Eni and Politecnico di Milano team up for carbon neutrality

Italian Eni and Polytechnic University of Milan signed a new framework agreement for the joint innovation and research centre for technologic acceleration in carbon neutrality.

The new framework agreement is signed on 15 March 2021 for five years, extendable to seven.

The strategic goal of the agreement is to develop the first joint centre for energy transition and carbon neutrality technologies.

The centre is to host specific projects, selected with technology foresight initiatives and with analysis focusing on the acceleration of technology development. Researchers, technologists and experts will operate together in an environment that facilitates the creation of new ideas and their commercialisation.

The joint centre is part of the Innovation District project that Politecnico di Milano is developing in its Milan hub of Bovisa.

The collaboration between Eni and the Politecnico di Milano started in 2008 and has so far received research investments for about 50 million euros. This reportedly led to innovative solutions in fields including circular economy, carbon neutrality, and monitoring systems used in asset integrity management.

The new framework agreement aims to strengthen the key partnership between Eni and the Politecnico di Milano and further optimise its strategic approach for sustainable development by identifying and deploying new technologies.

Eni’s CEO Claudio Descalzi said: “We have renewed an agreement of great strategic relevance that strengthens and accelerates our transition towards an ever more sustainable energy. Ours is an ambitious and tangible path, on which we already stepped with important milestones, but we cannot complete it with our commitment alone: we need to create a system within our country in order to promote the culture of circularity and Carbon Neutrality, while pooling investment opportunities and know-how. Today’s agreement, thanks to the creation of the Joint Innovation and Research Centre, lays the foundation for this to happen”.

Ferruccio Resta, Rector of the Politecnico di Milano, added: “The agreement signed today between Politecnico di Milano and Eni is part of a development framework aiming to create an innovation hub in the north of Milan. The Centre is an integral part of an ambitious project: the Gasometri Park, for which the Lombardia Region has already granted its commitment. Institutions and businesses working together on research and innovation for energy transition and new environmental technologies, that are pivotal for the country’s recovery, as specified by the Next Generation EU Plan. ”