With Trentino Data Mine, that will bring 37.6 million euro in the region, the University is among the beneficiaries of funding for technological infrastructures as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). This datacenter will be housed in the San Romedio mine and will be secure and innovative in terms of energy
Great news from Rome. Trentino will receive 50 million euro from the Recovery and Resilience Plan through the University of Trento. The University in fact ranked fourth in the ranking of Italian universities and research institutes for the project proposals eligible for funding in the area of technological innovation infrastructures. The University will use the resources for the recruitment of young researchers, for investments in infrastructure and for research and development activities with partner companies. This will help strengthen the competitiveness of the research ecosystem and the local productive sector. The University of Trento had submitted a number of project proposals on all five funding opportunities provided by the PNRR for the second component, "From research to business", of mission 4 "Education and research". These investments are directed at the development of basic and applied research in Italy which aim to establish key enabling technologies centres, innovation ecosystems, innovation and research infrastructures and extended partnerships for the financing of basic research projects.
Most of UniTrento project proposals have passed the negotiation phase and the University is now working to plan the initiatives that will take place between now and 2025. PNRR funding to the University will be used for five initiatives for infrastructures and basic and applied research.
Of these, the most prominent is Trentino Data Mine, an innovation infrastructure of the University of Trento with Fondazione Bruno Kessler. The goal of the project is to create and develop a strategic innovation hub equipped with a datacenter that will be located in the former San Romedio mine. The infrastructure will be equipped with hardware (cloud data centers, laboratories, advanced networks) for the provision of services in the most advanced technological areas, such as artificial intelligence, high performance computing, edge computing and security. The datacenter will be highly secure and innovative in terms of energy, and will connect new and existing research facilities, technological infrastructures and local resources in the province of Trento. The project will involve highly qualified professionals, researchers, innovation managers and business consultants who will combine their expertise to analyse market needs, identify and advance the most promising technologies and lead the transformation of research results into industry applications.
The infrastructure will be established as a public-private partnership with one or more industrial partners that will co-finance the development of innovative services for companies and the public administration. The scientific coordinator of Trentino Data Mine is Paolo Giorgini of the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science. The cost of the project is 37.6 million, of which 18.4 million are granted by the Ministry of University and Research while the remaining 19.2 million will be investments by companies that will join the public-private partnership.
The University also participates in Medtec Synergy Labs, an innovation infrastructure coordinated by Politecnico di Milano which also includes Humanitas and Fondazione Hub Innovazione Trentino and the University of Salento. The infrastructure supports the process of technical advancement in the medical and clinical field through biomedical innovation in the area of microbiota, imaging, 3D printing and bioprinting to develop new personalized medical and nutrition interventions. The scientific coordinator for UniTrento is Nicola Segata of the Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology. The grant amounts to of 1,467,700 euro.
For research infrastructures, UniTrento obtained funds amounting to over three million to participate in the project, coordinated by CNR, for the strengthening of the BBMRI.it research infrastructure in the Health & Food sector. The project aims to develop innovative services, practices for the digitization of services provided through platforms and the creation of new databases for biological samples. The University will establish a facility for the preservation of stem cells and micro vesicles from liquid biopsies, which are used for the study and development of personalized therapies. The scientific coordinator for UniTrento is Valentina Adami, head of the Core facilities at the Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology.
The University of Trento also participates in the HPC Centre, Big Data and Quantum Computing ICSC proposed by the National Institute of Nuclear Physics. The centre aims to create a national IT infrastructure, for High Performance Computing (HPC), High Throughput Computing (HTC) and Big Data, and an attractive ecosystem to support the academic world and the industrial sector. UniTrento collaborates in the area of information technologies for materials, climate and smart cities. The scientific coordinator for the University is Sandro Fiore of the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, but the departments of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, and Sociology and Social Research are also involved in the project. The grant's amount is 1,920,747 euro.
Finally, the University of Trento is one of the founding members of iNEST, one of the eleven innovation ecosystems at the local level. iNEST, proposed by the University of Padova, is led by Francesco De Natale of the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science of UniTrento with a funding of 6,372,309 euro. The University is also participating with the departments of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology, Industrial Engineering, Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Economics and Management, Psychology and Cognitive Science, Sociology and Social Research and the Center for Agriculture, Food, Environment. The consortium "Ecosistema Innovazione iNEST – Interconnected Nord-Est Innovation Ecosystem", also involves Fondazione Bruno Kessler and Fondazione Hub Innovazione Trentino as affiliates. The goal is to apply digital technologies in the main areas of specialisation in the north east of Italy, promoting the active involvement of companies. The University of Trento, in particular, will coordinate the part of the project on health, nutrition and lifestyles, and will contribute to the parts focusing on manufacturing, tourism and technologies applied to aquatic systems.
In addition to the initiatives that have already been funded, the University has participated in five proposals for the establishment of extended partnerships, the results of which will be soon known, on topics such as artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, precision medicine, environmental risks, neuroscience, for a total request for funding of over 25 million euro, which could therefore add up to the 50 million that have already been obtained.
Investments will strengthen the competitiveness of the research system and local productive sector