PALERMO (ITALPRESS) – From academic research to the production system, with a clear objective: transform scientific knowledge into economic, social and environmental value. This is the central message emerged from the first Investor Day of the University of Palermo, which took place today in the Sala delle Capriate of the Monumental Complex of Steri, and which saw the presentation of eight entrepreneurial initiatives science-based with high technological and environmental impact. The event represented the final moment of the Venture Building Biodiversity Gateway program, a strategic initiative for technological transfer and valorisation of academic research, realized with the support of VeniSIA, spin-off of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, within the PNRR project of the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC).
The projects presented are created within different Departments of the University – from Agricultural, Food and Forestry Sciences to Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, from Earth and Sea Sciences to Engineering – with the involvement of the National Research Council. The solutions range from new generation biofertilizers to technologies for the protection of cultural goods, from sustainable aquaculture systems to biodegradable agricultural films, to digital platforms for photovoltaic and bio-based plasticizers. Enzo Bivona, a scientific coordinator of the Biodiversity Gateway UniPa Technology Transfer project, has been leading and recounting the deep sense of the initiative, which has underlined the symbolic and operational value of the day. “Today is a beautiful day from many points of view – he explained – not only for the outside climate, but because for the first time we organize an Investor Day. We followed research groups that developed pitches to be presented to investors: this is the result of a journey of venture building started last July and that ideally ends today”. A goal that, for Bivona, does not represent a point of arrival. “This is not a final point, if anything a starting point, because we helped these researchers to transfer their knowledge to the market. Research projects have been articulated through tools – pitch, strategic plan – which allow an investor to understand how university research can create an impact on society.” It also meant the response of the productive and financial world. “Today we see a dozen venture capitals present, including Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, together with Sicindustria and other companies that look with great favor to this initiative,” Bivona added, highlighting how the path favours the exit of the researcher from the laboratory to enter the production system. “To do this – he concluded – they serve companies, investors and institutions. The Region also showed a strong interest: we are contributing to create an ecosystem capable of generating productive initiatives and to keep our young people on the territory”.
Carlo Bagnoli, scientific coordinator of the project for VeniSIA, focused on the methodological value of the Venture Building. “Venture Building means creating new businesses from scratch, not speeding up existing businesses,” he explained. “The critical goal for Italy is to access the search for the highest quality of universities and research centres and enhance it. A road is licensing, but today the main road is the creation of new enterprises”. A path that also requires a cultural change: “It is necessary to help researchers and teachers change mindsets, to understand that the final paper is not the only possible result, but that from there can arise companies capable of creating value, employment and prosperity, for the country and for Sicily in particular.”.
Andrea Pace was the head of the research at the University of Palermo. “It is fundamental when one wants to transform knowledge into something that produces economy and value, especially for the human capital that UniPa forms,” he stressed. “Initiatives such as this allow young researchers to meet companies and investors who see medium-long term prospects, going beyond what often from the laboratory cannot be grasped.” An added value that, according to Peace, “stimulates creativity and opens alternative professional paths to the academic career alone, creating a new reality”.
In video connection the rector Massimo Midiri, who defined the day “certainly important for our university”. “Today we see the conclusion of a process of selection of design proposals born from our teachers and researchers, who finally come to the market,” he said. A result consistent with a strategy pursued in recent years: “Let the research not remain closed in the laboratories, but become an element of improvement for society.” Midiri has expressed the hope that experience can become an extensible model, “allowing us to see more and more our protagonist Athens also in a financial key”, and concluded by talking about “a new path, a step of growth for Sicily and for our community”. The Investor Day has thus confirmed not only as a showcase for high innovative projects, but as a concrete step in building an ecosystem in which universities, enterprises and investors collaborate to bring research out of the laboratories and accompany it to the market.
– photo xd6/Italpress –
(ITALPRESS).
