Cittadella Galileiana
About this good practice
The City of Pisa is considered to be the cradle of Italian information technology with the first electronic calculator (CEP) in the mid 50’s. The area of Pisa sees a concentration of favorable factors of development such as Universities from which come 60% of graduates in technical and scientific information, the National Research Council (CNR) and INFN (National Nuclear Physics Institute) involved in the development of frontier technologies, Innovation Poles: Navacchio Pole in hi-tech; Sant’ Anna Valdera in the biomedical, micro-engineering, robotics; Pont-tech start-ups incubator.
Pisa academic hub boasts the highest regional concentration of graduates in science subjects as well as 36.000 researchers.
The Cittadella Galileiana has been implemented through the ERDF Operational Programme of the Tuscany Region. It is thought to be a dynamical representation of the urban innovation system, which stems from the best competencies in life sciences, ICT and robotics sectors and is nourished by Pisa scientific atmosphere and history. The Cittadella Galileiana is inspired by the international model of science centre but it is distinguished by a central location to the city and for the various centres of excellence. It includes the Business Integrator, which aims to be the answer to the Industry 4.0 challenges. It will be a breeding environment for start-ups and spin-offs specialized on Internet of Things, Big Data & Analytics, Cloud, Fog computing and Robotics.
Resources needed
The Cittadella Galileiana has been funded by the POR CReO 2007-2013 Piani Integrati di Sviluppo Urbano Sostenibile PIUSS PISA2 Pisa per Patrimonio culturale – Innovazione – Saperi – Accoglienza. The investment is € 2.971.000,00 of which € 2.400.288,00 for regeneration activities of the building.
Evidence of success
- ERDF funding successfully employed for the requalification of an abandoned area of the city.
- Combination of co-working spaces and prototyping labs with cultural spaces and activities.
- Public-private partnership: Government provides the building, external companies manage Cittadella Galileiana through a call of tender.
- Dissemination of digital fabrication and digital social innovation culture and ideas through guided school visits and learning by doing activities for young people.
Potential for learning or transfer
The Cittadella Galileiana is an example of a public-private partnership, involving the local public administration and private organizations with complementary competences and networks, both local and international. It follows the model of an “open platform”, where public & private organizations jointly innovate by systematically applying an open innovation approach which implies the engagement of all the quadruple helix stakeholders, for the creation of innovative solutions. Therefore academia, industry, government and citizens are the stakeholders involved to enhance the process of innovation and drive structural changes through collaboration and ideas absorbed from one another.