The Tecnopole of Ferrara, always focused on innovation, has been awarded a grant for two projects - RINNOVATECH for Unife University Laboratories and PoLaR for CNR STEMS Ferrara - aimed at improving and enhancing scientific technology in research environments.

With funding of more than two million euros, the Emilia-Romagna Region, under the ERDF PR 2021-2027, approved the RINNOVATECH (Technology for growing up Research and INNOVATION in high TECHnology network of Emilia-Romagna regional technopoles ecosystem) project promoted by the University of Ferrara, managing entity of the Ferrara Technopole, and aimed at the purchase of new scientific equipment and state-of-the-art IT instrumentation, which will be installed in the LTTA, MechLav, TekneHub and Terra&AcquaTech afferent laboratories. The project, co-financed by the University of Ferrara to the tune of about 500,000 euros, will enable the research capabilities of the four university laboratories to be enhanced and the quality and quantity of services to be offered to businesses and the local area to be increased. The new equipment, much of which has a unique character at the regional level, will enable the development of specific lines of research, also transversal to the laboratories themselves, and industrial collaborations for highly innovative projects, thanks to partnerships, both with local companies and with national and international level realities.

RINNOVATECH is in line with the University's strategic plan to promote and strengthen technological research capacity through the purchase and upgrading of increasingly cutting-edge scientific instrumentation. 

The new equipment will make it possible to improve the supply and expand the capacity to respond to the needs of businesses and institutions, increase collaborations between researchers, and encourage the development of new business initiatives, generating an impact on the territory in terms of attractiveness, economic growth and social welfare. At the same time, it aims to strengthen relations with extra-regional realities in order to transfer their skills, acquire new ones and intercept new development opportunities. What binds RINNOVATECH's equipment with a red thread is the desire to contribute to strengthening research activities in chains of interest such as agri-food, circular economy, digital innovation, urban economy and regeneration, mechanical, biochemical and personal well-being.

As part of the same call for proposals, CNR-STEMS Ferrara was awarded a grant of more than 500,000 euros for the project "Potenziamento Laboratorio di Ricerca - PoLaR," which involves the implementation of a series of interventions involving not only the upgrading of existing infrastructure and the purchase of new scientific equipment and software, including equipment for the development and testing of self-driving systems and instrumentation for the realization of monitoring units, but also the implementation of infrastructure works for a new construction extension to the existing building aimed at creating a laboratory for the development of innovative materials and sensors as well as a multifunctional area.

Thanks to these innovations, CNR-STEMS Ferrara thus intends to adapt, expand and enhance the industrial research infrastructure already in place to increase the quality of services to be offered to companies and actively support them in the difficult transition to sustainable and integrated mobility.

The funding of both projects is in line with the development plan of the Technopoles network for the period 2021-2027, and contributes to strengthen the role of the Technopoles as spokespersons for the culture of innovation. 

These innovations will be crucial for future research and will also have positive spillover effects in the long term, laying the foundation for new shared innovation projects.