admin – Politecnico di Milano – Progress in Research

BUTTERFLY: flexible and cost-effective low-emission bio-fuels

Posted on 15/02/202427/02/2024 by admin

Politecnico is also involved in supporting the use of renewable fuels of biological and non-biological origin to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in industrial processes where transitioning to fully electrified processes is challenging, such as marine transport and the steel industry. Politecnico is a partner in the Horizon Europe Innovation Action project BUTTERFLY (Biomass Utilised to the Extended Portfolio of Renewable Fuels with Large Yields), which, coordinated by the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), involves collaboration among industries, utility companies, research centres and SMEs from 6 EU countries.

BUTTERFLY, with funding of €10.5 million, aims to develop a process for the simultaneous production of rDME (a renewable version of the molecule DME, DiMethyl Ether, a possible substitute for diesel) and SNG (Synthetic Natural Gas, which can be used in our existing infrastructure). The research is carried out by studying the conversion of three different biomasses (lignocellulosic biomass from wood residues, industrial waste and organic waste) for applications in the steel industry, off-grid energy supply and heavy transport.

The flexibility introduced by BUTTERFLY’s process will allow adaptation to the market and the availability of biomass resources, increasing productivity and reducing costs, with carbon recovery efficiency around 97% and biomass conversion efficiency 15% higher than the current best-known methods,
Giampaolo Manzolini, full professor in the Department of Energy and activity coordinator at Politecnico di Milano

The diversification generated by the use of these different types of waste, combined with their valorisation, contributes to the reduction of the costs associated with producing advanced biofuels, the reduction of fossil fuel consumption in sectors requiring a lot of energy and, consequently, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Our activities in the process are concentrated on integrating different innovative processes developed by partners in order to maximise the yield of the plant and provide optimal management strategies, including through the use of Digital Twins, i.e. virtual replicas of the plant, which enable real-time assessment of the best management options.

The project website

Gender Lens Investing: reshaping financial landscapes

Posted on 14/02/202427/02/2024 by admin

A report focused on advancing gender equality through impact investing and sustainable finance was released. ‘Empowering women, building sustainable assets: Strengthening the depth of gender lens investing across asset classes’ was prepared by UN Women, in collaboration with Politecnico di Milano (TIRESIA project), Phenix Capital Group and Bocconi University – Axa Research Lab on Gender Equality.

The report explores the Gender Lens Investing (GLI) market through quantitative and qualitative analysis. The GLI approach places gender equality at the centre of investment decisions with the aim of reducing gender inequality through the strategic allocation of economic resources.

The report highlights the lack of consensus on the definition of equality and inclusion in the financial sphere, stressing the urgent need for better financial literacy. Improving financial education is a key step to incorporate gender issues into investment decisions.

Investors are increasingly aware of the importance of quantifying and reporting the impact of their investments, by adopting measurement practices that consider gender and equality issues, thus actively contributing to the success and positive impact of such initiatives.Top-down initiatives, including stricter regulations, are welcomed by the investment community, and foster the acceleration of gender and equality initiatives.

We have not yet been able to make impact the main focus for financial institutions to generate value.
Mario Calderini, director of Tiresia

The key findings of the report provide a detailed overview of the investment market targeting UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5, which promotes gender diversity. As of July 2023, invested capital reached the remarkable amount of USD 56 billion, reflecting the growing demand for SDG 5-related impact investment funds. Private equity is confirmed as the most mature impact strategy, as the asset class boasts the largest number of investment funds (41) and significant allocated capital. Investments in real assets – real estate and infrastructure – also saw an increase in initiatives in 2022, despite the limited number of funds.

This groundbreaking report not only reveals important findings, but also highlights the great contribution of Gender Lens Investing to society. By strategically allocating capital to address gender inequality, GLI offers a practical and potentially impactful solution to tackle the chronic underfunding of women’s empowerment and gender equality initiatives.As the world strives to achieve the ambitious goals set by the United Nations 2030 Agenda, this report proves the potential of Gender Lens Investing as a transformative force for positive change, breaking down barriers and paving the way for a more inclusive and fair future.

We have not yet been able to make impact the main focus for financial institutions to generate value.

One of the most immediate reasons to explain why this has not happened is in the composition of the boards of large financial institutions: who was not sitting there? Women. I strongly believe that the impact revolution will depend on more inclusion, more women and more gender diversity in decision-making bodies.

SAFe-nSCAN: more accurate analysis for cancer treatment

Posted on 13/02/202427/02/2024 by admin

Visualising how molecules interact within their three-dimensional environment is essential in cell and tissue screening procedures used in therapies for cancer treatment. However, most current imaging technologies of this type lack spatial resolution and quantitative molecular profiling capabilities. Moreover, there is no single quantitative tissue imaging instrument today that can perform analysis on several complementary scales, from tissue to molecule, with high levels of speed, throughput and accuracy.

To overcome these limitations, the European nanoSCAN project was set up, coordinated by the French CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), of which Politecnico di Milano is a member via its Department of Physics. The five project partners are developing the innovative SAFe-nSCAN imaging platform, which will combine multi-scale optical microscopy solutions: from structured illumination microscopy for rapid inspection and classification of cells and tissues to single-molecule localisation microscopy techniques for more accurate 3D nanoscopic investigations of pre-selected regions.

The goal is to develop the first platform capable of providing imaging at all scales, from tissue to sub-molecule, via a single machine.

The nanoSCAN project is funded by the EU (European Innovation Council) with EUR 2.49 million.

The project website

COMMON_ACCESS: applying ’15-minute city’ in suburbs

Posted on 09/02/202409/02/2024 by admin

The ’15-minute city’ is an urban planning model that, by ensuring that all services are within citizens’ reach, aims to make cities more liveable and reduce their impact on the environment, favouring walking and cycling over driving.

Politecnico di Milano is a partner in the COMMON_ACCESS European project, which has just been launched to explore the forms and conditions for applying this model in peri-urban areas, within metropolitan contexts that do not ensure the physical proximity to services, densities and diversity of functions that are typical of dense urban areas.

The project coordinator for Politecnico di Milano is Prof. Paola Pucci from the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies: “COMMON_ACCESS explores the role of accessibility as a common good and the social nature of accessibility options and measures (for both people and goods) in urban peripheries, focusing on ‘Commoning Accessibility’ practices where the role of communities in optimising resources and sharing physical and digital accessibility services is crucial”.

In the project, accessibility, understood as the possibility of accessing facilities and services that are essential for the life of every person, is reinterpreted and investigated as a common good, as a social and material resource that is co-produced by and belongs to all citizens through the concept of ‘Commoning accessibility’.

The project aims to give operational content to the ‘Commoning accessibility’ concept through the identification, mapping and analysis of ‘common/community accessibility experiments’ such as shared (e-)bikes and cargo bikes for the transport of people and goods, shared mobility and micro-mobility systems intended as accessible and affordable transport options, temporary and tactical urban planning measures for increasing local accessibility, digital platforms based on community-generated and community-managed data to improve digital connectivity.

ACTIVE: the digital app for personalised coaching

Posted on 08/02/202409/02/2024 by admin

Yesterday in the morning, at the Lecco Campus, the ACTIVE App was presented. It is a personalised coaching application created as part of ActivE³ – Everyone, Everywhere, Everyday, a Major Emblematic Project funded by Fondazione Cariplo and Regione Lombardia that aims at promoting an active lifestyle through the use of technology. The app is the result of the work of the researchers of Sensibilab – Laboratory for Sensors and Biomedical Systems at the Lecco Campus, ASST Lecco, ATS Brianza and Villa Beretta – Presidio di Riabilitazione dell’Ospedale Valduce.

The app has a dual function: for the user, it is a digital personalised training guide that includes health tips; for researchers and health professionals, it is a useful data platform to check the effectiveness of this tool in improving/maintaining well-being and for designing new prevention initiatives aimed at the community.

We are approaching the new era of digital therapies. Today, as part of the Active3 project, we start experimenting a prevention service based on an App aimed to promote and monitor active and nutritionally balanced lifestyles for the over-60 population.

A clinical trial phase will now start, involving 200 healthy individuals in the 60-80 age group for the next 18 months. The trial will be validated by a screening of the participants’ health status and will include cognitive questionnaires on health status and nutrition and motor, psychometric and neuro-psychological tests as well as blood samples, which will be used to assess the effects of using the app on the participants’ overall health. The ACTIVE app will act as a motivational tool to encourage more static participants to get active and to stimulate those already active to maintain a healthy lifestyle by providing feedback on their activity and personalised hints.

Thanks to Fondazione Cariplo, Regione Lombardia and the network of technological and clinical partners, we are developing an integrated system in the local area that we hope will be used and disseminated after the end of the project in favour of a real 5P medicine (Preventive, Predictive, Participative, Personalised and Psychosocial) of the future.
Prof. Giuseppe Andreoni, scientific coordinator of the Sensibilab laboratory,

SETS: training for digital skills

Posted on 07/02/202409/02/2024 by admin

The activities of the SETS (Social Economy Transition Skills) training project, part of the Horizon Europe CSA program “Green and digital skills and training needs for a just transition”, of which the Department of Management Engineering was the winner in 2023, have officially started.

The aim is to support, test and plan modules and plans for the development of digital competences within social economy organisations.

The specificity of this project is part of the European Commission’s vision of “Twin transition”, in line with the Transition Pathway of the social economy, which consists in the modernization of production processes through the development of solutions aimed at making society and its industries increasingly sustainable, but also digital and technologically developed.

The project, which will last 24 months, aims to develop training in a dual perspective: on the one hand, training for cooperatives, social enterprises and non-profits, on the other hand, the training of the trainers of ICT solution providers, of those who deal with capacity building in the digital field on the specificities of the social economy, in a perspective of mutual cross-fertilization between social economy organizations and technical “trainers” on the identity issues of the social economy.

The role of Politecnico di Milano, as the only university within the consortium, will be to do research first of all on WP 2, for the analysis of skills gaps, the development of training models (WP3) before piloting and testing with the various organizations and partners involved. Successful modules will be formalized more explicitly through a certification.

The researchers of the Department of Management Engineering involved to date in this skills development project are Mario Calderini and Francesco Gerli.

Lead partner of the project is Diesis Network (Belgium). The partners are, in addition to Politecnico di Milano, All Digital Aisbl (Belgium), Open Impact Srl (Italy), Social Good Accelerator (France), Fundacija Za Izboljsanje Zaposlitvenih Moznosti Prizma Ustanova (Slovenia), European Forum of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (Belgium).

NEUROCLIMA: raising awareness on climate resilience strategies

Posted on 06/02/202409/02/2024 by admin

NEUROCLIMA, a project coordinated by Professor Francesca Rizzo of the Department of Design at Politecnico di Milano, has kicked off; it is granted by the CINEA – European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency within the Horizon Europe framework programme.

NEUROCLIMA aims to promote and support systemic transformations by involving and raising awareness among citizens regarding climate resilience strategies. The project envisions the creation of a nervous system that connects policymakers, public institutions, and citizens through an innovative mixed decision support system that combines artificial intelligence and human capabilities.

By conducting in-depth research to identify needs, challenges, expectations, and trends that may influence EU societies, and a continuous dialogue among stakeholders, the goal is to develop concrete proposals to facilitate the green transition and enhance trust in institutions.

YouRban: co-creating innovative solutions for recycling and reuse of composite materials

Posted on 05/02/202409/02/2024 by admin

The YouRban project, funded by the European Union as part of Horizon Europe, coordinated by Professor Marcello Colledani of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano and also involving the Department of Design, has kicked off.

Europe is expected to generate almost 700,000 tonnes of reinforced polymer waste in 2025 and YouRban aims to address this challenge in an innovative and participatory manner. The project aims to create an active and aware urban community to find creative solutions for recycling and upcycling, in particular for reinforced polymers. By promoting the values of sustainability and inclusiveness and the knowledge of circular economy processes, the project will activate an urban ecosystem involving citizens, artists, designers, architects and small-scale producers (e.g., FabLabs and artisans’ workshops or Urban Factories).

YouRban is based on an innovative research strategy which draws on the European Union’s Green Deal and New European Bauhaus initiatives, promoting workshop and training activities for artists and designers.

The beating heart of the project is its truck, a mobile laboratory conceived as a true travelling workshop. This plant houses recycling and reprocessing technologies for end-of-life composite materials. The truck is not just a production tool, as it is also a powerful dissemination medium designed to promote the new values of the circular economy through exhibitions, artistic events and participatory activities related to the circular economy. Citizens, artists and FabLabs will be involved in co-creation activities and will also be able to explore demanufacturing and reprocessing technologies, gaining awareness of the economic, social and environmental benefits of the circular economy for their community.

The project is developed around two pillars: a pilot project in Milan and a pilot project in Barcelona. The approach of the pilot project in Milan is based on ‘problems in search of solutions’. Citizens point out concrete problems and artists design solutions through an innovative co-creation process. The involvement of YouRban’s technical experts ensures specialised expertise and training. The approach of the pilot project in Barcelona is reversed, as it adopts a ‘solutions in search of a problem’ perspective. Artists and creative networks design solutions for change, then look for stakeholders willing to adopt them to solve specific problems and meet community needs.

Finally, YouRban exploits the Open Call mechanism to involve micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, laboratories and associations interested in understanding material recycling technologies and opportunities, helping to raise awareness, train and create new jobs and business opportunities within the involved cities after the end of the project.

BRIDGITISE: where Digital Innovation meets bridge Safety and Sustainability

Posted on 04/02/202409/02/2024 by admin

BRIDGITISE, funded by the European Commission within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), aims to leverage digital technologies for the development and validation of innovative technologies in the field of Bridge Integrity Management (BrIM).

The project focuses on addressing the challenges posed by the aging infrastructure of European bridges, particularly those constructed in the 1950s and 1960s, which are close, or beyond, the end of their design life. These bridges often face operational conditions that deviate significantly from their original design assumptions and are exacerbated by accelerated deterioration caused by the impacts of climate change.

The bridge integrity management sector lags in digitalization compared to other industries. To fill this gap, academia and industry must collaborate closely, with a focus on needs-driven research and knowledge transfer.

BRIDGITISE will take up these challenges, proposing a new paradigm for the first Industrial Doctoral Network within the EU that will pave the way to the training of new generations of researchers and professionals with expertise in digital BrIM. The EU Industrial doctorate will be developed through a collaborative effort involving a multidisciplinary, intersectoral, and international consortium. The consortium comprises 24 academic and industrial partners, covering the entire value chain of the bridge industry and related digital processes.

Key to the project is the use of digital tools for the lifecycle management of bridges. These tools encompass a range of technologies, such as distributed sensors, drones, crowdsensing, satellite radar, building information modeling (BIM), digital twins, Internet of Things (IoT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The incorporation of these advanced technologies is intended to enhance efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability in bridge design, construction, and maintenance processes.

The kickoff meeting of the BRIDGITISE project was held on January 24^th and 25^th, with Professor Maria Pina Limongelli (Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering) serving as the Project Coordinator.

ReBone: designing customised bone replacement implants

Posted on 03/02/202409/02/2024 by admin

ReBone, a Doctoral Network coordinated by Politecnico di Milano and funded by the European Union within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) has kicked off. Young researchers involved will develop innovative technologies for creating customised 3D-printed bone replacement implants based on bioactive ceramics.

The ultimate goal is to provide clinical experts with the tools to produce customised bone graft substitutes, allowing for individualised therapeutic solutions for each patient in terms of mechanical and mechanical-biological performance, surgical implantability and reliability of the manufacturing process.

In addition, ReBone will develop state-of-the-art in silico models, based on advanced computational methods and characterisation and validation techniques, for customised implants with a visualisation system for mixed-reality surgical planning.

ReBone is a European project funded under the Horizon Europe programme that will enrol 10 young researchers in as many European PhD schools. The project intersects many disciplines including materials engineering, 3D printing technology of ceramic material devices, biomechanics, biology and augmented reality,
Pasquale Vena, professor of Industrial Bioengineering at the Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering ‘Giulio Natta’ and coordinator of the project

In addition to Politecnico di Milano, ReBone involves partners from eight European countries: Politecnico di Torino (Italy), Università del Piemonte Orientale (Italy), University of Liège (Belgium), Lithoz (Austria), Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Osteology (Austria), University of Salzburg (Austria), Department of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade (Serbia) MedApp (Poland), EU CORE Consulting (Italy), Cerhum (Belgium), Science on the Street (Slovenia), University of Tampere (Finland), Université Paris-Est Créteil (France), AUVA Trauma Centre Meidling (Austria).

For further information and to participate in the PhD programme, please visit the ReBone website or contact Pasquale Vena, project coordinator (pasquale.vena@polimi.it).