The Catholic University and MUSA Together for Sustainable Innovation
The Rectors, Prof.ssa Giovanna Iannantuoni, as President of MUSA, and Prof.ssa Elena Beccalli, signed the Memorandum of Understanding between MUSA – Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action and the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. The agreement, signed in recent weeks by the respective Boards of Directors, marks the beginning of a strategic path that will lead the University of Largo Gemelli to become part of the corporate structure of MUSA Scarl, the company that operates as the implementing entity of the Innovation Ecosystem funded by the Ministry of University and Research within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and that gathers within it universities, research institutions, institutions, businesses and foundations.
The entry of such a prestigious University further strengthens MUSA’s role as a point of reference for scientific research and innovation at a local and national level, confirming its ability to attract the excellences of the academic and research world and to constitute a virtuous example of collaboration between the university world, institutions, businesses and the third sector.
The partnership provides for a progressive integration of the Catholic University into MUSA’s activities and the start of an immediate operational collaboration for the development of research and innovation activities in strategic areas, with particular attention to the themes of urban regeneration, sustainability, business innovation and financial governance. The objective is to create new operational synergies that can translate into concrete innovation for the Milanese, Lombard and national economic and social system.
«The signing of this protocol marks the beginning of a path of mutual growth. MUSA, born three years ago as a positive response to the unique opportunity represented by the PNRR, continues to consolidate itself as a point of reference for innovation, capable of aggregating excellent realities and creating high value-added synergies. The Catholic University, with its heritage of research and skills, represents a fundamental piece to strengthen our mission of sustainable development and urban innovation» declared Prof.ssa Giovanna Iannantuoni, President of MUSA.
For her part, Prof.ssa Elena Beccalli, Rector of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, emphasized that: «The entry of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart into the MUSA consortium represents an opportunity for virtuous strategic collaboration with the other Milanese universities, confirming the value we attribute to networking. It is also a privileged laboratory for developing interdisciplinary innovations and projects that can translate into concrete actions for the benefit of the city. The thematic areas that will engage the University – with its 12 Faculties distributed throughout the national territory – concern urban regeneration processes from a social and environmental point of view, urban and local development policies in terms of governance and financial aspects, sustainable innovation of businesses, in particular those of the sectors characterizing the productive structure of the Milanese and Lombard area».
With this operation, MUSA consolidates its leadership position in the research and innovation ecosystem in Lombardy and Italy. The agreement with the Catholic University confirms MUSA’s ability to act as a catalyst for new alliances between universities, institutions, businesses and civil society, helping to create an increasingly integrated and internationally competitive research system. The signing of the memorandum of understanding therefore represents the first, fundamental step towards a collaboration that will have a significant impact on research, urban policies and sustainable development in Italy.
