https://www.ilgiorno.it/milano/economia/politecnico-expo-dubai-1.3949315
Milan Polytechnic and the General Commissioner’s Office of section for Italy at EXPO 2020 Dubai signed a memorandum of intent which will link them until the end of the Universal Exhibition (10 April 2021).
The Milan university will work with lecturers, alumni and students alike as it supports the General Commissioner’s Office with its skills in the creativity and innovation sector, bolstered by its experience as a national research network coordinator and its strong links with the Italian industrial system.
“Italy’s participation in Expo 2020 Dubai will be an important step in developing a new model for open innovation which shows the world Italian excellence in research, design and general business, and in projects integrating multi-sector and interdisciplinary skills linked to creativity.” commented Paolo Glisenti, General Commissioner for Expo 2020 Dubai. “Our Pavilion will be the first Italian innovation hub in the area for Persian Gulf countries.”
“Expo continues to be an important occasion for Milan, a hotbed of ideas, a huge laboratory which did not simply close its doors in 2015. On the contrary, it never stopped generating new initiatives,” stated Ferruccio Resta, Chancellor of Milan Polytechnic, “and this is why we want to redraw that common thread connecting the Expo to its future. This is why we intend to make our experience and network of contacts – from overseas companies to industrial organisations – available. This is why we are confident that we – along with our laboratories and our startups – can bring our skills into play in key sectors, from design to visitor experience, from the IoT to the digital. All in the name of our unique ability to combine creativity and design. Starting points for creating a picture of the new Palazzo Italia.”
The agreement with Milan Polytechnic has several objectives:
- promoting activities aimed at disseminating and communicating Italy’s participation in Expo 2020 Dubai on a national and international level, encouraging multi-sector debate with public and private institutions, the academic world and the industrial, engineering, architectural and design spheres;
- working together so that Italy’s participation becomes a hub for shared knowledge where one’s own skills can be nurtured in a creative and multi-disciplinary environment, identifying innovative Italian projects and best practices to be showcased at Expo 2020, especially in the following areas: IoT; aerospace; information design; edu-entertainment; water; energy; sustainability; smart city; smart grid; cooperative mobility; architecture and design; fashion; manufacturing 4.0; smart health and life sciences; lifelong learning;
- promoting the academic world’s involvement with Italian companies associated with training programmes addressing Italy’s participation in Expo 2020 Dubai, with a particular focus on the areas of “Open Education” and “Open Creativity”.
In particular, Milan Polytechnic – alongside Italy as a country – has won a leading role in EXPO 2020, thanks to its strong presence in the Italian Space Industry (agreements with ASI, the Italian Centre for Aerospace Research, the UAE Space Agency and Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center), the Italian Design industry (with the Lombardy Region, Milan Chamber of Commerce), the IoT and Smart Cities with a special focus on the new technologies unlocked by 5G.
The Polytechnic will also make use of its experience in the National technological Clusters run by MUIR (especially those involving Intelligent Factories; Green Chemistry; Surface and marine mobility; Aerospace, Smart communities technologies; life environment technology) which, by bringing together businesses, universities and public and private research institutions and parties operating throughout Italy in the field of innovation, intends to contribute to the international competitiveness of the leading regions and the Italian economic system as a whole.
The University’s work in regard to the agreement has already begun.
In fact, the Polytechnic is a scientific partner for the upcoming edition of the Design Competition, promoted by the Lombardy Region and Monza Brianza Lodi, the Milan Chamber of Commerce, on the theme of “Connecting Spaces”.
The international competition, conducted in collaboration with the university of Sharjah (United Arab Emirates), will allow 20 young designers to see their own innovative design on the theme of “Connecting Spaces” created and exhibited in Dubai.
The initiative is aimed at promoting Design as an expression of excellence in Lombardy and Italy, by launching collaborative structures between students just embarking on their career as designers, professional designers and Lombardy businesses hoping to increase their competitiveness by encouraging the creation of prototypes to be exhibited in Dubai.
Plus, initiatives linked to innovative technologies for the overlay and visitor experience for the Expo 2020 site have already begun. The Polytechnic has organised various educational workshops with the Overlay division for the development of innovative construction systems, including 3D printed screens, plastic recycling chains and lightweight temporary structures.