Speakers & Guests

I have been a fixed-term researcher at the University of Parma since May 2023. In general, my research interests include fluid mechanics in relation to sea waves, ocean-atmosphere interaction, flows determined by density gradients (gravity currents, turbulent fountains, transport of scalar quantities in air and water). My research activities are purely experimental: I did laboratory work at the University of Parma and Universidad de Granada during my PhD (2015-2018), and at the University of Delaware, USA, as a postdoctoral researcher from 2021 to 2023.

Immediately after graduating in biological sciences, Leonardo Aguiari focused his work on the reproduction of marine organisms, with a particular emphasis on bivalve molluscs.

Since 2017, he has been responsible for the production of juvenile bivalve molluscs in a hatchery located in Goro (FE). As the Technical and Scientific Director of Naturedulis s.r.l., he oversaw the company's research and development projects, focusing in particular on controlled environment reproduction of mussels, oysters and clams, the selection of improved genetic lines, the implementation of monitoring systems for physico-chemical water parameters, and the cultivation of microalgae for use in aquaculture.

Giannamaria Annunziato is an RTD-b Researcher in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the Department of Food and Drug Sciences, University of Parma. She received her MS degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology from the University of Siena in 2012 and her PhD degree with mention of Doctor Europeaus in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Biomolecules of Health Products from the University of Parma in 2017. During his PhD, he spent several months at ETH Zurich as a visiting PhD student in Prof. Dario Neri's group. After his PhD, he did 2 years of postdoctoral research at the Department of Food and Drug Sciences, University of Parma, working in the field of bacterial resistance. Currently, she is involved in the design and synthesis of small molecules capable of modulating the activity of nonessential enzyme pathways involved in pathogen resistance. She has been a member of the organizing committee of several scientific congresses and has participated in conferences and workshops as a speaker. On 2019, she was elected for a three-year term as a delegate of the Division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry to the Young Group of the Italian Chemical Society (SCI). 

Sanda Aulic currently serves as an Associate at Obloo Ventures. Previously, she held the position of Head of Business Development at a space data startup dealing with climate change. He spent over 7 years in Project Management and Business Development at an energy efficiency investment firm. Meanwhile, he worked as a startup development consultant at the incubator of a major research center. Before entering the corporate and startup world, he worked as an energy specialist at Italy's largest science park. Sanda holds a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Trieste and an MBA from the MIB School of Management. He also completed a Master's degree in Complex Actions at SISSA.

Matteo Bertocchi is the CEO of Novac, an energy storage start-up founded in Modena in 2020.

He started the Novac project, together with three other co-founders, during his engineering studies on the TACC (Training for Automotive Companies Creation) course at UNIMORE.

To date, Novac has raised over € 1 million in investment funds to finance its research into innovative energy storage materials.

On behalf of Novac, Matteo has participated in several national and international start-up accelerator programmes, such as those in Berlin, San Francisco, Houston and Tokyo.

Marco Bianconi is a senior researcher at the National Research Council (CNR). After graduating in Physics from the University of Bologna in 1984, he has carried out research in microelectronics, photonics, sensors and microsystems and has published over 100 articles in international journals. He is vice-president of the Emilia-Romagna Region's Clust-ER Mechatronics and Motor Engineering and is the scientific supervisor of Mister Smart Innovation, a public-private industrial research and technology transfer company, for which he has managed over 100 innovation projects. He is a member of the TTIP board of the Ecosystem for Sustainable Transition in Emilia-Romagna (Ecosister).

A failed architect, then a proud graduate of DAMS in Bologna, she completed her studies at the Master in Publishing founded by Umberto Eco. For more than two decades at the Municipality of Bologna, she has worked in various cultural fields including the promotion of cultural and creative industries, launching the Incredibol! and Bologna Game Farm projects, among others. He currently directs the Culture and Creativity Sector and the Intermediate Unit Economy of the Night at the General Directorate. 

Full Professor of Business Administration at the University of Ferrara, where he is Pro-Rector for Third Mission. Vice-Director of the Department of Economics and Management and the Center for Research on Public Value (CERVAP). Associate Editor of the Journal of Accounting and Organisational Change. Member of the Editorial Board of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Journal of Accounting and Accountability in Emerging Economies, and Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management, and Financial Accountability and Management. Co-chair of the Executive Committee of the Public Service Accounting and Accountability Group. He is also co-editor of the Book-series on Public Service Accounting and Accountability. He was inducted into the APIRA Hall of Fame of the Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal in 2022.

Andrea Carri was born in 1990 in the province of Reggio Emilia.

In 2012 he graduated in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Parma, and in 2015 he obtained a degree in Environmental and Territorial Engineering with a thesis entitled 'Automatic slope monitoring systems: software development and data processing'.

In 2019, he obtained his doctorate in Engineering and Architecture (31st cycle) at the University of Parma with a thesis entitled: 'Innovative tools and methods for landslide risk management and mitigation'; his supervisor was Prof. Andrea Segalini.

In 2015, he started working at ASE - Advanced Slope Engineering S.r.l., focusing on the R&D department. He has been the technical director since 2021 and in the same year, he joined the company's Board of Directors.

He is in charge of software calculation processes and

is the author or co-author of 23 scientific articles published in national and international journals. He has also been a co-supervisor of doctoral and master's degree theses at the Department of Engineering and Geology.

Luca Chiapponi was born on 14 June 1979 in Parma. He graduated with honours in Environmental and Territorial Engineering and discussed his doctoral thesis at the University of Parma in 2010. Luca works in Parma as a senior assistant professor (researcher) at the Department of Engineering and Architecture. His work includes teaching and scientific research (particularly in the field of fluid mechanics). Research topics include the study of turbulence at the air-water interface, water retention curves in artificial porous media, the interaction between wind-generated gravity waves and currents, gravity currents in homogeneous and stratified environments, and the motion of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids in porous media. Luca loves board games and mountain biking, but above all his children Irene (9) and Tommaso (4) and his wife Elena.

At Adaptronics, Camilla Conti serves as COO. She holds an engineering degree from Milan Polytechnic, worked in R&D in General Electric in France, holds a Ph.D. with honors in Aerospace Engineering from Milan Polytechnic, and is completing her education with an MBA from MIB in Trieste. 

Director of CIRI-MAM - Interdepartmental Centre for Industrial Research in Advanced Mechanical Engineering and Materials Technology - University of Bologna

 A full professor at the University of Bologna and his research interests are in the areas of mechanical design, structural analysis and industrial product design. His research focuses on products made using additive manufacturing methods, friction joints and traditional and innovative shaft-hub couplings. His current research focuses on the static and fatigue strength of joints and components made from advanced materials.

He is currently the Scientific Coordinator and Manager for UniBo on the NRRP Ecosister Project - Ecosystem for Sustainable Transition in Emilia-Romagna and is involved in national and international research projects.

He collaborates with several Italian and European scientific societies and

is the Editor of the journal Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science'. He is also the author of around 300 publications with 2,200 citations (source: Google Scholar).

He received the 'Robert Hooke' award from the EURASEM Society (European Society for Experimental Mechanics) of which he is currently vice-president.

He holds a patent, was Chairman of the international conference MECHANICS AND MATERIALS IN DESIGN held in Bologna in 2019 and will be Chairman of the ICEM21, International Conference on Experimental Mechanics in 2025.

Since October 2022 Marco Degani has held the position of Program Research Manager and General Manager of ECOSISTER Foundation. Graduated in Law from Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna in 1997, he worked there as a Research Area Officer until 2015 and as Manager of the Research, Third Mission and University Library and Museum System Area at the University of Turin. He has served as Deputy Director at the Alma Mater Foundation and as Director of the Business Relations, Third Mission and Communication Area at the University of Bologna.  He has skills in management and coordination of research activities, administration and leadership strategy and human resources management. 

Nicola Delmonte was born in Manfredonia in 1967. He received the degrees of Master of Science in Electronic Engineering and Doctor of Science in Information Technology from the University of Parma in 2002 and 2006, respectively.
He has been collaborating with the Department of Engineering and Architecture (initially Department of Information Engineering) of the University of Parma since 2002, as a postdoctoral researcher in 2005, fixed-term researcher (type B) in 2013, and Associate Professor in 2018.
His research activities have covered topics such as: the study of high field-accelerated breakdown and stress phenomena of pHEMT transistors; experimentation and development of technological processes for the production of RF test structures for the characterization of ceramic thin films; electrical and thermal characterization, modeling and reliability of hybrid power devices and modules; design and development of power generation and conversion systems from renewable sources; development of smart grids; smart systems for bio-medical and industrial applications.

He has participated in several national and international research projects. These include two PRINs on the development and reliability of power converters in hostile environments and the APOLLO project in collaboration with INFN (National Institute of Nuclear Physics, Pavia Section) to simulate and characterize the Main Converter for an upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments at CERN.

He is currently participating in the international DUNE project as an associate at INFN Pavia and an associate at CERN Geneva.

From 2008 to 2013, Delmonte also worked as a freelancer with the firm of Energhes in Sorbolo, Parma, Italy, for the design, consulting, and energy certification of buildings, as well as the design and testing of plants for the production of electricity from renewable sources.

Finally, Nicola Delmonte is co-founder of ZOTech, a startup that develops monitoring systems for civil and industrial applications.

Enrico Dente graduated from the Polytechnic University of Turin in 2015 with a Master's degree in Electronic Engineering. After his research experience at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, California), where he worked on the development of origami-inspired robots and HMI devices based on differential electromyography, he worked as CTO in an Italian power electronics start-up. This allowed him to refine his skills in R&D management, business development and business process optimisation. He contributed to the development of Capacitive Wireless Power Transfer technology and filed five patents on capacitively coupled power/data transmission systems and innovative automotive infotainment architectures. Enrico then entered the open innovation and Venture capital industry via Silicon Valley, joining Plug and Play Tech Center, the international benchmark open innovation platform and one of the world's most active investors in start-ups, with the aim of bridging the gap between start-ups and large corporations, also advancing his formal education by attending courses at Stanford University. In 2020, he returned to Italy, where he is currently the Director at Plug and Play Tech Center and runs the Motor Valley Accelerator.

Laura Esposito is CEO of Zenit Smart Polycrystals s.r.l. (zenitpolycrystals.it), an innovative start-up and spin-off of the National Research Council (CNR). It was founded in the ceramic district of Faenza (Italy) with the aim of developing and producing transparent polycrystals that offer superior performance compared to traditional single crystals used in photonics and other optical applications. Laura Esposito is also a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Science, Technology and Sustainability for Ceramics (ISSMC) of the CNR (https://www.issmc.cnr.it/) and head of the research group on transparent ceramics.

List of publications: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SLgpiKQAAAAJ&hl=it&oi=ao

After graduating with honors in Ancient History, she participated as a startupper in an entrepreneurial idea development course, becoming passionate about business creation. Since 2008 she has been part of the ART-ER Startup Department, coordinating training, team building and strategic consulting activities for startups involved in incubation activities and within European projects on business creation.  Since 2011 he has coordinated EmiliaRomagnaStartUp, ART-ER's website dedicated to innovative startups.  Since 2016 he has been part of the team that organizes the activities of the Climate-KIC Startup Accelerator and ART-ER's Le Serre incubator. Since 2018, he has been coordinating Start Cup Emilia-Romagna, the business plan competition of the Research Centers and Universities of Emilia-Romagna, with the aim of fostering the birth of new companies with high innovative content. Since the 2022 edition, the competition is carried out in partnership with Ecosister, the project funded by the PNRR for the ecological transition of the Emilia-Romagna region.

Elena Ferrero, 31, is a startupper with a social vocation. She has a science-based university education (health and food sciences), but is strongly interdisciplinary. She has always been passionate about popularising science and social issues, with a strong leaning towards environmental activism. She co-founded two innovative start-ups, the most important of which - Atelier Riforma - was in the field of the circular economy applied to the fashion industry and the other, which is no longer active, was in the field of personalised nutrition. This has allowed her to gain experience in the development and management of projects, the creation of sustainable development partnerships, public relations and communication activities and in the field of social innovation and the start-up world in general.

Felice Giuliani has been a full professor in the Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD) ICAR04 - Roads, Railways and Airports since 2010.

Holder of the Chair of ‘Road Infrastructure and Transport Engineering (9 UC)' and 'Airport and Railway Infrastructure (9 UC)' in the Civil Engineering Master's Degree Programme.

President of the Civil Engineering Degree Programme Board of the University of Parma since 01.01.2020.

Delegate of the Rector of the University of Parma for "Sustainable Mobility" since 21.11.2023.

Elected member of the Internal Disciplinary Board for Full Professors at the University of Parma since 01.01.2021.

Scientific Coordinator of the NRRP National Centre for Sustainable Mobility for the University of Parma. Project code CN00000023, Concession Decree No. 1033 of 17/06/2022 (funding for UNIPR € 2,502,970.00) since 01.09.2022.

Spoke 4 Leader of ECOSISTER "Ecosystem for Sustainable Transition in Emilia-Romagna", Project code ECS00000033, Concession Decree No. 1052 of 23/06/2022 (funding for UNIPR € 12,012,587.00) since 01.09.2022.

National Scientific Coordinator of the 2017 PRIN Project 'The stone road pavements. History, conservation, valorisation and design'. € 804,790.00.

FAR (Research Facilitation Fund) Expert of the Ministry of Education, Universities and Scientific Research (Decree of 2 February 2012).

Rosa Grimaldi is Delegate of the Mayor of Bologna for Economic Promotion and Attractiveness, Enterprise, Innovation and Start-up, Creative and Cultural Industries, and Technopole Impact. She is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management at the University of Bologna. She is the scientific director of the Executive Master in Technology and Innovation Management (EMTIM) at BBS (Bologna Business School). She is vice president of Bologna Fiere S.p.a. From 2015 to 2021 she was Delegate for Entrepreneurship and Business Relations for the University of Bologna. Her scientific production covers the topics of new business creation, technology transfer, university-business relations. On these topics he has published in prestigious international journals that include: Research Policy, R&D Management, Technology and Innovation Management, Journal of Business Venturing, Small Business Economics, Scientometrics, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Technology Transfer. She is involved on these topics on several European projects in the role of local coordinator. 

Graduated in Biological Sciences from the Ateneo Estense University, holds a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, master's degree in "Biological Product Operator-Probio." Main research activities in renewable biological resources, ecology and evolution, study of applied ecology, with special reference to conservation of biodiversity, ecosystem services and sustainability of fish and aquaculture production. Carried out scientific technical collaboration and technology transfer activities for Legacoop Agroalimentare Nord Italia E.R Pesca section in the two-year period and activities as environmental area biologist at Ente di Gestione per i Parchi e la Biodiversità - Delta del Po E-R. 

Activities to study the management of biological and environmental resources and in particular fish fauna in freshwater and transitional and marine environments, sustainable exploitation of fishery resources and related quantification of economic impacts. Involved in Third Mission and Public Engagement initiatives, he collaborates with National and Regional Entities (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, Office of the Directorate General for Fisheries and Aquaculture; Emilia-Romagna Region Service for Wildlife and Fisheries Activities; Emilia-Romagna Po Delta Parks and Biodiversity Management Authority (member of the technical-scientific committee) and Veneto Po Delta Regional Park) for activities of technical-scientific support, technology transfer and improvement of sustainability of the exploitation of renewable biological resources and in particular of fish and aquaculture resources.

Francesco Lombardo holds a degree in Industrial Product Design and has been involved in the design, implementation and management of above-ground growing systems for over five years. He is a co-founder of Aquaponic Design Srl, an innovative Start-Up and Spin-Off of the University of Bologna, where he is responsible for the company’s work scheduling, administrative management, communications and marketing strategies. His professional experience also includes two years as a carpenter, a trade that enhanced both his manual skills and eye for detail. He is also a passionate photographer and video-maker, which he pursues in his spare time and which helps to enhance his creative vision.

A scientist and public intellectual, Stefano Mancuso is among the world’s leading authorities engaged in researching and communicating new discoveries about plants: as intelligent and sensitive creatures capable of choosing, learning, and remembering. A professor at the University of Florence and a full professor at the Georgofili Academy, he directs the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology, with offices in Florence, Kitakyushu, Bonn and Paris.

Mancuso was the first Italian scientist to be invited in 2010 as a speaker at a TED Global held in Oxford. His talk was viewed more than 1.4 million times on the TED website alone.

In 2014 he founded PNAT, a start-up at the University of Florence to create plant-inspired technology. In 2016 he won the Austrian Ministry of Science and Technology’s “Wissenschaftbuck des Jahres” award for the best science paper of the year.

As a writer, he made his debut in 2013 by publishing the award-winning best-seller Verde brillante [Brilliant Green] with Giunti. In 2018, his book Plant Revolution won the 2018 Galileo Prize, the most prestigious prize for scientific non-fiction.

This was followed with Laterza by L‘incredibile viaggio delle piante [The Incredible Journeys of Plants] (2018), La Nazione delle Piante [A Nation of Plants] (2019) winner of the Capalbio Prize and the Earth Prize, and La pianta del mondo [A Plant of the World] (2021) winner of the Pozzale Luigi Russo Prize.In 2022 he published with Einaudi La tribù degli alberi [The Tribe of Trees], his first book of fiction. His books are translated into 27 languages.

In 2022, he was awarded the Fiorino d’Oro, the highest award of the City of Florence, and was appointed scientific director of the newly formed Foundation for the Future of Cities.

Valentina Marchesini was born in 1982 and is the Human Resources Director of the Marchesini Group S.p.A., member of the board of Directors and Manager of the Group’s Marketing&Communications Department and Beauty Division. She graduated in Science of Education and joined the company in 2004. She is president of Fondazione Marchesini Act, whose goal is to provide concrete support to the region through solidarity initiatives.

She was Vice President of the Young Entrepreneurs Group of Unindustria Bologna from 2011 to 2013 and is a member of the steering committee of the Fondazione Del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna. She is a member of the board of FiD Fare impresa in Dozza, a foundation founded by several local companies to create work in the Dozza prison in Bologna. She is a member of the steering committee of the ITS Maker Foundation, which trains professionals for today's mechanical engineering world, and a member of BBS, the Business School of the University of Bologna and a member of the BI-REX Big Data Innovation & Research Excellence steering committee. She is a member of the scientific committee of Boom (Best Of Open Mind), CRIF's knowledge and innovation hub dedicated to education, training and innovation in technology and business development topics. Since December 2022, she has been on the Board of Directors of Museo Galileo in Florence as a representative of the Ministry of University and Research.  She is president of Intono, a communications agency controlled by the confederation of industry associations UCIMA and ACIMAC.

Gianluca Marchi is a Full Professor of Economics and Business Management at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. At Unimore, he is currently Vice-Rector and Rector's Delegate for the Third Mission. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Ecosister Foundation and the Democenter Foundation. He teaches courses on strategy and innovation issues at the Marco Biagi Department of Economics and at MUNER (The Motorvehicle University Network of Emilia Romagna). His research focuses on innovation management in relation to the competitive technological evolution of sectors, user innovation, university-industry relations and academic spin-offs. He has published several monographs and articles in international journals, including Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Research Policy, Journal of Business Research, Technovation, R&D Management.

Allegra has a master's degree in International Management, with her first entrepreneurial experience addressed through Unimore's TACC program. She then worked as Application Manager in a startup in the blockchain industry, before joining the MVA team as Ventures and Innovation Advisor, where she is active in the context of technology scouting, selecting startups for the accelerator program and assisting portfolio startups in accessing non-dilutive funding.

Claudio Melchiorri is Professor of Robotics and Automatic Controls at the Department of Electrical Energy and Information Engineering "Guglielmo Marconi" of the Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna.
He has been a member of the Academy of Sciences, Bologna Institute since 2014 and a Fellow of the IEEE since 2020. He was Director of the Department of Electrical Energy and Information Engineering "Guglielmo Marconi" in 2015-2021 and a member of the Academic Senate in 2021. He has been the Dean's Delegate for Business Relations and Industrial Research since 2021.
He has participated in and coordinated numerous national and international research projects on topics in robotics, automatic controls and industrial automation. His research interests include robotics, automatic controls theory and motion control.
He has authored or co-authored about 350 scientific publications presented at conferences or published in international journals, 6 books on automatic controls or robotics, and is co-editor of 7 books on robotics. He holds three patents.

Daniel Milanese has been a Full Professor of Materials Science and Technology at the University of Parma since 2019. He received his PhD in Materials Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Milan in 2001 and then worked as a researcher (2002-2014) and Associate Professor (2014-2019) at the Polytechnic University of Turin. His research interests include the study and manufacture of sustainable materials for use in packaging, construction and industrial applications. The research covers the entire value chain from the synthesis of polymer matrices and their processing to the production of samples and functional prototypes. Daniel Milanese also collaborates with the Materials Technology Group at the University of Parma on the development of sustainable cementitious materials incorporating inorganic and organic wastes by selecting and characterising waste materials and testing their incorporation into cementitious materials. Daniel Milanese is the author of over 200 peer-reviewed articles and holds 2 European patents. He has been involved in a number of research projects, is the coordinator of the H2020 MSCA-ITN project 'Photonics for Healthcare: multiscale cancer diagnostic and therapy - PHAST’ and is the Scientific Coordinator for the University of Parma on the PRIN 2022 NOVAPACK project. He has been the Rector's Delegate for Technology Transfer at the University of Parma since 2023 and is a member of the Italian Association of Materials Engineering (AIMAT) and the Italian Association of Science and Technology of Macromolecules (AIM).

An electronics engineer with honors, with a subsequent industrial master's degree in telecommunications, he has almost a decade of experience in industrial and management software development and telecommunications network management in large enterprises: Honeywell, Telecom Italy and NoemaLife. He directed from 2004 to 2013 two incubators funded by the Ministry of Economic Development; head of the Startup Unit in ART-ER, he is responsible for the conception, fundraising and implementation of programs and projects to support innovative startups. Since 2020 he has been a member of the Innovation and Industry Commission at the Order of Engineers of the Province of Bologna. Since 2021, she has been a board member of AIDIA Bologna, Italian Association of Women Architects and Engineers. 

Marco Mostarda, 28, Founder and CTO of Galvani Power SRL.
Marco Mostarda is from Brescia, from Concesio to be precise, on the outskirts of Val Trompia.
He has a technical background and graduated with a degree in mechanical and materials engineering from the University of Brescia.
His academic path then led him to the Motor Valley and the world of mobility. He obtained a Master's degree in Advanced Powertrain Engineering from the Motorvehicle University of Emilia Romagna (Muner).
At Unimore, he took part in the Training for Automotive Companies Creation (TACC) programme, which played an essential role in introducing him to the world of entrepreneurship and developing specific skills in the world of batteries with the Remodule project (awarded the Forbes Top Under 30 Italy prize).
He has been living in Modena since 2018 and has gained his professional experience there:
- modelling and simulation of hypercar powertrains at Aston Martin Lagonda - energy management and simulation at RSEngineering. In October 2022, he set up Galvani Power SRL - a company that designs and manufactures modular battery packs - with a team of four founders.

Michele Muccini is Director of Research at the Institute for nanostructured materials of the Italian National Research Council (CNR-ISMN) and President of the public-private industrial consortium MISTER Smart Innovation. His research interests and activity span form advanced materials, organic photonics, bioelectronics and functional optoelectronic devices for a variety of application fields, including health, energy and sustainability. Muccini has been Director of CNR-ISMN and founder and managing director of a start up in the field of advanced optoelectronics and has long standing hands on experience in the development of synergies between academic research and industry.

Alessandro Nanni is co-founder and board member of AgroMateriae srl, an innovative company that valorizes and transforms agroindustrial waste into new raw materials. He is also co-founder of Re-Sport srl, a spin-off of the University of Bologna that deals with the recycling of multi-component materials.

Francesco Oggiano is one of the faces of Will Italia.

He edits Digital Journalism, a newsletter addressed to a community of thousands of digital creatives.

Since September, he has been hosting a daily podcast entitled Closer.

He is also the author of 'Sociability', which explores how social media is changing the way we obtain information and engage in activism. 

Luisa Pasti's research activity has been carried out mainly in the field of separation sciences. In particular, research activity has focused on the following topics: a) chromatography theory: development of stochastic description of chromatographic separations and multicomponent separations: development of statistical tools for optimization of separations of complex mixtures, dynamic and reaction chromatography; b) analytical chemistry of biomolecules and colloidal systems; c) retention mechanisms and characterization of adsorptive media; d) adsorptive and photocatalytic systems for environmental decontamination; e) separation and quantification of contaminants in complex environmental matrices f) waste valorization: separation and purification of biomolecules.

Daniel Pinardi received his Master's Degree (cum laude) in Industrial Engineering from the University of Parma in July 2016 and his PhD in Industrial Engineering from the University of Parma in March 2020, with a thesis on the design of microphone arrays, hydrophones and cameras for panoramic audio and video recordings.
Since 2016, he has been a research fellow in Prof. Angelo Farina's group at the University of Parma and is primarily involved in 3D audio, transducer array design and acoustic simulations, applied to automotive and underwater acoustics.
In 2024, he was one of the founding partners of ZOTech, an innovative start-up and spin-off of the University of Parma for the commercialisation of a new digital solution for structural monitoring and predictive diagnostics.

Claudia Pingue brings over 15 years of Technology Transfer process management experience. From 2013 to 2020 she was PoliHub, Startup District & Incubator General Manager at the Politecnico di Milano, a position that flanked several startup and scaleup boards as well as the Poli360 Fund Venture Partner role managed by 360 Capital Partners.

Prior to her appointment as General Manager she was Digital Innovation area coordinator at the Fondazione Politecnico di Milano while being in charge of the design and implementation of various innovation projects within both companies and public administrations.

After graduating in Telecommunications Engineering in Milan she completed a Master’s in Business Management and Organizational Development from MIP Politecnico di Milano Business School and an Executive Program in Venture Capital at Berkeley’s HAAS Business School.

Alice Pomiato, social @aliceful is one Italy's Top Green Influencers and Voice Ambiente experts, and works as a trainer on sustainability issues.

Her mission is to guide people and entities towards regenerative change. From new patterns of everyday consumption to active citizenship, she inspires lasting, transformative change that touches every aspect of our individual and collective lives. Her aim is to make us change the way we see and experience the world, making us true agents of conscious change. Alice works on social platforms but is also very active at events, conferences, courses and workshops. She works with companies, associations, institutions and schools with a multidisciplinary approach that is not afraid of challenging the status quo.

Luca Raimondi is a Fixed-term Researcher attached to the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Bologna for the field of processing technologies and systems. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering and a PhD in mechanics and advanced engineering sciences.  Since 2023 he has been teaching the courses "advanced manufacturing technologies for automotive industry" within the MUNER - motorvehicle university of emilia romagna and "technologies for polymer composites" within the professionalizing degree in polymer composites activated at the University of Bologna. The research topics concern technologies for sustainable polymeric composite materials with particular reference to process and product digital twin and innovative connection technologies between composite materials and metallic materials obtained by Additive Manufacturing processes.

Luigi Rovati is Full Professor of Electronic Measurements at the 'Enzo Ferrari’ Department of Engineering at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. His research interests are in the development of innovative measuring instruments with a focus on optoelectronic technologies. Luigi Rovati is actively involved in the university's Third Mission activities, transferring research to industry through university spin-offs such as NIROX and Rsens, and promoting training programmes for business start-ups. Since 2017, he has led the TACC (Training for Automotive Company Creation) entrepreneurship training programme for Master's and PhD students.

Chief Operating Officer of ART-ER, former ASTER Director, expert in coordinating activities and services for technology transfer, leveraging research results and attracting talent. Vice President of Ecosister Foundation. For 10 years she was responsible for the European Resource Center for Orientation, promoted by the Ministry of Labor and the European Commission. She is a member of the Technical Scientific Committee of APRE. By appointment of the MUR, she serves as an expert on the national task force of the EIC and IEE Program Committee under Horizon Europe 2021-2127. She is a member of the Management Board of the European Nereus Association. She is a member of the Board of Directors of ABD - Big Data Association.

Giovanna Sotgiu was born in Cagliari in 1970 and graduated from the Università degli Studi di Bologna with a degree in chemistry, specialising in organic and biological chemistry.

She has been a researcher at the CNR Institute for Organic Synthesis and Photoreactivity since 2002.

Her scientific interests range from the design and synthesis of fluorescent molecules for use in optoelectronics and biodiagnostics, to the synthesis of polymer and protein nanoparticles for the delivery of photosensitising drugs and compounds for use in cancer therapy.

She is currently involved in the development of materials based on biopolymers derived from food waste and waste from the textile and dairy industries and in particular, keratin extracted from wool waste for use in the biomedical field for the delivery of drugs and devices for tissue regeneration.

In 2017, together with other colleagues, she founded the CNR spin-off Kerline srl, which extracts and markets, non-degraded, high-molecular weight keratin, similar to that found in skin, nails and hair, for the development of cosmetic and pharmaceutical products, with a view to the circular economy.

Carlo Tampieri is CEO of Tampieri SpA, an Italian leader in sunflower oil processing and refining. He is currently president of Assitol's Seed Oils Group and vice-president of the Milan Granary Association.

Irene Tognazzi has degrees in Environmental Economics and Cultural Management, a Master's degree in Fundraising and a passion for emotional intelligence applied to teamwork and problem solving. She has worked in design for 15 years, first in the area of culture and education and then in the area of in innovation and research. She writes and manages projects related to technological transition, with a particular focus on issues of environmental sustainability for MISTER Smart Innovation and Tecnopolo Bologna CNR.

A graduate in business administration, she has always been involved in public policies for local development, convinced that a quality entrepreneurial system capable of innovation is a value for an area. she currently coordinates projects and services for economic development, business, and labor for the Metropolitan City of Bologna, and is responsible for metropolitan cultural and tourism promotion actions. He has structured and managed several services and projects to encourage the birth and development of new businesses.

I am results-oriented and proactively participate in all aspects of business development and management, from operations to finance, marketing to human resources. An effective leader with an engineering degree, I have well-developed communication skills and am able to identify new opportunities and support extraordinary business growth.
I have been involved in the renewable energy sector for more than 15 years and am an advisor to Italia Solare and the Association of Engineers of Modena.

Federico Zappaterra is a researcher in industrial chemistry (CHIM/04) at the University of Ferrara (Department of Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Sciences - since 2022). His work deals with the development of biocatalytic processes for the production of biomolecules, pro-drugs and bio-based polyesters. His expertise includes the use and optimization of environmentally sustainable low-energy (enzyme-based) methods for the synthesis of active ingredients for agribusiness and pharmaceutical industries. The various solvent-free protocols developed have enabled the biosynthesis of optically pure molecules with enhanced activity (higher bioavailability) compared to starting materials, while also targeting by-product recycling. He is currently working on scaling up the developed processes. He spent part of his PhD at the Complutense University of Madrid (Department of Chemical Engineering, Spain), in the laboratory led by Pr Miguel Ladero, where he studied the kinetics of enzymatic esterification of biobased products. In 2021, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Applied and Computational Biocatalysis Laboratory of Pr Lucia Gardossi (Trieste, Italy) where he studied the synthesis and characterization of bio-based renewable chemicals.