Paolo Collini
Rector of the University of Trento.
The Strategic Plan 2017-2021 has outlined our vision, established guidelines and launched 35 Strategic Projects that sit alongside the Improvement Plans of the Departments and Centres.
We start 2018 with two pieces of good news that bear witness to the high quality of research of our University.
The first is the discovery made by a group of researchers at CIBIO (Center for Integrated Biology), led by Anna Cereseto, who have developed a method to correct ‘sick’ DNA (EvoCas9, the ‘perfect editor’), which could soon have an impact on gene therapies for the treatment of diseases.
The second is the recognition by MIUR (Ministry of Education, University and Research) of 8 of the 10 Departments of the University as “Departments of Excellence. A recognition that brings the University over 55.5 million euros. A success that exceeds our expectations and which will allow us to make additions to our staff and to continue to improve teaching and research.
For our size, according to the information available, we are the university with the highest percentage of Departments of Excellence rewarded by funding from the Ministry. This success rewards both the quality of our research and our ability to plan our future development.
Our future – in the medium term – has now been designed. The Strategic Plan 2017–2021 outlines our vision, establishes guidelines and launches 35 Strategic Projects that sit alongside the Improvement Plans of the Departments and Centres (CIBIO, CIMeC, CAFE and the School of International Studies). Developing this Strategic Plan has not been easy. It has been a major undertaking, which started from the bottom up and aimed for the fullest possible involvement of the University community, and which has demonstrated a great cohesiveness. As we are aware that the development of the University must rely on resources that are essentially constant – and more limited than in the past – we have not included very costly projects or major works, but initiatives appropriate to our financial capacity. We have carefully analyzed our ‘spaces’ for development, looking to build on our strengths and to improve what is improvable. This has led us to define strongly interdisciplinary projects that respond to four major challenges:
• Scientific research and technological innovation;
• Innovation to change and improve the university;
• Future social and cultural problems and opportunities;
• Integration and collaboration as a driver for the development of high quality research.
Through the pages of Knowtransfer, we want to open the University up further to business and industry, and to outside parties in general, and to offer opportunities to learn about the projects in the area of scientific research and technological innovation.
There are eight projects, working in very different areas: from the centre of competence in the area of additive technologies and Industry 4.0 to the Master’s degree in Data Science, and from research on renewable energies and solar fuels to the advanced programme in Leadership at the School of Innovation. The fine-tuning and implementation of these very useful projects will involve contributions from outside parties, both from those who already have working relationships with the University and those who would like to enter into dialogue and collaboration with us.
