05/10/2022
Taranto, 5th October 2022 – Acciaierie d'Italia and Polytechnic University of Bari signed a partnership agreement this morning for technological counseling and sustainable innovation of production processes. The agreement was signed at the Taranto plant by the Rector of Polytechnic University of Bari, Francesco Cupertino, and the CEO of Acciaierie d'Italia, Lucia Morselli, with the Minister of University and Research, Maria Cristina Messa, in video conference, and the Councilor for Economic Development of the Puglia Region, Alessandro Delli Noci, who attested the importance of the project for the Puglia Region.
The agreement sets up a long-term relationship in which the University, through professors and researchers, will support the Company's research, technological development and innovation activities for the steel sector. The common target is to further contribute to the growth of the regional economic and production context and to raise a greater attention on sustainability issues in manufacturing.
Acciaierie d'Italia has created its own Research and Development Center within the Taranto plant to support innovation and improvement of production processes and products. The agreement with the Polytechnic of Bari is part of the collaboration network expansion of the Center, which operates in full scientific autonomy.
In fact, the two realities are already strongly synergic in terms of professional training: 150 engineers out of the approximately 200 currently employed in the Taranto steel plant have graduated from the University of Bari. A number destined to grow thanks to the ongoing selections for the recruitment of additional specialized profiles.
“We want to develop a growing sustainability of steel production, carrying forward the ecological and energy transition also through the agreement signed today. The Polytechnic of Bari is a center of excellence and a technical-scientific guide for Puglia Region. This partnership will have an important impact both on us and the university system, and therefore on the territory”, stated Lucia Morselli, CEO of Acciaierie d'Italia.
“The future of Taranto, which we have very much at heart, is linked to that of its steel plant – commented the Rector of the Polytechnic of Bari, Francesco Cupertino – so we are very pleased to collaborate on the key issues of sustainability. The Polytechnic – added the Rector – has been present in Taranto since its foundation, and today it wants to support, through research and technology transfer, new production models that match the needs of industry with those of work, health and the environment. We are convinced that we can build an ecosystem of innovation - concluded Cupertino – involving universities, large and small businesses, innovative startups, institutions and trade associations, to make this area an experimentation laboratory at European-level”.
"Energy emancipation from fossil fuels and focus on renewable energy – said the Councilor for Economic Development of the Puglia Region, Alessandro Delli Noci – is the challenge on which the Puglia Region bet a few years ago and which becomes central today. This is especially true for the city of Taranto that we have nominated in the flag project of the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) as the city of hydrogen. In this context, research projects and the production of innovative ideas become central and this partnership between Acciaierie d’Italia and Polytechnic University of Bari can only meet this need and speed up the energy transition process in our Region”.
For further information:
ACCIAIERIE D’ITALIA
Giovanni Spada
Mob. +39 335 1070914
[email protected]
LIFONTI & COMPANY
Luca Ricci Maccarini
Mob. +39 349 7668028
[email protected]
Amélie Troisi
Mob. +39 348 8397227
[email protected]
POLITECNICO DI BARI
Leonardo Legrottaglie
Tel. +39 080 5962571 – Mob. +39 320 1710528
[email protected]
