In Piacenza, the research network consists of 15 academic facilities and 16 among public and private research laboratories.

Recent investments in the area of Piacenza have increased the local system of research and implemented projects and international relations. Piacenza is nowadays the node of wide international networks connecting research centres in 21 European countries and 10 countries all around the world.

Thanks to its Tecnopolo (and in particular the R&D MUSP Centre), Piacenza coordinates the development of strategies to re-qualify the Italian instrumental manufacturing sector. Specifically, this is possible thanks to the activities of the Cluster Fabbrica Intelligente, where 274 public and private partners develop R&D activities connected to innovation, design and technological transformation.

The Tecnopolo, a project developed by Politecnico di Milano, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Comune di Piacenza and Chamber of Commerce and Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, is located in Le Mose.The headquarter of the Tecnopolo Casino Mandelli was inaugurated on 16th January after a substantial renewal and regeneration intervention.

Tecnopolo research centres
LEAP
MUSP
RSE Spa

Institutes, laboratories and research centres at Università Cattolica in Piacenza

Associations and organizations connected to universities
ITL– Istituto di Trasporti e Logistica

Research and advanced training centres
Azienda Sperimentale "Vittorio Tadini"
CITIMAP
AUSL Piacenza
Centro Tecnologico di Piacenza di Siemens
TICE (Centro di apprendimento – Tecniche di Insegnamento delle Competenze dell’età evolutiva)

MIUR accredited Laboratories
Amada Engineering Europe S.p.a.
Ce.R.Zoo. - Centro di Ricerca per la Zootecnica e l’ambiente
CRA-GPG Centro di ricerca per la genomica e la postgenomica animale e vegetale
Laboratorio JOBS di JOBS S.p.a. – produzione di impianti per la frasatura
SIET S.p.a. – sviluppo componenti termomeccanici per impianti di produzione e di processo

  LEAP
Research sectors
Production of high efficiency thermal energy
Material and energy from biomasses, wastes
Thermo hydraulic energy from nuclear plants
Technologies to use fossil fuels and capture CO2
Renewable energies or the like

International Networks
Columbia University – collaborazione su recupero di energia da rifiuti

Centres of excellence and R&D European projects
MatER – Centro studi Materiali ed Energia dai Rifiuti
Sviluppo di metodologie per l’attivazione di filiere bioenergetiche;
Biocombustibili per via termochimica;
E.C.A.T.E.: Efficienza e Compatibilità Ambientale delle Tecnologie Energetiche;
Efficienza energetica e impatto ambientale degli impianti termici;
Progetto polveri fini e ultrafini.


MUSP
Research sector: industrial instrumentalities
- Production integrated systems configuration and management of production integrated systems
- Precision Engineering
- Advanced design,industry applications of innovative material and technological processes
- Manufacturing technologies for the aeronautical sector
- Economic and benchmarking analysis of the industrial sector of reference
- I – MUSP (MUSP innovation)

MUSP and its project Cluster Fabbrica Intelligente won the national competition called by MIUR to support the development of some National Technological Clusters, on key industrial sectors in our country. www.intelligentfactory.it/news

MUSP is the leader of the Cluster, whose development involves R&D projects for about 48 mil.€uro and where 76 among companies and Research Centers take part. They are 274 companies thanks to ATI, an entity created to develop the Cluster projects.
Other members involved in the Cluster are Comau, Pirelli, Whirlpool, Telecom Italia, Alenia Aermacchi, Prima Industrie, Zoppas Industrie, as well as local companies of international relevance such as Jobs, Mandelli, MCM and Amada Engineering Europe .

Thanks to an Accordo di Programma with MIUR, 8 entities from as many Italian regions are involved in the project. They are: Emilia Romagna (Aster), Liguria (Distretto Tecnologico S.I.I.T.), Lombardia (costituendo il Cluster Lombardo Fabbrica Intelligente), Marche (Marche Manufacturing), Piemonte (MESAP – Polo di Innovazione della Meccatronica e dei Sistemi Avanzati di Produzione), Puglia (MEDIS – Distretto Meccatronico Pugliese), Sicilia (Distretto Micro Nano Sistemi) e Veneto (Veneto Nanotech). The eight regions involved in the project represent a relevant portion of the Italian manufacturing sector, thanks to 330 thousand enterprises that hire about 3 million people: it represents the 2/3 of the total industrial employment in Italy.

The Cluster has four main project frameworks, based on the features of its participants and of MUSP: Sustainable production, Adaptive and modular approaches to the digital factory, Smart Manufacturing and High Performance production.


RSE Spa
Research sectors 
Applied research in the electricity/energy sector
Business project and research projects to create patterns of growth and development of territories, based on energy innovation and environmental sustainability
Laboratory tests
 
Centres of excellence and R&D European projects
BEST PATHS , BEYOND STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGIES FOR RE-POWERING AC CORRIDORS & MULTI-TERMINAL HVDC SYSTEMS
DYNERGYSteel, Integrated DYnamic eNERGY management for Steel production
AIM, Alpine space In Movement, targeted to water & energy capitalization
ASAMPSA_E , Advanced Safety Assessment Methodologies: Extended PSA
OTEVOS, Concepts, Capacities and Methods for Testing EV systems and their interOperability within the Smartgrids
ELECTRA, European Liaison on Electricity grid Committed Towards long-term Research Activities for Smart Grids


BioDNA
International networks
UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA.; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique; School of Biosciences, Biodiversity and ecological Processes Group University of Wales, Cardiff, UNITED KINGDOM; Departimento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria Universidad Complutense, Madrid, SPAIN; Institut für Tierzucht und Haustiergenetik Justus-Liebig-Universität, Giessen, GERMANY; School of Biological Sciences University of East Anglia, Norwich, UNITED KINGDOM; Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Utrecht University, Utrecht THE NETHERLANDS; Institute for Animal Genetics, Nutrition and Housing, Division of Genetic Epidemiology University of Berne, Berne SWITZERLAND; Laboratoire d’Ecologie Alpine (LECA) University Joseph Fourier et Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Grenoble, FRANCE; Department of rural engineering, Institute of Geomatics Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne SWITZERLAND; Laboratory of Farm Animal Genetics and Breeding, Department of Animal Production Faculty of Agriculture, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, GREECE; Department of Food Economics and Consumption Studies Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, GERMANY; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Institute for Animal Breeding Federal Agricultural Research Centre Mariensee, Neustadt, Germany; MICROGIS, Lausanne, Switzerland (SME); International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi Kenia and Bejing, China; Universidade Estadual Paulista, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Centres of excellence and R&D European projects
BOVGEN Structural and functional genomics tools for cattle research;
ECONOGENE Sustainable Conservation of Animal Genetic Resources in Marginal Rural Areas: Integrating Molecular Genetics, Socio-economic and Geostatical Approaches;
GLOBALDIV A global view of livestock biodiversity and conservation;
IntraBioDiv Tracking surrogates for intraspecific biodiversity: towards efficient selection strategies for the conservation of natural genetic resources using comparative mapping and modelling approaches.


BIOMASS
Centres of excellence and R&D European projects
Integrated strategies for GHG mitigation in dairy farms
Life Plus "GAS-OFF"


CRAST
International networks
Università Cattolica di Lovanio,
International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA),
International Geoscience and Remote Sensing (IGARSS)

Centres of excellence and R&D European projects
Use of CHRIS/Proba data for precision farming. ESA Project ID 3184, category 1-LBR (2005-2007). Utilizzo di dati del satellite sperimentale iperspettrale CHRIS/Proba dell’Agenzia Spaziale Europea;
Pest risk assessment in the European Community: inventory of data sources (PRASSIS). CFP/EFSA/PLH/2007/01. CRAST ha la responsabilità dell’inventario delle risorse per vegetazione e suoli per EFSA.
Exploitation of COSMO/SkyMed data for Earth surface monitoring, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana 2003.
Influence of Topography on Vegetation Indexes of Forested Ecosystems, X-SAR Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Italian Activities 2000-2001, ASI contract n° ARS-B.0/99-08.


CRB
International networks
Michigan State University, USA;
Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research – Kuwait;
RIKILT Institute of Food Safety – University of Wageningen;
Institute of Applied Biotechnology - University of Kuopio.

Centres of excellence and R&D European projects
FERBEV - Improving the Processing of Four Fermented Beverage from Eastern European Country
Anno inizio: 2006 Durata: 3 anni Numero Unità: 13
Responsabile Unità: Prof. Pier Sandro Cocconcelli
Coordinatore progetto: Istituto di Scienze delle Produzioni Alimentari del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche.

ACE ART - Assesment and Critical Evaluation of Antibiotic Resistance Trasferibility in the Food Chain
Anno inizio: 2004 Durata: 3 anni Numero Unità: 14
Responsabile Unità: Prof. Lorenzo Morelli
Coordinatore progetto: Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore - Prof. Morelli Lorenzo.

INFABIO - Effetti della dieta e dello stile di vita sul rischio di infezioni gastrointestinali e di allergie nel primo anni di vita
Anno inizio: 2003 Durata: 3 anni Numero Unità: 11
Responsabile Unità: Prof. Lorenzo Morelli
Coordinatore progetto: University of Glasgow (Scozia).

Probiotic Strains with Designed Health Proporties
Anno inizio: 2001 Durata: 3 anni Numero Unità: 9
Responsabile Unità: Prof. Lorenzo Morelli
Coordinatore progetto: Institut Pasteur de Lille.


OPERA
Centres of excellence and R&D European projects
SOStain-sustainable winegrowing program


OSSERVATORIO SUL MERCATO DEI PRODOTTI ZOOTECNICI
International networks
Università di Vageningen (H)
Scottish Agricultural College
Università di Tolosa


Ce.C.A.P.
International networks
CIDIR (Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo Innovador para la Regionalización), Universidad Católica Sedes Sapientiae (Lima, Perù)


CERSI
Centres of excellence and R&D European projects
"The strategic management of export consortia" per UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization su 9 consorzi export agroalimentari in Perù Cile Tunisia e Marocco.


CRATOS
International networks
Erciyes University (Turkey) - Centre for Social Innovation, CSI (Austria) – The Association for Media and Culture Studies (Turkey) – Ministry of Education, General Directorate of teachers training and development (Turkey)
Sirma Solutions AD (Bulgaria) - Università di Stoccolma (Sweden) - Polo Europeo della Conoscenza (Italy) - Università di Strasburgo (France) - Istituto per l’istruzione superiore Rezekne (Latvia) - Centro di Formazione Continua (Poland).
The University Of Birmingham/ Birmingham Women’s Hospital (UK) - Austrian Association for Quality in Health Care (Austria) - AMC Amsterdam (Denmark) - CASPolska - CASPe – TUDOR (Poland)
ASTER (Scienza Tecnologia Impresa)- Democenter- GRUPPO PRO- GRUPPO SISTEMA - Harimann Consulting & Technologies- North Italy Communications- Piacenza Intermodale - S.A.T.A. Applicazone Tecnologie Avanzate - Università di Bologna - Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia - Università di Parma.
Hewlett Packard (Italy) - CNIT (Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Telecomunicazioni -Italy).
University of Birmingham (UK) - Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) (Bangladesh) - MEDIQ: Medicinsk Informatik og Kvalitetsudvikling (Denmark).
ICCS/NTUA (Greece) - IT Innovation (UK) - Telefonica I+D (Spain) - Hewlett Packard (Italy) - Instituto Superior Técnico (Portugal) - Giunti Interactive Labs S.r.l. (Italy) - Cinegram S.A. (Greece) - ALLOU (Greece).
Centre de Conservation du Livre (France) - Université de Gent (Belgium) - Archives d’Outre Mer (France) - Archives du Penjab (India) - University of Delhi (India).
University of Tampere - UTA (Finland) - Centre for Social Innovation - CSI (Austria).
University of Birmingham (UK) - Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology - Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP) of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies - Comfort Nursing Home Ltd (Bangladesh) - NiCOM (I).
University of Birmingham (UK) - Open University (UK) - University of Tampere (FI) - University of Koblenz-Landau (D) - University of Zurich (CH) - Stanford University (USA) - MIT OKI (USA) - University of Southern Queensland (Australia) - education.au limited (Australia) - NOKIA Corporation (FI) - COMPAQ Computer (I) - Sheffield Hallam University (UK) - International Centre for Digital Content (UK) - Deutche Telekom (D) - Telecom Italia (I) - Telefónica I+D (SP) - COSMOTE (GR) - SPACE HELLAS (GR) - Emblaze Systems (IL) - Fraunhofer IFF (D) - SFERA ENEL (I) - University for Industry (UK) - Liverpool John Moores University (UK) - University of Genoa (I) - pjb Associates (UK) - University of Nottingham (UK).

Centres of excellence and R&D European projects
Medi@Ware, e-SIMTRA; EU-EBM-Unity; EU-EBM-TTT, e-HL-HIC (e-Health and Learning - Health Informatics Training Courses for Practitioners); E-Health and Learning (e-HL); POLYMNIA (Personalised Leisure and Entertainment over Cross Media Intelligent Platforms); EURINDIA; MOBIlearn - the wings of learning.


LEL
International networks
Euridees - Bruxelles

Centres of excellence and R&D European projects
Translander (Progetto di valorizzazion Terr. )
Prog. Interreg (distretti industriali dell’est Europa)


ITL
International networks
Centre de Recherche Commun ARMINES/LGI2P; CETE Méditerranée – Centre d’Etudes Techniques de l’Equipement; AREAL –Agence Régional pour l’Energie et Environnement du Algarve; Fundación de la Comunidad Valenciana para la Investigación, Promoción y Estudios Comerciales de Valenciaport; Conselleria d’Obres Públiques, Habitatge i Transports del Govern Balear; Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - UPC; Asociacion de Investigacion y Cooperacion Industrial de Andalousie – AICIA; Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corporation (WRS);
KLOK Kompetenzzentrum Logistik Kornwestheim GmbH; Carinthian Government, Department of Infrastructure (CR); Institute of Logistics and Warehousing (ILIM); Institut Logistyki i Magazynowania; HELLENIC INSTITUTE OF TRANSPORT (H.I.T.);HELLENIC RAILWAYS ORGANISATION; PROODOS S.A.; Agroter S.a.s.; IC CONSULTENTEN; Government of Carinthia; BMVIT/Ministry of Transport Innovation and Technology; Ministry of the Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy - National Office for Spatial Planning; Transport Logistic Cluster – TLG; Municipality of Celje; County of Primorje & Gorski Kotar.

Centres of excellence and R&D European projects
DELPHI – Devising E-learning Logistics Programmes to Heighten Innovation
MATAARI - Improving Mobility and Accessibility to Transport and Logistic Services between Urban Areas and Intermodal Centres
PORTNET Promoting interregional co-operation of ports and multi-modaltransport structures in the EU
CORELOG – Coordinated Regional Logistics
ENLoCC
GILDANET – Global Integrated transport Logistic DAta NETwork
CITYPORTS – A network of cities following a co-ordinated approach to develop feasible and sustainable city logistics solutions
MEROPE
SESTANTE
IMONODE – Efficient integration of Cargo Modes and Nodes in CADSES Area
I-LOG – Industrial Logistics and intermodal transport for SMEs’ development
SUGAR – Sustainable Urban Goods logistics Achieved by Regional and local policies
SWAP – Sanità e Welfare per un’Azione di Partenariato (ITL PC è coinvolta nel subprogetto Surgiland per la formazione nella logistica sanitaria)
CENTRAL


AAT
International networks
Inst. Engenharia Sist Computadores, Invest. Desenvolv. Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
Department of Environmental Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
Biolab Española, S.L.; Barcelona
Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia, Madrid, Spain
Department of Microbiology, Gazi University, Besevler, Ankara-Turkey
Institute for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern Switzerland
University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Centres of excellence and R&D European projects
BIOHYPO - FP7 European Project

HORTA
International networks
Société de distribution de materiel électronique (France); Galtel proyectos y desarrollos sl (Spain); Universidad de la Rioja (spain);
Universidade de tras-os-montes e alto douro (Portugal);Hungarian Academy of Sciences; Bioved Ltd (Hungary); Vellsam Materias Bioactivas S.L.(Spain); BIYOTAR (Turkey).

Centres of excellence and R&D European projects
MODEM_IVM - A web-based system for real-time Monitoring and Decision Making for Integrated Vineyard Management;
BCA_grape


AZIENDA SPERIMENTALE "VITTORIO TADINI"
International networks
Istituto di Riproduzione Animale di Temerim (Serbia)
Slovak Agricultural University, Nitra
TEAGASC - Agriculture and Food Development Authority - IE
ConsBud Magorzata Dwierzyska - PL
PigCHAMP Pro Europa- ES
Harper Adams University College- UK
IMRO-DDKK Környezetvédelmi Közhasznú Nonprofit Kft - HU
Podkarpacka Energy-Management Agency Ltd. - Poland
Rzeszow School of Business - Poland
Spanish National Association of Pig Producers (ANPROGAPOR) - Spain
Spanish National Association of Egg Producers (ASEPRHU) - Spain
Spanish Pig Selection Association (ANPS) – Spain

Centres of excellence and R&D European projects
Sustainability of Agricultural Biogas and Bioenergy Production


CENTRO TECNOLOGICO DI PIACENZA DI SIEMENS
International networks
Siemens, Heller, Janus, Hoffman group


TICE
International networks
Texas University
Morningside Academy (Seattle),
Università del Nevada (Reno, USA)


Amada Engineering Europe S.p.a.
Reti internazionali
Politecnico di Budapest

Centres of excellence and R&D European projects
Bando Cluster Tecnologico Nazionale CTN01_00163 “Fabbrica Intelligente”, basato su fondi EU.
A livello EU, il gruppo Amada aderisce (con altre società) a progetti di ricerca in Germania sia autonomamente che in collaborazione con la rete dei laboratori Fraunhofer.


CRA – GPG
International networks
International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium
BarleyGenomeNe,t a European competence network for joint development, processing and use of resources for genome research in Barley
Italian representative in “Wheat Initiative”, a committee for the coordination of wheat research and contribute to food security across the globe

Centres of excellence and R&D European projects
Genomics-Assisted Analysis and Exploitation of Barley Diversity - EXBARDIV (Bando ERA-PG)
Avena genetic resources for quality in human consumption – AVEQ ( Bando GENRES)
Wheat and barley Legacy for Breeding Improvement - WHEALBI (Bando –FP7)
Strategies to develop effective, innovative and practical approaches to protect major European fruit crops from pests and pathogens - DROPSA (Bando FP7)


JOBS
International networks
Katholieke Universitei LEUVEN
Siemens SpA
EADS GMBH
Iscar Tool

Centres of excellence and R&D European projects
Estomad – Energy Eu-Fp7
Shimm Eu-Fp4
Mw1 Eu-Fp4
Erod (2015)


SIET
International networks
Westinghouse, GE, Nuscale Power, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Doosan.


Sources
ITL – Piacenza Territorio Snodo (2011)