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May 29, students from Università and  Politecnico di Torino presented their innovative solutions in response to the “Indigo” Challenges organized by the University of Turin for Spoke 1 NODES. The proposed challenges came from two major groups in the area, SKF and Teoresi. Complex objectives SKF, which is expanding its facility, was seeking solutions for designing innovative, digitized and sustainable aerospace spaces to enhance the work and hospitality experience by integrating advanced technologies, environmentally sustainable solutions and new ways of training and collaboration. Teoresi, on the other hand, wants to take the macro-topic of smart mobility head-on, particularly two of its key aspects. Increasingly connected and autonomous mobility and the concept of sustainability, both environmental and economic. In particular, Teoresi sought solutions for the specific context of share-mobility with a fleet of electric, connected and autonomous cars in a medium-sized city. The winning teams are “spotApark” for the Teoresi Challenge and “Skylab” for the SKF challenge. All teams demonstrated excellent skills and inventiveness, and support was never lacking. Business mentors accompanied the teams' growth through to the final pitches, with valuable support from I3P, the Incubator of the Politecnico di Torino and partner of Spoke 1. Devising market solutions is a complex issue, and identifying both technologically and economically viable systems, considering current technological limitations and contextualizing possible applications, while thinking ahead to possible further developments, is a major undertaking that consolidated the teams' capabilities. Students Challenges offer companies a concrete opportunity to co-develop innovative solutions with new talent, while undergraduate students, thanks to “learning by doing,” can engage with local business realities, a highly formative and enabling experience in preparation to their first step in the job market.   Indigo Challenge SKF   Indigo Challenge Teoresi      

Once again, the Startup Academy by I3P is helping shape the next generation of young entrepreneurs. The course successfully supported aspiring startup founders in the early stages of their journey, helping them turn innovative ideas into concrete projects, build teams with complementary skills, and launch the customer discovery process. Throughout the program, participants explored tools to validate their business ideas and analyze potential target markets.   The training experience was enriched by direct exchanges with scale-up founders and venture capitalists, who shared real-world insights into what it takes to build a successful entrepreneurial story. Expert mentors and active startups—particularly in the aerospace and sustainable mobility sectors, supported by Spoke 1 of the NODES Ecosystem—helped create a dynamic, stimulating environment full of opportunities.

On 30 May, the final event of the APNR – Academy del Pinot Nero Research project was held at the Prime Alture agricultural company (lead partner), in collaboration with Geosmartcampus Srl. APNR is an industrial Proof of Concept funded under the Cascade Calls – Line A of the NODES – Nord Ovest Digitale e Sostenibile programme, aimed at developing innovative technologies and strategies to enhance the Pinot Noir supply chain in the Oltrepò Pavese region of northern Italy.   The project focused on two complementary areas: experimental fieldwork in the vineyard, with the installation of pilot systems, and market research to analyse consumer preferences and refine product positioning strategies. Among the innovations tested in the vineyard, special attention was given to the use of inter-row mulching, an agronomic technique involving the autumn-winter sowing of temporary cover crops. These are later shredded and channelled beneath the vines using a dual-row mulching machine, creating a uniform organic layer. This practice significantly suppressed weed regrowth throughout the season without the need for further intervention, while repurposing plant residues from within the vineyard ecosystem itself—an example of circular sustainability.   A second pilot involved the use of shade nets, designed to reduce incident solar radiation by 20% to 70%. The results were highly promising: the nets helped prevent sunburn on grape clusters and improved overall agronomic performance. Analytical data recorded slightly higher yields (127 kg per row with nets vs. 124 kg without; 2.12 kg per vine with nets vs. 1.87 kg without), better fruit distribution, and healthier vines with minimal fungal disease. Labour was also optimised, as no de-shooting was required and harvesting was easier thanks to the clear and compact cluster arrangement.   On the industrial research side, the APNR team conducted a two-phase market study. The qualitative phase explored emotional responses, perceptions, and narratives surrounding Pinot Noir, gathering insights from sommeliers, chefs, and wine enthusiasts to guide marketing strategies and uncover new consumption occasions. The subsequent quantitative phase validated these insights across a representative sample of wine consumers, identifying high-potential target groups and effective communication strategies to attract and retain new audiences.   APNR has served as a practical example of how combining field-based innovation with market intelligence can produce tangible benefits for wine producers, enabling a shift toward more sustainable, competitive, and consumer-conscious viticulture.

On May 22, the final event of the SPIDAP project – Development of a Digital Platform Based on Artificial Intelligence for Precision Agriculture – was held at the GAL Terre di Aci headquarters in Acireale (CT). The project was funded through the cascade calls.  SPIDAP is the result of a collaborative effort between Sicilian SMEs Agrigeos and Lualtek, and the CNR-IMEM Institute in Parma. It integrates artificial intelligence, advanced sensor technology, and agronomic analysis to optimize water usage and improve the sustainability of citrus production—an innovative step forward for smart agriculture tailored to local needs. The event was moderated by Mariarita Zappalà (Agrigeos), and opened with institutional remarks by Anna Privitera (Director, GAL Terre di Aci), who emphasized the GAL’s role in promoting agricultural innovation in a region with a strong citrus-growing tradition. Chiara Ferroni, Director of the NODES ecosystem, highlighted the achievements of the program, which has supported over 300 companies, including many in Southern Italy. Salvo Nicolosi (General Manager, Agrigeos) underlined the importance of partnerships between SMEs and research centers in developing knowledge and technologies to advance the agricultural sector. The technical session featured presentations by Marco Acciai (Agrigeos), who showcased field and controlled-environment results using the Plantarray phenotyping system and the Bioristor sensor developed by CNR-IMEM. Michela Janni (CNR-IMEM) explained how the Bioristor enables real-time monitoring of plant physiology, essentially allowing researchers to “listen” to the plants. Luca Occhipinti (CEO, Lualtek) closed the session by demonstrating how Bioristor data and electrical conductivity readings can be integrated into predictive models to optimize irrigation. The event concluded with a shared commitment to continue data collection and refine the predictive model, confirming the value of a collaboration that has already yielded promising results for the digital transformation of the citrus sector.

Il 27 e 28 maggio 2025 lo Spoke 2 – Green Technologies e Industria Sostenibile ha partecipato ai NODES’ Tech Sharing Days presso il Politecnico di Torino con 14 PoC accademici, portando al centro dell’evento le competenze, le idee e i risultati sviluppati nei laboratori dell’Università e dei partner coinvolti. I PoC dello Spoke 2 – FSM2C, GREEN.VAL., ISS, MATERIALIZED, SPONDE, WAKEUP, T2T, Biocare, BioReMediA, DST-SRM, PFS, REDiRECt-Gd, REFINEMENT, ROSEWATER – hanno avuto l’opportunità di raccontarsi attraverso diverse modalità: poster, materiale divulgativo, banchetti all’aperto e in particolare con una serie di pitch da tre minuti in cui i team hanno illustrato in modo diretto e dinamico i propri progetti a un pubblico composto da stakeholder, aziende, investitori e operatori dell’innovazione.   A rappresentare l’Università degli Studi di Torino, capofila dello Spoke 2, è intervenuta Cristina Prandi, Responsabile Scientifica dello Spoke, durante la tavola rotonda dal titolo “Innovazione e trasferimento tecnologico: NODES e la Ricerca accademica come motore d’impresa” con Giuliana Mattiazzo (Politecnico di Torino), Andrea Vezzulli (Università degli Studi dell'Insubria), Marco Alderighi (Università della Valle d'Aosta), Marco Invernizzi (Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale), Hermes Giberti (Università degli Studi di Pavia) e Andrea Pieroni (Università di Scienze Gastronomiche). Nella prima parte dell’incontro – “Il punto di vista degli atenei: cooperazione, ricerca applicata, impatto territoriale” – hanno illustrato il ruolo strategico della ricerca universitaria nel generare soluzioni ad alto impatto per il tessuto produttivo del Nord Ovest. La partecipazione dello Spoke 2 ai NODES’ Tech Sharing Days ha dimostrato come la collaborazione tra accademia e impresa, se ben strutturata, possa concretamente accelerare il trasferimento tecnologico e lo sviluppo di innovazioni sostenibili.   🔎 Per scoprire di più sui PoC dello Spoke 2, visita la pagina dedicata Scopri di più

Il 27 e 28 maggio 2025, presso il Politecnico di Torino si sono tenuti i NODES’ Tech Sharing Days, due giorni interamente dedicati all’innovazione sostenibile e al trasferimento tecnologico, dove la ricerca accademica incontra il mondo delle imprese e genera nuove opportunità per il Nord Ovest.   Nel corso della seconda giornata sono stati protagonisti 30 Proof of Concept (PoC) Accademici, sviluppati all’interno del progetto NODES – Nord Ovest Digitale e Sostenibile, e finanziati dal Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca attraverso i fondi PNRR – NextGenerationEU.   Lo Spoke 3 era presente con 8 progetti dedicati al settore del turismo e della Cultura; l'Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, l'Università della Valle D'Aosta, l'Università degli Studi di Torino e l'Università del Piemonte Orientale hanno avuto l'opportunità di presentare i loro POC di fronte ad una vasta platea composta da imprese, professionisti del settore e ricercatori.   Infine, i team dello Spoke 3 hanno avuto a disposizione una grande area espositiva allestita nel cortile del Politecnico, dove hanno potuto mostrare materiali, risultati e confrontarsi direttamente con investitori, stakeholder e imprese. I presenti hanno avuto inoltre la possibilità di fare delle esperienze immersive mediante l'utilizzo di visori 3D.  

I NODES’ Tech Sharing Days, andati in scena il 27 e 28 maggio 2025 al Politecnico di Torino, hanno confermato il valore della conoscenza scientifica quando si traduce in impatto concreto, utile e condiviso. L’iniziativa ha trasformato gli spazi dell’Ateneo in una piattaforma viva di scambio tra università, centri di ricerca, imprese e stakeholder, con l’obiettivo di favorire la transizione digitale ed ecologica e rafforzare il legame tra sapere e sviluppo locale.   Una due giorni di incontri, dialoghi e confronto tra ricerca, impresa e territorio che ha visto protagonisti gli oltre 60 Proof of Concept (PoC) accademici sviluppati nell’ambito dell’Ecosistema dell’Innovazione NODES – Nord Ovest Digitale e Sostenibile capaci di suscitare molto interesse tra il pubblico.

On May 26, 2025, Spoke 1 – Aerospace and Sustainable Mobility held the workshop “Doing Business in Space”, a day of discussion focused on the economic, strategic, and institutional dynamics that are reshaping the space sector in the era of the New Space Economy. The workshop brought together professors and researchers from internationally renowned universities and research centers, with expertise in innovation economics, strategic management, and policy analysis, alongside both emerging and established business players, including high-level startups and companies. The goal of the workshop was to develop a structured perspective on the ongoing transformations in the space sector, with particular attention to emerging governance models, enabling technological trajectories, and the mechanisms of interaction between public and private actors. The working sessions alternated between theoretical contributions and case study presentations, offering valuable insights into market configurations, research support policies, and the evolution of the space industry value chains.

Students do business. The final presentations of the NODES project of the Challenge took place on May 23, featuring students from the GEEM (IBE) and CLEDIFI (FIMIF-FIMEDIS) Master's Degree courses in Economics at the University of Insubria.   The objective of the project, coordinated by Professor Rossella Locatelli and Professor Alessia Pisoni, was twofold:   - Allow students to work with local businesses on the topics of innovation and sustainability - Experiment with educational collaboration between students from Master's Degree courses characterized by different educational objectives   The students presented in-depth market analyses to the company Novello Case - bioedilizia3, supported by detailed financial assessments developed during the last semester, proposing innovative strategies in response to the company's strategic and financial needs.  

The DigiFarm project has successfully concluded. This industrial Proof of Concept (POC), funded through the cascade call Line A, was developed to provide innovative tools to dairy sector enterprises, with the goal of improving nutritional and economic efficiency in milk production. At the heart of the project lies a well-known challenge for farmers: feed costs can account for up to 60% of the total cost of milk production. DigiFarm tackled this issue by developing a simple, effective, and easily applicable assessment model, based on a system of aggregated indicators capable of delivering a clear picture of farm performance—even with minimal field data. The strength of the model lies in its accessibility: it does not require full corporate accounting and can be adopted even by small and medium-sized enterprises, which make up the majority of Italy’s livestock production sector. By integrating technical and economic data, DigiFarm overcomes the limitations of partial indicators, which are often affected by external variables such as market fluctuations in feed or milk prices. The model enables precise identification of areas for improvement, enhancing production efficiency and economic sustainability for the farms involved. The results gathered during implementation confirm the model’s effectiveness: good feed conversion efficiency, satisfactory milk quality, and cost coverage even in less favorable market conditions. Beyond operational benefits, DigiFarm has also had a positive impact in terms of training and professional development, strengthening participants’ skills in livestock data analysis, efficiency modeling, and knowledge transfer to the production sector. DigiFarm stands as a concrete example of how digital innovation can support the agro-food sector’s transition toward more resilient, sustainable, and quality-driven production models—fully aligned with the priorities of the new European agriculture.

NODES Spoke 2 participates in the BioeCO2nomy event with its researchers and the GRIP project On Thursday 22 May 2025, on the occasion of the National Bioeconomy Day, Spoke 2 of NODES - Green technologies and sustainable industries will be among the protagonists of the event ‘The BioeCO2nomy: Opportunities and challenges in CO₂ reduction, capture and reuse’, organised at the Environment Park Conference Centre in Turin. Promoted by the CLEVER Cluster, the initiative is part of the national calendar of events organised by Cluster SPRING and Assobiotec-Federchimica, with the aim of exploring the opportunities offered by the circular bioeconomy and the new frontiers of decarbonisation.   Spoke 2's GRIP research is told Spoke 2 will be present thanks to the contribution of two researchers involved in the GRIP programme activities: Silvia Fraterrigo Garofalo and Samir Bensaid from the Politecnico di Torino. The researcher will present the project during the morning session devoted to advanced technologies for CO₂ enhancement, illustrating innovative solutions developed within the framework of the applied research pathway promoted by NODES. “La BioeCO2nomy” rappresenta un’occasione preziosa di confronto tra imprese, centri di ricerca e stakeholder del territorio, con momenti di networking, incontri B2B e visite ai laboratori di Environment Park. Una vetrina importante anche per valorizzare il ruolo strategico delle tecnologie CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage) e la capacità del sistema dell’innovazione di rispondere concretamente alle sfide della transizione ecologica. ‘BioeCO2nomy’ represents a valuable opportunity for companies, research centres and local stakeholders to meet, with networking opportunities, B2B meetings and visits to Environment Park laboratories. It is also an important showcase for highlighting the strategic role of CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage) technologies and the ability of the innovation system to respond concretely to the challenges of the ecological transition.   Find out more and subscribe

From May 19, 2025 to June 19, 2025, the experience “Alla Volta di Como” will be active, the urban game developed by the students of the Scuola Specializzata Superiore d’Arte Applicata of Lugano and the students of the Master’s Degree in Hospitality for Sustainable Tourism Development of the University of Insubria, supported by Spoke 3 (Nord Ovest Digitale e Sostenibile) of the NODES project.   The game, available in Italian and English and completely free, will offer a treasure hunt to discover the cultural heritage of the city of Como, among curious details and hidden itineraries, riddles and prizes; five stages, a city to discover and historical figures ready to challenge you with questions and stories to be experienced.   A special frog and five historical figures in augmented reality will guide you, for a fun and dynamic experience.   The activity is open to everyone.   Find out how to participate by scanning the QR code on the poster!