Lombardy, the game of talents and innovation passes through EU cohesion funds

“Crucial”. Alessandro Fermi, Councillor for University, Research and Innovation for the Lombardy Region, uses an adjective to underline the role of European cohesion funds in retaining and attracting talent and transforming research into a solid economic driver. Which will be transformed into new funding expected by Lombard universities and businesses as early as June.

In the coming weeks, a game with Brussels will open up on the European funds allocated to the regions, under the direction of Commissioner Raffaele Fitto, which some are already calling a tug of war. The issue is management: at a local level, as is the case today, or with a stronger national, centralized direction. For Lombardy, which has a utilization rate well over 90%, those funds are "the real expense item of autonomy" and as such, "they must remain on the territory", says Fermi. "The measures we have put in place on the innovation front thanks to the cohesion funds contain resources that we quantify in a total figure that exceeds 500 million euros. Measures that help small and medium-sized businesses, but also large ones such as start-ups or artisan businesses", said Fermi interviewed for Cohesion4Climate , the project of Sole 24 Ore with Cnr-Issirfa, Monitho and Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa on European cohesion policy.

The 50 million euros in non-repayable grants to support the modernization or creation of university laboratories come from the Brussels portfolio, entirely from ERDF funds. Investments that aim to impact the ambitions of the research world, well before the plan put in place by von der Layen and Macron. "When we talk about young people going abroad or Italy's poor ability to attract researchers, among the many elements there is also the possibility of finding instruments, laboratories, machinery that are in line with expectations", underlines the Lombardy assessor.

The regional council on April 30 defined the parameters for the presentation of projects, which must be designed with a view to transferring knowledge from universities to Lombardy SMEs. Among those already reported are, for example, laboratories for the study of aging and for the production of advanced therapies; dynamic simulators for aircraft guidance or for the management of manufacturing lines; space economy projects; large instruments for applying new discoveries in the field of Artificial Intelligence.

Alongside this there will be a second project, destined for the IRCCS, also with European funding, the amount of which is yet to be defined, "to try to reduce another of our ills, namely the gap between the quantity of scientific publications and the ability to hook the market", says Fermi. "Research needs resources to be tested. In this way, the public tries to intervene, and, once they have been successful, they can more easily be put on the market, for example, as in the case of new drugs".