Competence Centre for Mountain Innovation Ecosystems

The Centre promotes the development of innovations in terms of new products, processes and lifestyles that can strengthen or sustain local traditions that guarantee the survival and demographic viability of mountain contexts from an economic, environmental, and social point of view.

The Centre's objective - in keeping with the objectives of Spoke 1 of the iNEST Consortium, of which the Centre is the Implementing Member - is to foster the development of new products, processes and lifestyles capable of consolidating or sustaining the local traditions that guarantee the survival and demographic viability of mountain contexts in every respect (economic, environmental and social). This objective is pursued through a twofold strategy:

Enhancing the strengths of mountain resources (extensive agro-forestry-livestock activities, flourishing tourism in unique environmental ecosystems, biodiversity, multiculturalism and local traditions);
mitigating risks that are particularly relevant in these contexts (fragmentation and security of production systems, difficult logistics, hydrological risks, reduced quality of life).

The Centre promotes interaction between universities and the region in sectors considered of strategic importance for successfully implementing green and technological transitions (energy, smart manufacturing, robotics and mechatronics, materials, AI and data science), making extensive use of interdisciplinary approaches to foster technology transfer actions based on ICT and smart digitalisation, sustainability, circular economy and social investigations. Emphasis is also placed on the identification of resilience solutions related to the relocation of production systems, with in-depth studies on logistics and energy aspects.

Finally, the Centre contributes to the creation of a tourism ecosystem in which culture operates as a key driver of strategic innovation. New, digitally mediated and context-sensitive approaches to the promotion of cultural heritage will be analysed and proposed as a solution for cities and landscapes.

The Centre is entirely financed with funds from the PNRR iNEST project, promoted by the European Union NextGenerationEU (National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) - Mission 4 Component 2, Investment 1.5 - D.D. 1058 23/06/2022, ECS_000043).