Events

The collaborative work between the Polytechnic and Panacea Social Forum continues As part of our research on the reuse of byproducts from Piedmont's secondary agro-industry, we're starting to develop the technical data sheet for apple pomace. This tool will allow us to recognize pomace—the residue from fruit pressing—as a reusable byproduct, capable of being used in new food production processes.   Thanks to the technical support of the Chemical Laboratory of the Turin Chamber of Commerce and Ecocerved, the factsheet will allow us to valorize the pomace produced by Cascina Danesa—a company specializing in the production of organic juices and ciders—by reusing it in the creation of new circular baked goods, developed in collaboration between the Polytechnic University of Turin and Panacea Social Farm.   The factsheet will represent a concrete tool for the companies involved and a replicable model for other byproducts, thus contributing to building a circular economy that fosters synergy between small local producers and promotes sustainability. The initiative is part of the appl[e]ause research, developed by Cristian Campagnaro and Raffaele Passaro of the Department of Architecture and Design at the Polytechnic University of Turin, part of the PNRR NODES – Spoke 7 project.   The process of creating the card will be presented during the webinar By-products and sustainable development, organized by Unioncamere Piemonte and the Chemical Laboratory of the Turin Chamber of Commerce, scheduled for Thursday, July 10.   Attend the event

The Department of Law, Economics and Cultures of the University of Insubria, in collaboration with Governors State University (Illinois, USA), has organized an international workshop on 8, 9 and 10 July 2025 at the Como Sant'Abbondio campus entitled: "International workshop Sustainable Destination Development Governors State University" which will be part of the GovState Faculty-Led Study Abroad Program “Honors Seminar in Rome 2025”.   The workshop will allow us to develop internationalization and develop new synergies with foreign universities. Of particular value is the possibility of welcoming the group of American scholars and students to the Como area to show in practice the results of our research activity through an immersive experience in the territorial realities partnered with NODES. The focus of the meeting will be to promote the development of research also with international entities (e.g. universities, museums, tourism and culture companies).   The themes of the event are closely connected with the objective of the NODES Ecosystem to grow the territory by using a sustainability perspective and creating direct interaction with the actors present in the territory but also of international scope.   Specifically, topics such as: experiential and sustainable hospitality to promote tourist attractiveness through the offer of unconventional, immersive and sustainable experiences; integrated tourist offer for use and integrated tourist communication aimed at enhancing local assets in a systematic way (for example, tourist packages), also through the use of digital tools.   The three-day program offers an immersive learning experience in the field of tourism destination management, with particular attention to the development of sustainable tourism. Through a combination of lectures, field trips, workshops and group activities, students will explore how tourist destinations can be managed effectively, while addressing the challenges of economic, environmental and socio-cultural sustainability.     Consult the flyer with the program.  

On Monday, July 7, 2025, from 2:30 PM to 5:15 PM, a meeting entitled "NODES CHALLENGES Initiatives for Local Innovation" will be held at Villa Toeplitz in Varese. The event, organized by the University of Insubria, leader of Spoke 3, was designed to present to citizens, businesses, and researchers the results of three challenges that have involved several Uninsubria students in recent months. Specifically, these students are from the Department of Economics, coordinated by Professors Patrizia Gazzola, Rossella Locatelli, and Alessia Pisoni, and from the Department of Law, Economics, and Cultures, coordinated by Professor Roberta Minazzi. They have had the opportunity to collaborate with leading local businesses. The three challenges: "Business Tools and Strategies for the Promotion and Communication of Cultural Initiatives for Nonprofits," "Wood for Innovative Structures at the Service of Sustainable Tourism," and "Wonderwood 2030" aimed to expose students to the comprehensive challenges companies face daily in their business and development journeys, and to develop targeted projects.   Challenge: "Business Tools and Strategies for the Promotion and Communication of Cultural Initiatives for Nonprofits" - Department of Economics   Each project was based on the management of a program of subprojects with a tutor acting as advisor and program management officer. This enabled students to work in teams on interconnected yet independent activities, each with specific objectives, deadlines, and deliverables within an integrated project ecosystem. This methodology enabled students to concretely develop their transversal skills (both classroom-acquired and personal) in a real-world context.   LAKE WRITINGS a. Mission: Culture as a strategic lever enabling new tourism formats and combating unbalanced tourism (aka overtourism). b. Operational objective: Create new experiential cultural formats with a multidisciplinary, evocative, accessible, and memorable narrative and artistic approach.   ENVY BOOKTRAILER a. Mission: Expand the reach of young audiences within the publishing market through strategic use of social media and innovation of the in-store and online customer journey, benefiting both small and large publishing houses. b. Operational objective: Increase sales of books for young audiences through targeted campaigns on TikTok and the introduction of promotional video trailers during the product evaluation phase, both online and in digital stores.   HARONIZATION OF TOURIST FLOWS AND NEW EXPERIENTIAL FORMATS   PILOT CASE DEVELOPMENT OF THE "MUSEO DELLA BARCA LARIANA" a. Mission: Culture as a strategic lever enabling new tourism formats and combating unbalanced tourism (aka overtourism). Use case: Revamping the Lariana Boat Museum b. Operational objective: Create new experiential cultural formats with a multidisciplinary, evocative, accessible, and memorable cultural, artistic, and sports program. Development of the use case in two steps: 1. Cover operating costs with a short-term strategy; 2. Integrate the museum into tourism formats with a medium-term strategy.   Challenge: "Wood for innovative structures serving sustainable tourism" - Department of Economics   As part of NovelloCase's activities, an entrepreneurial project has been conceived, currently in the early-stage phase. The project involves the construction of "nomadic housing modules" that can be used primarily for sustainable tourism experiences (e.g., immersive nature experiences). To implement it, students were asked to conduct strategic and financial analyses to assess the project's feasibility and sustainability.   The challenge proposed by NovelloCase represented an excellent opportunity to "experiment" with innovative teaching methods, involving both students from the GEEM/IBE Master's Degree Program (course "Open Innovation and Startup Ecosystems") and students from the EDIFI/FIMEDIS Master's Degree Program (course "Lab: Sustainability and the Financial System"). The former focused on analyzing the business and market model, the latter on analyzing the investment's economic and financial sustainability.   At the end of the semester, the two working groups submitted to NovelloCase a proposed "strategic roadmap" to support the company's management decision-making process. To this end, the various "strategic options" formulated by the students were supported by in-depth economic and financial analyses that allowed the company to assess the feasibility of the project (in terms of investment, economic return, and medium- to long-term sustainability) and then its implementation.   This collaborative experiment among students from diverse backgrounds, based on a cross-fertilization approach (students involved in group work tend to "absorb knowledge," contributing their skills and expertise to the realization of projects with a common goal), was a resounding success among the students involved and was fully appreciated by the company management, who complimented the faculty for their work in addressing the proposed challenge.   Challenge: "Wonderwood 2030" Department of Law, Economics, and Cultures   The challenge, launched in collaboration with Professor Stefania Cerutti of the University of Eastern Piedmont, saw the active participation of students, both male and female, who were asked to develop strategic proposals for the tourism and leisure development of the Wonderwood park in the mountainous area of Trarego Viggiona (VB), on the Piedmontese side of Lake Maggiore. The projects had to answer a series of concrete questions posed by Wonderwood, an innovative startup in the sustainable entertainment sector, with the aim of analyzing development scenarios, market targets, and potential for transforming the area into a new sustainable, multi-target destination open year-round.   During the event, professors, students, and representatives of the companies involved will discuss the challenges, objectives, and results achieved.   Iscriviti qui

A seminar on sustainability in Pavia: an integrated approach for the future of the planet On June 20, 2025, at Simbiosi – Innovation Center Giulio Natta in Giussago (PV), an unmissable event will be held for those interested in the sustainable future of our society.   The seminar, open both in presence (with mandatory registration by June 9 at this link) and online without the need for registration, it will offer an in-depth overview of sustainability through an integrated approach that embraces the entire supply chain, from industry to health.   During the day we will talk about: sustainable technologies for efficient use of environmental resources; circular economy strategies and waste valorization; extraction of bioactive molecules with nutraceutical and therapeutic potential, also in the fight against malnutrition. The program also includes a guided tour of Simbiosi, a unique opportunity to discover green technologies already in operation, immersed in a natural environment consistent with the values ​​of innovation and environmental responsibility. Simbiosi was born from agro-environmental research projects and today presents itself as a point of reference in the application of sustainable solutions for industry, public services and the real estate sector.   With the concept of "Environment Producers", it promotes the conscious use of natural resources, the reduction of emissions, the valorization of waste and the protection of biodiversity. An event not to be missed for those who want to be a protagonist of the ecological transition.   Register by June 9th to participate in person! Or follow the event online, without the need to register.

The conference "Archives and Memory, Sources and Cultural Heritage: Comparing Research and Enhancement Experiences" is organized by the University of Turin (Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Modern Cultures, Department of Humanities, and Department of Historical Studies) on Thursday, June 19th in the Terracini Degree Hall in Palazzo Nuovo (Via Sant'Ottavio, 20; from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm) and on Friday, June 20th in the Degree Hall of the Aldo Moro Complex (Via Giuseppe Verdi, 41; from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm).   The event aims to bring together scholars who, from different perspectives, engage with the scale and space of archives and representatives of organizations dedicated to the preservation and safeguarding of various types of archival collections.   Archival sources represent a cross-disciplinary research focus (history, art history, linguistics, musicology, demo-anthropology, sociology, ethnology, etc.) and are of enormous importance for understanding and enhancing the region and its cultural heritage. From an interdisciplinary perspective, the discussion will focus on the various practices for promoting archives, reflecting on themes such as historical and oral memory, the valorization of cultural and popular heritage, and the practices of restitution of materials to communities, from the perspective of museums and sustainable tourism.   The conference will develop by comparing the experiences of several archives that, due to their multiple value, lend themselves to interdisciplinary research: the archive of the Fondazione Istituto Piemontese "Antonio Gramsci," which contains over 200 archival collections containing diverse materials, primarily related to the history of the Turin labor movement and associations, but also the personal archives of individual scholars; The Nuto Revelli Foundation archive, which preserves and promotes over a thousand hours of recordings, recently restored and digitized, as well as over 50 linear meters of photographs, letters, and testimonies from World War II, the struggle for liberation from Nazi-fascism, the Alpine troops in Russia, and the rural world; the CREO (Ethnomusic and Oral History Research Center) archive, which houses field recordings of traditional oral music and singing, as well as political and social singing; and the ABACVM (Waldensian and Methodist Cultural Heritage and Activities Archive) information system, a digital platform developed to catalog, disseminate, and promote the Methodist and Waldensian cultural heritage online.   In addition to offering an opportunity to introduce the various archives and their specificities to the scientific community, the event will also provide visibility to the organizations involved in the preservation of these materials, with the aim of proposing new visions and perspectives for their protection, promotion, and restitution. The conference will present the developments of research conducted by numerous members of NODES - Spoke 3 Tourism and Culture Industry from various Northwestern universities involved in the project (UniTo, UniVDA, UPO, UnInsubria).   The two-day conference will consist of four thematic sessions, each opening with an invited presentation. The first is dedicated to archival sources from the perspective of historical research, and will open with a presentation by Alessandro Casellato (Ca' Foscari University of Venice) entitled "Oral Archives and Historical Research: A Range of Opportunities." The second focuses on the study of archives for linguistic research, and will be introduced by a presentation by Silvia Calamai (University of Siena) entitled "Why Can't Linguistics Ignore the Oral Archives of the Past?". The third section focuses on archives of popular heritage and oral memory for ethnographic and anthropological research, opening with a joint presentation by Piercarlo Grimaldi (University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo) and Davide Porporato (University of Eastern Piedmont "Amedeo Avogadro"), entitled "From Orality to Digital: The Granaries of Memory." Finally, the fourth section focuses on experiences in leveraging archival sources for the promotion of the local area, opening with a joint presentation by Stefania Cerutti and Stefania Benetti (University of Eastern Piedmont "Amedeo Avogadro"), entitled "Catalyst of Innovation: TOEP as a Digital Archive for Creative Projects."   Participation in the conference is free.  

A meno di sei mesi dalla conclusione, vengono presentati i risultati del progetto NODES (Nord Ovest Digitale E Sostenibile), l’ecosistema di innovazione del Nord-Ovest. L'incontro si terrà ad Aosta, al Nuovo Polo Universitario, il 10 giugno 2025.   La locandina con il programma completo è visionabile tra gli allegati.   Per iscriversi compilare il form a questo link

The University of Insubria, leader of Spoke 3, has organized in collaboration with the Como Lecco Chamber of Commerce and the patronage of: Confindustria Como, Confartigianato Imprese Como, the Italian Association of Textile Designers and the Como Aldo Galli Academy a conference entitled "AI in the textile sector: opportunities, critical issues, regulation".   The event will be held on June 4, 2025 from 2:30 pm to 6:00 pm at the Como Lecco Chamber of Commerce, Via Parini 16 - Sala Auditorium G. Scacchi and is open to all.   Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the world of fashion and in particular the textile industry. The conference aims to highlight how these events are developing with particular reference to two sectors: intellectual property and sustainability.   The conference will focus on three key themes: 1. the digitalization of archives in the textile/fashion sector and their use to renew creativity in the company 2. artificial intelligence as a driver of creativity in the fashion sector 3. artificial intelligence as a tool to promote sustainability in the fashion sector.   Each theme will be addressed in the light of practical experiences that have emerged in the corporate world, with attention to the legal issues that emerge in each context.   The conference focuses on the dialectic between territory, companies and universities created with the NODES project and addresses a very important theme that emerged during the project, namely the impact of the regulatory framework on companies that will have to deal with the new challenges arising from digitalization and sustainability.   The focus of the meeting will be to compare the needs and problems of companies in the sector with the answers that legal experts will be able to provide. In this way, the interdisciplinary dialogue and the relationship with the university will be strengthened, which presents itself to the territory as a place where answers to the challenges arising from the green and digital transitions can be found.   Sign up here

On May 29 and 30, 2025, the Aula Magna of the University of Valle D'Aosta will host the workshop entitled: “New Frontiers in Big Data and Artificial Intelligence”.   Following the considerable interest that all aspects of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data are recently obtaining, and the specific relevance of the topic also within the NODES project, the 2025 edition of the workshop will focus on the topics of digital mountains, smart working and sustainable tourism and on how Big Data and Artificial Intelligence can provide innovative and effective tools to address these challenges.   Big Data allows to analyze large volumes of information, revealing patterns and trends that would otherwise be hidden, while Artificial Intelligence adds a level of understanding and prediction through advanced algorithms. For example, in the mountain area, the analysis of Big Data allows to monitor and manage natural resources, weather forecasts and tourist flows in real time, optimizing environmental management and reducing the ecological impact.   AI can improve the efficiency of smart working in mountain areas, promoting connectivity and energy resource management, allowing a more balanced and sustainable life in remote contexts. In sustainable tourism, Big Data and AI can allow to personalize visitors' experiences, manage the capacity of tourist destinations and promote ecological practices, contributing to a balance between economic development and environmental preservation.   During the workshop, scholars, academics and researchers, practitioners, representatives of civil and productive society will speak with in-depth seminars on the topic, in the presence of authoritative representatives of the main public and territorial institutions, also protagonists of a round table with the aim of creating a proactive institutional framework.   The event is open to all.