The University of Sassari at the forefront of innovation

With a solemn and engaging ceremony, Rector Gavino Mariotti inaugurated the 462 Academic Year of the University of Sassari on Monday, February 19.

The institutional appointment was hosted by Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, president of the CEI (Italian Episcopal Conference), who gave a lectio magistralis about peace.

The University is historically central to the economy and society of Sassari, but Rector Mariotti, in his speech, strengthened his strategic design to project it with conviction and decision in the future of innovation and bring it more and more in and on the territories, starting with those of Olbia and Gallura. The latter, an increasingly innovative and technological territory.

⏩Strong growth of technology companies in Gallura

With a clear horizon, the University of Sassari is therefore producing not only culture but also services in favor of the territory, with strong economic benefits. Let's see what they are.

University vehicle of innovation

"The University is not only the temple that preserves culture but is the place where ideas are forged, knowledge is created and fused and knowledge is fed - said the Rector in his speech -. The University, the elective seat of scientific production, is the main vehicle for spreading innovation and change". 

Attention to the territories

In this direction, the University of Sassari "has shown that it wants and can play a driving role of cultural, scientific and social engine, to be a pivot of local development - continued the Rector -. We have been confronted closely with the critical issues affecting the socio-economic fabric of Sardinia, because thanks to the intense project activity we encounter daily in instances and problems that immobilize local communities and economic realities. The attention to the territory and its evolutionary dynamics is confirmed to be the distinctive feature of the action put in place by our University"

The Innovation Ecosystem

The rector recalls the eINS project, which "allowed us to acquire a grant of 119 million euros to design and install an ecosystem of innovation in Sardinia, that is, a physical place of contamination between universities, research bodies, companies and local institutions".

Investment of 40 million

The Rector explained what will be the positive impact of eins on the territory. "By the summer, only eINS will call for more than 20 million euros to support technology transfer in favor of companies in Sardinia, generating investments for an estimated value of over 40 million euros. It is important to estimate the generative capacity of these interventions, which act indirectly on society and families. If we limit the observation to the strengthening of human capital, it is useful to underline that these projects have allowed a first recruitment in UNISS of 41 RTD/A, 46 PhD students and 18 technologists". 

⏩ What the Innovation Ecosystem will be like

6 other innovation projects

Today there are 6 other active projects based on PNRR funds, through which the University of Sassari realizes an effective sharing of widespread skills. These projects together are worth about 900 million euros and see the University of Sassari engaged in the direct management of 60 million allocated under Mission 4, Component 2 of the PNRR "from research to enterprise" by providing actions on the territory in favor of local companies and lines of intervention oriented to the transfer of new solutions enabling the most significant production sectors of our island.
 

Technology transfer

For the Rector, the mission of the University "aimed at technology transfer in favor of the entrepreneurial system is to be considered an integral part of Strategic Planning".

The University of Sassari is therefore the driver of innovation in the territory. Between the activities of technological transfer - the Rector has remembered - there are the incubator of enterprise of the University (that today contemplates 7 companies)patent activity and negotiation paths with the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy for the enhancement of scientific knowledge (the Shard-Hub project, of which the University is a partner, is an example)the Start Cup action for innovative start-ups that, in collaboration with the Sassari Chamber of Commerce and the productive sectors, has seen the presentation of 40 business ideas.

Big Data and Artificial Intelligence Labs

As for the laboratory areas, another fundamental theme for innovation, the Rector said that "new poles for the juridical, biomedical and humanistic area will be created. As for the latter, a laboratory for the analysis of Big Data and predictive analysis in the territorial area is under construction, with a total investment of 2 million and 400 thousand euros". 

Referring to the large equipment, the Rector explained that "a development and updating plan has been prepared and approved. The Cesar, for example, will become a more flexible and functional structure, based on a network of specialized poles. Among these are also the new laboratory center dedicated to Artificial Intelligence, now transversal to all disciplines. 

The Department of Innovation of Olbia

The Rector then spoke about Olbia and the activities of the University of Sassari with the administrative and managerial support of the Consorzio Polo Universitario Olbia (UniOlbia).

"Our work on the territory is the result of a vision that puts innovation at the center of a territorialized planning action, which contemplates the next creation of a strategic innovation system in the Olbia office, in the headquarters of the PTE which represents the operational embryo of the constituting Department for Innovation" said the Rector. 

⏩ What the Department of Innovation will be like

The intense inauguration at the Teatro Verdi in Sassari - with guests the archbishop of Sassari Monsignor Gian Franco Saba, the mayor of Sassari Gian Vittorio Campus, the regional councillor Carlo Doria, the singer Maria Giovanna Cherchi, Tenores of Bitti, the association goliardia sassarese and with the intervention of Alessio Cudoni representing the students and Alma Cardi for the technical staff - consolidated the role of the University of Sassari as a center of innovation with ambitious projects for the modernization of both the economy and society of Sardinia.

⏩ THE SPEECH OF THE RECTOR GAVINO MARIOTTI