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Politecnico di MilanoDipartimento di MeccanicaDipartimento di Meccanica

Politecnico and DMEC for the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport

On the 25th of September, the Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Paola De Micheli and the rector of Politecnico di Milano Professor Ferruccio Resta signed an three-year agreement to improve the maintenance and management of the Italian infrastructure along with foster connectivity all over the country.

All activities will be coordinated by Professor Giuseppe Catalano, head of the ministerial department in charge of transport and logistics (STM), supported by the scientific director Professor Giovanni Azzone, former rector of POLIMI.

"This agreement meets the needs to update and innovate the Italian transportation system to make it more competitive on a European level, along with enhancing services, security, and traffic conditions" - explained the rector Ferruccio Resta.

The investment will promote strategic activities carried out on different topics:

  • The Urban Renewal project – scientific director Stefano Boeri from the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies – will carry out an in-depth analysis in the national urban regeneration framework.
  • The supervision on the long-term maintenance plans for bridges, viaducts, and tunnels project – scientific director Professor Marco Belloli from the Department of Mechanical Engineering (DMEC) – will provide the guidelines to design infrastructure monitoring systems and standardize the data analysis, transmission, and management systems.
  • The mart road and self-driving vehicles tests – scientific director Professor Francesco Braghin from DMEC – will allow to evaluate security, environmental impact, and possibilities offered by smart roads, along with Electrical Mobility, self-driving cars, and much more, aiming to set up pilot projects on a national level.
  • The strategic investment plans and programmes for transport infrastructures and logistics analysis and assessment of consistency with EU programmes and initiatives – first scientific director Professor Pierluigi Coppola from DMEC and second Professor Fabio Pammolli from the Department of Management Engineering (DIG) – will allow the evaluation of the infrastructure development framework and later on monitor its implementation and connection with the continental evolution of the project.

With this agreement, the goal of the Ministry is to follow a growth strategy based on environmental, economic, and social sustainability, while sponsoring university research and education of the students. The budget will result in new temporary research fellowships, Ph.D. programmes, and research positions that will result in improving the research activities at POLIMI and its implementation on the domestic territory.