Ecosister: Ecosystem for Sustainable Transition in ER

Project

ECOSISTER is a 36 months long project funded with PNRR resources that aims to enhance the global leadership of Emilia-Romagna’s industrial sector. The Emilia-Romagna industrial sector is well developed and absorbs one-third (33%) of the total energy consumption of the Region and employs 30% of the overall working force of the Region.

To support its productive system, the Region decided to build an integrated innovation system coordinated by ART-ER, which supports Emilia-Romagna's technological development and innovation.
In this context, to respond to the ecological and environmental crisis and in line with policy indication at Regional (e.g. Patto per il Lavoro e per il Clima; S3) and European (e.g. Green Deal) level, ECOSISTER developed 6 spoke, each of them insists on a different, but complementary, topic:

Spoke 1, Materials for sustainable and ecological transition
Spoke 2, Clean energy production, storage and savings
Spoke 3, Green manufacturing for a sustainable economy
Spoke 4, Smart-mobility, housing and energy solutions for a carbon-neutral society
Spoke 5, Circular economy & blue economy
Spoke 6, Ecological transition based on HPC - High Performance Computing and Data Technology

Goals

The broad project objective is to respond to the challenge outlined in the Emilia-Romagna Smart Specialization Strategy (S3).

In particular, ECOSISTER, in order to pursue carbon neutrality, conservation of natural resources and the environment and promote a modern, competitive and just local economy, will enhance and facilitate:

regional research and industrial ecosystem as a whole;

projects, services, and initiatives to promote the leap in scale and structural consolidation;

technological transfer and digital transformation of business production and process taking into account economic and environmental sustainability;

the connection and reinforcement of the role of the local community to ensure that the sustainable transition is durable and for all.

To do so, each spoke has its own but complementary objectives:

Spoke 1 aims the development of advanced and sustainable materials and processes through activities which address the ecological transitions of the key industrial sectors of the Region (automotive, packaging etc..);

Spoke 2 aims to create a value chain of research laboratories and companies which works on the lifecycle of clean energy (from production to storage, from transportation to savings) to reduce energy import, foster decarbonisation and increase the flexibility and resiliency of the Energy Systems;

Spoke 3 aims to support the ecological transition of the manufacturing and process industry system of the region through consolidation of green, sustainable, resilient, lean and zero emissions pollution manufacturing and production to drive regional economic and social systems towards sustainable and innovative production;

Spoke 4 aims to foster economic, social and environmental sustainability of the city's development thanks to a re-thinking of mobility (soft-mobility), a rationalization of the use of public space and the promotion of an inclusive infrastructure system to take down barriers and enhance citizens' quality of life;

Spoke 5 aims to help Regions to address EU and national policy goals, Spoke 5 will improve the recovery of materials from waste and wastewater of pillar productive sectors such as agriculture and tourism giving the business and institutions the tools to minimize any potential negative impacts of climate change and waste generation;

Spoke 6 aims to consolidate the Region's position as the National Data Valley by adding and aggregating its competence in High Performance Computers and Data-Science. The activities of Spoke 6 and their results will support all the activities developed in other Spokes.

Role of Certimac

Certimac, as a project partner, will be actively involved in two spoke:

Spoke 1, aimed at developing materials for sustainability and ecological transition, is tightly linked to the regional specialization priority area on “Innovation on materials” and targets key topics related to environmental sustainability and energy efficiency, responding to the need for innovative and smart materials;

Spoke 4, aimed at developing Smart mobility, housing and energy solutions for a carbon-neutral society, key topics for the relational and productive values of the territory of the Emilia-Romagna Region where mobility, housing models and solutions aimed at climate neutrality are intended to develop healthy and active cities.

Generated impacts

ECOSISTER, at the end of the project, intends to create an ecosystem of innovation to foster the growth and the acquisition of new competencies, expertise and knowledge to transfer to new researchers, companies and institutions, to promote sustainable, resilient and people-centered industrIal development and compliance with the European and national policy.