An achievement that confirms the project excellence and entrepreneurial potential of NODES Spoke 6, turning research and innovation into concrete, nationally recognized ventures.   Outstanding results for NODES at the 2025 Startup Contest organized by Borsa della Ricerca: two of the ten winning projects come from Spoke 6, making NODES the only PNRR-funded ecosystem to receive a double award.   The Startup Contest is a national initiative designed to highlight entrepreneurial ideas and emerging startups developed within PNRR projects. The 2025 edition saw the participation of 50 teams who presented their solutions and proof-of-concepts to a national audience of over 100 leading companies and investors, including Thermo Fisher, RINA, De Longhi, ENAV, EssilorLuxottica, Colussi, Zoppas and Giuliani. The winners were selected by a jury of R&D managers from Barilla, NTTData, Webuild, Pfizer, and representatives of Invitalia.   The two winning projects from Spoke 6 are: 🔹 BIORESTART 4.0 – An innovative and sustainable extraction technology for producing functional plant-based ingredients from fruit, vegetable, and aromatic plant by-products. Applications span the food and agrochemical sectors, with clear environmental and cost benefits compared to traditional solvent-based methods. 🔹 DEMETRA – A virtual reality training system for agricultural workers that enables learning of crop-handling techniques regardless of seasonality. Real farming tools are adapted for virtual interaction, offering companies reduced training costs, time savings, and standardized learning outcomes.   Both teams will participate in the Forum EXPO PNRR, to be held in Catania from October 1 to 3, 2025, with a customized agenda of B2B meetings with investors, companies, and innovation stakeholders.

At the international conference TerraenVision 2025 – Nature-based Solutions to Facilitate the Transitions for Living within the Planetary Boundaries, held in Granada from July 8 to 11, the NH1 panel dedicated to Spoke 6 of the NODES project took place with great success.   Hosted at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Caminos, Canales y Puertos of the University of Granada, the event attracted a large and engaged audience and was part of three intensive days of scientific sessions, plenaries, debates, and field activities focused on nature-based solutions for climate resilience.   The panel, titled Innovative solutions for increasing resilience to water-related hazards and soil erosion in agricultural areas, was coordinated by Valerio Vivaldi, Valentina Vaglia, and Chiara Toffanin (University of Pavia), and represented an important opportunity for dissemination and international engagement for Spoke 6 within the broader NODES initiative.   Strongly interdisciplinary, the panel reflected the diverse core areas of Spoke 6 and its flagship projects, bringing together expertise in agronomy, hydrogeology, engineering, biology, and digital technologies.   Among the key contributions, Nadia Bertolino presented a project integrating water resilience, agricultural production, and energy generation at Cascina Vialone; Giovanni Marchese discussed new agronomic scenarios for viticulture in the Oltrepò Pavese; and Valerio Vivaldi introduced an integrated approach for assessing shallow landslide susceptibility on vineyard slopes. Antonio Gambarani illustrated the positive effects of Nature-based Solutions on soil degradation mitigation, while Ali Hajian and Kima Saber Sichanii analyzed the mechanical behavior of clayey soils treated with fungal agents. Joining remotely, Fabio Dell’Acqua presented an advanced satellite-based monitoring system applied to vineyards in Northern Italy, developed within the NODES project.   The strong participation and vibrant discussion among experts confirmed the high scientific value of the session and the strategic role of Spoke 6 in addressing environmental challenges through systemic, innovative, and integrated approaches.

On Tuesday, 24 June, a meeting was held at the Council Hall of the Municipality of Sant’Alessio con Vialone between the Research Module 1 team of the flagship project Formidabilae, Mayor Ivana Maria Cartanì, and agricultural entrepreneur Stefano Lamberti, owner of Tenuta Vialone.   The discussion aimed to explore the future sustainability of agricultural enterprises and to reflect on the role that the farm of the future can play as a productive, energetic, and social space in response to current environmental and territorial challenges. The research project, developed by AUDE Lab of the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture at the University of Pavia, proposes a reconfiguration of the traditional Lombard farmstead as an ideal model of an agro-energetic farm—capable of integrating technological innovation, landscape stewardship, energy self-sufficiency, and community values.   During the meeting, Prof. Carlo Berizzi and Prof. Nadia Bertolino, supported by research interns Adele Bianchi and Beatrice Zanetti, presented the preliminary outcomes of a design-based research project centred on Cascina Vialone, used as a case study to explore alternative models of agriculture and land management.   The collaboration between research, local government, and economic stakeholders proved to be a strategic driver for promoting high-impact social innovation, and will be publicly shared through the upcoming exhibition “Cultivating the Future: Agriculture, Energy, Community”, curated by the AUDE Lab team and scheduled for Autumn 2025. This initiative is part of the broader mission of the PNRR NODES project to develop sustainable models of agro-industrial innovation that generate territorial and collective value.

On 12 June 2025, the final conference of the SmartSilo project was held at the headquarters of SIVAM S.p.A., as part of the NODES – Nord Ovest Digitale e Sostenibile programme (Spoke 6 – Primary Agroindustry). Together with Società Agricola Berticelli Luigi S.S. and the research centre CERZOO, around 30 dairy farmers and stakeholders gathered to share the key outcomes of the project.   During the event, an intelligent silo system was presented, equipped with electronic load cells capable of remotely monitoring daily feed and supplement consumption. Through digital monitoring and the use of advanced sensors such as ruminal boluses, the project enabled more efficient logistics, reduced waste and packaging, and optimised cow diet management based on precision feeding principles.   Professor Francesco Masoero presented CERZOO’s scientific contribution to the experimental validation of the system, highlighting its benefits in terms of environmental sustainability and animal welfare.   The event underlined the crucial role of digitalisation in making the dairy supply chain more efficient and resilient, in line with the objectives of Spoke 6. With the official project closure, a wider dissemination phase of the results will soon begin to encourage the adoption of the SmartSilo system across the sector.