The new National Hub for Sustainable Mobility and Manufacturing is a major project that aims to help the city of Turin reposition itself as the capital of innovation in the field of automotive and mobility in Italy. The official announcement was made on July 16 at the TNE area in Mirafiori, Corso Settembrini 178. Among the promoters there are Politecnico di Torino,Università degli studi di Torino, CIM4.0, Api, Turin Chamber of Commerce, Industrial Union, Piedmont Region and City of Turin that will accompany the companies in the innovation and training activities, starting in 2023 but with the launch of the activities for the companies involved guaranteed since the next months.

The Recovery Decree has made it possible to work since last year on the creation of this national hub of excellence for research, innovation and technology transfer in the automotive sector, specifically with regard to new forms of mobility such as electric mobility, autonomous driving and the implementation of machine learning and artificial intelligence applications. The participation of the actors listed, a rich and articulated ecosystem of entities engaged in mobility innovation, and the activities planned to enrich this ecosystem with specific know-how, professionalism, technologies and spaces will be crucial in fueling the innovative processes that will arise within the Hub.

The launch of the project will be possible thanks to an initial budget of 40 million euros already available thanks to the contribution of Regione Piemonte, Camera di commercio di Torino and the funds provided by the Recovery Decree issued by the Ministry of Economic Development. The Sustainable Mobility and Manufacturing Hub will be organized in a network of centers coordinated by the central hub managed by the Politecnico di Torino, which will be strongly connected to many other centers of excellence in other regions, from northern to southern Italy.

Guido Saracco, Rector of the Politecnico di Torino, commented: "When you manage to create a system between training, business services and applied research, you create the best conditions for implementing development projects such as the Sustainable Mobility and Manufacturing Hub. In the Mirafiori Hub, Italian and international companies will find high-level applied research, along with the possibility of training their own personnel with the skills necessary to implement this innovation; they will be able to test products and solutions with high technological value, network with large companies, SMEs and startups, incubate, accelerate and be part of a unique model of industrial development. The possibility of restarting from automotive and manufacturing, two historically leading sectors for the economy of the territory, represents a great chance for Turin, for Piedmont and for the whole country, which today must base its economic recovery on a model of technological development of excellence, like the one we will be able to put in place in Mirafiori".

The activities of the new Hub

• Continuous education: professional degrees, ITS courses, Academies and Learning Hubs run by Polito, Unito, Scuola Camerana, Skillab, Api Formazione and CIM4.0;
• Targeted research: initiatives and research activities of the two city universities and other public and private Research Centers in the fields of sustainable mobility and Industry 4.0;
• Applied research: technology transfer, product and process innovation in the fields of sustainable mobility and manufacturing;
• Networking: specific communication strategies, organization of industry events with the collaboration of Mesap, Torino Wireless, CIM4.0 and Digital Innovation Hub Piemonte;
• Business co-location: incubation and acceleration linked to companies, SMEs and startups that will foster the creation of a territorial industrial ecosystem for Industry 4.0.