The General Assembly NODES awards Flagship Projects on lake Maggiore
On Tuesday, July 16th, in Verbania, on the shores of Lake Maggiore, the fourth General Assembly of the NODES - Nord Ovest Digitale E Sostenibile (Northwest Digital and Sustainable) Ecosystem Innovation was held.
Hosting the event in the enchanting setting of Villa San Remigio was the Rector of the University of Eastern Piedmont, Gian Carlo Avanzi, who welcomed the Assembly and all the key players of the Project: universities, innovation hubs, research centers, incubators, and competence centers, gathered once again to meet and discuss the progress and goals to be achieved during this intense journey.
In the historic rooms of the Villa, recently enhanced and transformed by the University of Eastern Piedmont into an interesting scientific and research hub, Stefano Corgnati, President of NODES, took the floor to start the working session. He emphasized the importance of the NODES project and how the Ecosystem could be a real and concrete driving force for the innovation of the involved territories.
The General Director of NODES, Chiara L.G. Ferroni, then highlighted the numbers of the Ecosystem, presenting the impact NODES is having in terms of employment and innovation for the region and the country. She analyzed the investments made and evaluated the activities planned within the Innovation, Competence, and Research booster, and finally kicked off the competition among research teams for the Pitch & Poster Competition.
Here, a healthy and passionate competition showcased the NODES flagship projects through a true speed dating format, with each team given three minutes to captivate the audience with their flagship project.
The fifteen projects alternated at the microphones in rapid succession, outlining the key aspects of their initiatives and carefully highlighting the three characteristics for which the audience would later cast their votes.
At the end of the presentation of the individual flagship projects, voting was opened, allowing the audience both in the room and online to express their opinions on which project they considered the best in terms of social impact, industrial significance, and dissemination. This resulted in a provisional ranking with a podium of three projects in each category.
However, the technical jury’s vote was still pending. The jury, composed of Giovanni Amateis from Regione Piemonte, Laura Caldaronello from the Unione Industriale del Verbano Cusio Ossola, and Chiara L.G. Ferroni from the NODES Ecosystem, convened during the lunch break for the final evaluations.
The jury effectively confirmed the results expressed by the public, and in the early afternoon, the winners in each category were announced and awarded.
Thanking all the project leaders who participated in this event, the winners of the Pitch & Poster Competition were:
ELECTRO - Best Industrial Impact
INNDIANA - Best Social Impact
SADAIFO-PLANT - Best Dissemination Quality
The afternoon continued with each Spoke presenting the results achieved over the year and the progress of their work. It was evident that they had once again managed to capitalize significantly on the opportunities provided by the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) funds in terms of projects with businesses, industrial and academic PoC projects, and professional growth opportunities through the Competence and Acceleration boosters.
Finally, closing the event, General Director Chiara L.G. Ferroni scheduled the next General Assembly for January 2025. This upcoming meeting will focus not only on the present but also on the future, as 2025 marks the final year of the project. It will be crucial to understand how the journey will continue in terms of exploitation.
