Introduction

Almost 1000 years old, the University of Bologna (UNIBO) is known as the oldest University of the western world. Nowadays, UNIBO still remains one of the most important institutions of higher education across Europe and the second largest university in Italy with 11 Schools, 33 Departments and about 87.000 students. The University is organized in a multi-campus structure with 5 operating sites (Bologna, Cesena, Forlì, Ravenna and Rimini), and, since 1998, also a permanent headquarters in Buenos Aires.

With regard to the capability of attracting funding, UNIBO is very active both at National and European level. At European level, with 91 million Euros from the Seventh Framework Programme and other programs financed by the EU (268 project funded in 2007-2013) UNIBO is the first Italian university for the attractiveness of European funding for research, 31^st in the European ranking of institutions of higher education. At National level UNIBO ranks second for competitive research funding from the Italian Government. At the University of Bologna, activities related to European funding programs are supported by the European Research and Innovation Office. With about 30 people, organized in 4 thematic units plus another unit specifically devoted to ERC and Marie Curie programs, the office assists research groups in the whole project lifecycle: networking and lobbying, consortium building, proposal preparation, negotiation and project management. The European Research and Innovation Office steadily cooperates with the Knowledge Transfer Office, supporting the IP protection and exploitation, and the take up and commercialization of project results.

UNIBO is an affiliate partner of the European Institute of Technology KIC EIT ICT Labs. With regard to the international reputation, UNIBO has been awarded the use of the logo “HR Excellence in Research” and is among the top 5 Italian universities in the main International rankings.

UNIBO represents a socio-economic and cultural driving force for the territory it operates in: it is the primary research partner for the Emilia-Romagna region and for the regional branch of “Confindustria”, the Confederation of Italian industry. As part of the Regional High-Technology Network, UNIBO’s Interdepartmental Centre for Industrial Research on ICT (CIRI-ICT) of UNIBO has the mission to develop industrial research on information and communication technologies for sustainable innovation and support the technology transfer of such research towards existing companies and start-ups. The CIRI-ICT aims at bridging the gap between the fundamental research carried on in the University Department and the industrial needs to deliver innovative products to the market of the regional SMEs, with particular focus to foster the application of innovative ICT technologies to the leading industrial sectors of food technology and mechanics of the region. CIRI-ICT already developed several state-of-the-art testbeds, in cooperation with innovative SMEs that demonstrate cutting-edge technologies relevant to the EuroCPS project.

Researchers from CIRI-ICT successfully participated to several EIT ICT Labs technology transfer activities in 2013 in the area of smart energy systems, smart transportation and smart cities. Therefore UNIBO brings to the project a strong link with the Italian node of EIT ICT Labs, a major EU technology transfer initiative.

Services

Support for research projects and experiments

Cooperation between University and Industry is an important component of UNIBO’s mission. The experience gained in years of academic research on different ICT topics permits to offer a valuable support to small and medium enterprises for preparing and implementing national and European projects. Knowledge transfer is the key aspect of the UNIBO’s service: our goal is to solve SMEs’ problems by providing them with the necessary future-proof expertise.

Product prototyping

Prototyping is a fundamental phase in any production chain to test and assess the real value of the offered services or goods. Both experimental and pre-production prototypes are key factors for creating new added-value products and services. In this context, UNIBO provides support throughout the design, implementation and testing phases of new CPS prototypes.

Support to sustainable innovation

Any small/medium company must deal with increasing competition in the market. Today this entails gaining new skills and highly specialized knowledge with limited environmental impact. Sustainable innovation is becoming a requirement, not a choice. Stemming from an outstanding academic experience, UNIBO’s activities are aimed towards sustainable innovation at any level: technological, industrial and product-oriented.

Instruments and laboratory

Due to the constant effort of its research personnel, UNIBO has several state-of-the-art laboratories and highly specialized equipment to support the analysis and testing of innovative CPS products and services.