the agricultural sector. These procedures are solely based on the vast wealth of environmental data and observations now available as open data, with particular focus on the potential contribution of new satellite missions designed to monitor air quality.
The study will also make use of the Sentinel satellite platforms of the European Copernicus programme, including the Sentinel 5P satellite, which provides open data measurements of the main atmospheric pollutants on a global scale, together with the study of spatial predictive models based on machine learning techniques. Models will be developed taking into account data from the fixed ground-based monitoring stations of the ARPA Lombardy network, and data from the detection and chemical characterisation campaigns of particulate matter combined with data on the incidence of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Professor Brovelli further emphasises that
The research aims to increase local knowledge of particulate matter even in areas not covered by ground-based measurement stations, in order to provide estimates and forecasts that could be replicated and used to monitor and analyse population exposure to this pollutant.
In parallel to the research described above, educational activities will be organised, mainly involving students from agricultural senior high schools through awareness-building workshops and direct participation in monitoring campaigns. The project will also involve non-profit organisations and foundations actively participating in research, education and dissemination projects on environmental issues.
Find out all about frontier research at Politecnico and on the topics defined by the European Commission as part of the Recovery Plan. Visit the Next Generation EU website of the Politecnico di Milano .
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