The Wind Tunnel of the Politecnico di Milano is "record-breaking"

...all tested in the Wind Tunnel of the Politecnico, Europe's biggest boundary layer laboratory!!

With 'Wind Tunnel' we identify a certain type of lab that includes in itself other kinds of labs - says Marco Belloli, scientific director of the Wind Tunnel to Corriere Innovazione, which has published an article on one of the biggest laboratories of the Politecnico di Milano, Europe's biggest boundary layer laboratory. Here is tested everything that moves through air, such as sports cars and regular cars, aircrafts and other fast-moving means of transportation as well as everything that needs to stand still in high wind situations: bridges, buildings, eolic turbines and other technologies. "We have two test rooms- says Belloli: one of boundary layer and the other of low turbolence. The first room replicates the condition of wind blowing against still objects: buildings, turbines etc. The low turbolence one is used to test objects that move through air, such as elicopters and high speed trains.». Objects but people as well: here athlets such as Viviani and Zanardi tested their skills.

Together with a lot of civil, naval and aeronautical engineering (buildings, towers, stadiums, bridges), the Wind Tunnel is a key instrument for a lot of research projects financed by the European Commission: for example the “Clean Sky” project, which aims to reduce the emission in aereonautical transportation and for eolic energy. The maximum velocity in the boundary layer chamber is 15 meters per second, while in the low turbolence one is 55 meters per second: that is more than 200 km/h.

Credits header/home: https://www.windtunnel.polimi.it/

Floating Wind Energy: Italy has all the potential to be a leading country

Maurizio Melis, journalist and Alumnus of the Politecnico di Milano, is the host of Smart City, a series of interviews on sustainable technologies that airs on Radio24. During the episode on December 9th he interviewed Professor Marco Belloli, from the department of Mechanics and scientific director of the Politecnico di Milano Wind Tunnel (GVPM) as well as bein an expert on Floating Wind Energy.

During the interview “sustainable 2030: the explosion of floating eolic turbines", Belloli explained the technology at the basis of this system and the potential that these turbines could have in producing renewable energy. According to the International Energy Agency, in 2019 eolic turbines have produced just the 0,3% of the world's energy demand of electricity but the extimates are that in the next 10 years the development of the technology will be able to produce up to 420 mila TWh per year, which is equivalent to  18 times the current energetic demand of electricity around the world.

Belloli concludes its interview with a panoramic of the most advanced countries in using turbines, of the most promising spots for their use and the role of Italy. Europe is leading in the development of eolic systems and the "Mediterrenean are is very favourable for this technology. Italy has a long history of ship building and of offshore sites, which could mean that could be a key player in this area."

Credits home/header: https://esgnews.it/focus/analisi-e-approfondimenti/ambiente-nuveen-glennmont-partners-accelera-su-esg/

The three Pillars for innovation in Italy according to the Politecnico di Milano

We need physical spaces to attract talent, competences to create business acceleration, funds to be competitive in an international scenario. "We are on a good path to do so" says the Rector in an interview with La Repubblica.

What are the strategies, tailored for the italian territory, that will be able to support and push forward the innovative force of Start-ups and Small and Medium Companies, the backbone of our industrial system? The Rector of the Politecnico di Milano discuss it in an interview with La Repubblica. The key is to connect the university and companies: “We need places to attract the primary components of innovation: talents and capitals”, says Resta.

The Politecnico di Milano, always innovative for the industrial system has been studying a series of tools: for example "We have been developing in the North West side of Milan, in the gasometers park a great big scientific pole that will host spaces for startup incubation, private and public scientific labs, an industry accelerator and spaces for companies interested in product research", with an investment of 100 million euros thanks to the effort of the University and investments from public and private insititutions. Another piece of this strategy is the new competence center MADE: “a center in cooperation with 42 big companies to support small and medium companies in their digitalisation processes. The small entrepreneur can come to the center, see the available technologies and evaluate what could be added in the processes of its company". The University is working on building an accelerator and a fund of venture capital in line with the main technological universities in Europe.  

"Between Europe and the United States there is no systemic difference, nor of abilities nor of skills" concludes the Rector "But we cannot reap if we do not sow. Things are made making a fertile terrain. And to do so we need the will to make european and national platforms in which you can address universities and research centers giving them funds in exchange for specific results in 5 years, so that they can work towards that direction."

Credits home: forbes.it

2 Million and 600 thousand times thank you!

“The pride of the Politecnico: in the year 2020 the Alumni donors have continued to give their concrete contribution to the effort of the University of being a real asset for research and innovation for the country. Their donations gave to many students the opportunity to continue their academic career and to many researchers the opportunity to continue their projects. "

Prof. Enrico Zio, President of the Association of the Alumni of Politecnico di Milano Rector's Delegate for Alumni and individual fundraising at Politecnico di Milano

The donors of the Politecnico di Milano in 2020 are 9.585: among them there are a lot of Alumni, but not only. The community of the Politecnico is big and among them there are associations, companies, single individuals that share and understand the mission of the University and want to support its activities. In total,the 9.585 donors have donated 2 million and 600 thousand euros.

These donations are vital for a lot of projects of the Politecnico. To cite a few projects: in 2020 the University was able to finance 87 scholarships to deserving students that could start or continue their studies with this contribution and in the last fall the construction site for the new Campus of Architecture has been completed, which has both new spaces and laboratories and an open garden for the whole city of Milan.

Scientific research is another field that has greatly benefited from donations. The more than 600 thousand euros coming from the pre-tax 5xMille donation were entirely devolved to high social impact research projectswith the goal of transferring scientific and technologic innovation towards the development of urban areas that were not as developed, to help developing countries as well as minors and the most vulnerable population in the country. Furthermore, more than 270 thousand euros were given towards PhDs. Scholarships to bring to the Politecnico a lot of young and bright researchers.

In this dramatic year a big support for the university arrived from the Alumni community. Among others we want to highlight the donors that were key in the production of the Polichina (hygienizing gel) and the 44 alumni of the class of 1987/88 in Managing Engineer,that donated 10.220 to buy the dispenser of gelto keep the laboratories and the rooms in the university open. Lastly the international community was able to donate to the Politecnico 200 thousand masks that were distributed at the height of the crisis in March and April.

Engineers at the Politecnico di Milano: 1 out of 4 students is a woman

The number of enrollments of women is stable and is reflecting of dynamics that are slowly evolving over generations, of an awareness that girsl still need to make their own. Nonetheless the girls that begin a STEM career, despite being few, are more committed and perform better" says Professor Donatella Sciuto, Executive vice rector of the Politecnico di Milano, interviewed by Alley Oop – Il Sole 24 Ore, on the occasion of the publishing of the Gender Report 2020.

Sciuto comments on the data related to the female presence in the various course studies of the Politecnico di Milano which shows a good female presence in Architecture and Design, while Engineering is still predominantly male despite an increasing trend in the female enrollment (in a.y. 2018-2019 women were 24,1% e 27,5% of the total with respect the undergraduate and graduate degrees).

“It is worth to invest on two sides, to help women to begin their career and to make their career progress in the brief and medium period, inside and outside the university. That would be an incentive to increase the number of women in technological careers. I believe that we can work on this aspect collaborating with companies to get more immediate results."

In line with the strategic actions of the Politecnico di Milano to favour a better diversity and inclusion at the University the Gender report takes a snaphot each year of the gender balance in the study and work fields at the university, among teaching and administrative staff as well. The Gender Balances then indicates the politics, the actions to act upon the principles of promoting equal opportunities indicating future goals and objectives.

READ THE BOOK ALUMNAE | ENGINEER AND TECHNOLOGIES

VIDEO Round Table New Balances between Spaces and Borders | Politecnico di Milano Alumni Convention 2020

More than 1.500 Alumni followed the livestreaming of the 9th edition of the Convention Alumni Politecnico di Milano.

What will be the new equilibrium? Around this topic the speakers have shared their views among themselves and in relation to the university, sharing their vision and their global expertise.

A NEW EQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN SPACES AND BORDERS

Moderator: Andrea Sianesi, President Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management

  • Maurizia Calò – OiC of the Logistics Division, Office of Supply Chain Management, NAZIONI UNITE
  • Fabio Cannavale – Founder & CEO, LASTMINUTE.COM
  • Amelia Corti – CEO, BGY INTERNATIONAL SERVICES SRL, MILAN BERGAMO AIRPORT

The Convention is free for all and one of the many projects for the Community of Alumni
Support the convention and other projects

Graduate anniversaries | 50, 60 and 70 years from Degree

In 2020 there are 1.784 Alumni who should have celebrated their 50, 60 and 70 years from Degree 1.112 graduates in 1970, 364 graduates in 1960 and 308 graduates in 1950!

To celebrate this event, however, which fell in a year in which it was not possible to meet, we sent them a letter, their degree parchment, and a brochure to get a little taste of the renewed polytechnic places, waiting for when we will be able to welcome everyone back. At our Polytechnic.

Dear Alumna, dear Alumnus,
 
how are you and how are you experiencing this strange historical moment? I hope you are well and that soon we will have the opportunity to tell each other in person this "little bit of life".
Given the particular situation, in fact, this year, with great regret, we will not be able to celebrate the 50th, 60th and 70th Graduation Anniversaries in attendance.
 
I promise you, however, that as soon as possible we will celebrate (safely), in the renovated polytechnic places (I am sending you a small brochure for a preview).
Looking forward to meeting us all together at our Politecnico di Milano, I send you a warm greeting and my personal congratulations on your graduation anniversary in Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano (complete with parchment!).
 
Prof. Enrico Zio
President Alumni Politecnico di Milano

The Alumnus Eng. Domenico Mietta, graduated in Aeronautical Engineering in 1970, sent us a letter, to share with us and with all the Alumni his pride as an Alumnus of the Politecnico di Milano.
We are also looking forward to celebrating this important result in person, with Eng. Mietta and with all the other 1,783 celebrated!

Thanking you for the beautiful parchment in memory of my graduation and for the exquisite expressions of congratulations and wishes, in the shared hope of future safe celebrations all together.

Today, at the time of the final balance, as always, I feel proud of the severe studies conducted, alas many years ago, at our Politecnico, which were the very fruitful viaticum in my varied and long work and
I am also proud of the master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, which my son Emilio achieved, following in my footsteps, at our Polytechnic.

In the hope of a future personal meeting, I greet with observance.
Dott. Ing. Domenico Mietta

A helmet against the Coronavirus

"My name is Ricardo Conde and I graduated from the Politecnico di Milano in 2013 in Design and Engineering". Ricardo writes to us from Colombia, where, after studying at Politecnico, he founded the startup QL Concept and today it deals with designing personal protective equipment.

“We are all wondering how we can effectively prevent contagion - he comments. Our idea was to design a "bio-capsule" to return to trust each other, protect workers, return to lead a normal life and reopen economic activities ". It is a helmet with an integrated fan to facilitate breathing and a series of filters to protect the wearer from the virus. The prototype weighs around 600 grams and costs around $ 200.

At the moment, QL Concept produces a few examples in a small artisan factory, but hopes to scale to industrial production with a goal of producing 2,000 units per day.

Click here to discover more

Forbes choses for its cover Luca Colombo, Country Director Facebook Italy

What does it mean to "live social"? Now more than never it is a compelling question around the world. Luca Colombo, Italy's Country Director of Facebook and Alumnus of the Politecnico di Milano is one of the most influential voices in Italy with regards to the social portion of our lives. Forbes dedicates to him the cover of its #38  number, now in newsstandts, which tackles the topic of communication in the modern social landscape.

"Social platforms" comments Colombo to Forbes "have a social responsibility towards the public. To promote a better comunication Facebook has implemented the strategy of collaboration with 70 indipendent fact checking entities to remover more than 7 million content cointaining misinformation and fake news. In the light of this year this social responsibility has been more than ever crucial, expecially in relation to the smart working condition within the italian socio-economical situation.

Even back in 2015 in occasion of the Convention Alumni Politecnico di Milano, Luca Colombo described people as the real engine of change. In a rapidly evolving environment technologies are more of an instrument and not a deus ex machina to generate culture and innovation: to live socially is not an exception.

L’intervento di Luca Colombo all’AlumniPolimi Convention 2015

Credits header/home: forbes.it

VIDEO Round Table - A NEW EQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL | Convention Alumni Politecnico di Milano 2020

More than 1.500 Alumni followed the livestreaming of the 9th edition of the Convention Alumni Politecnico di Milano.

What will be the new equilibrium? Around this topic the speakers have shared their views among themselves and in relation to the university, sharing their vision and their global expertise.

A NEW EQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL

Moderator: Emilio FaroldiRector's delegate of the Politecnico di Milano, Professor of Architecture Technology

  • Alessandro Adamo – Partner, LOMBARDINI22
  • Fabiana Alcaino – Head of Digital and AI, VODAFONE
  • Fabio Moioli – Head Consulting & Services, MICROSOFT

The Convention is free for all and one of the many projects for the Community of Alumni
Support the convention and other projects

ViruSurf : a research engine to study the genoma of Coronavirus

ViruSurf has been developed at the Politecnico di Milano from the resarch group directed by Stefano Ceri. It collects the data related to the sequencing of the Coronavirus (among other projects) to study it and anticipate its mutations. .

From the beginning of the pandemic, labs around the world collect and sequence the genetic material of the virus via the swabs of people affected by COVID-19. It is a huge amount of data which will be fundamental in knowing how the virus will behave in the future. To collect this data in a single database available to all, a research group, directed by Prof. Stefano Ceri developed ViruSurf, a research engine on a database of the Politecnico which contains up to today 200.516 sequences of SARS-CoV-2 (together with 33.256 sequences of other viral species such as SARS, MERS, Ebola and dengue). The web interface of ViruSurf is open access (you can findit at  this link) and you can compute many different research queries. Is also able to implement an algorithm to compute viral mutations, via cloud computing.

ViruSurf has been born within the project GeCo, financed by the European Research Council (read more about it in the MAP#5). Professor Ceri comments for Science Business: “We already had developed a research engine for datasets describing the human genoma, called GenoSurf; at the beginning of the pandemic there was not such a system for viral sequences. We interviewed around 20 virologists around the world to understand their needs. The system is now very easy to use: any researcher can connect and enter queries, to know when a mutation started and when it started to spread around the world.(source).

A paper on this project is available at Nucleic Acids Research.

Discover the project GeCo on the MAP #5

Credits header/home: https://www.centrofiera.it/2021/09/02/elettronica-informatica-high-tech-radio-e-vinile-al-via-la-fiera-dellelettronica/