Lecce, inauguration of the biomedical innovation center

A facilitator of opportunities, programs and initiatives to invest in student talents. It is the ‘Salento Biomedical District’, born from a project of the University of Salento and Medtronic Italia together with the Institute of Nanotechnology of the National Research Council (Cnr Nanotec) and the Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies of the Italian Institute of Technology ( Cbn-Iit Lecce), which today has a new ‘home’ in the Dominican Convent of Cavallino (Lecce). Gaia de Marzo, PhD student at the University of Salento in Materials Engineering and Nanotechnology at the Cbn-Iit Lecce, will cut the ribbon, representing the group of students and PhD students who created an innovative start-up project awarded last October in the Lecce stage of the hackaton tour organized by Medtronic Italia. A symbolic gesture that underlines the leading role that young talents will have in this initiative. Alongside de Marzo, the rector of UniSalento Fabio Pollice, the president and CEO of Medtronic Italia Michele Perrino, the director of Cnr Nanotec Giuseppe Gigli and the coordinator of the IIT Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies Massimo De Vittorio. Also present were the mayor of Cavallino, Bruno Ciccarese Gorgoni, the president of the regional council Loredana Capone, the regional councilor for economic development Alessandro Delli Noci and the councilor for health Pier Luigi Lopalco. (Look at the Photograllery) The undersecretary of Health Pierpaolo Sileri, the virologist Ilaria Capua, director of One Health Center of Excellence-University of Florida, the president of the Puglia Region Michele Emiliano and the president of Anvus, also spoke in connection. ‘National Agency for the Evaluation of the University System, Antonio Felice Uricchio. The latter announced the approval of the single-cycle master’s degree course in Medicine and Surgery of the University of Salento: the course will therefore start in the University of Salento next September. “The Salento Biomedical District project, born in 2020, develops the biotechnological culture by sharing academic and industrial experiences for the creation of value in the healthcare sector – underline the promoters – In light of the trends in recent years and with the dramatic impact that the Covid-19 emergency has determined, the Salento Biomedical District is a facilitator of opportunities, programs and initiatives to invest in the talents of students and companies, thus enhancing their ideas and experiences. The ambition is to facilitate synergy, dialogue and growth by focusing on the already strong potential present in the Salento area The project was developed as part of the Medtronic Open Innovation Lab: the initiative with c ui Medtronic intends to promote innovation and growth in the healthcare sector, supporting and connecting biomedical hubs of recognized excellence and reputation with the aim of creating a ‘widespread laboratory’ open to all Medtech players “. “The inauguration of the Salento Biomedical District is an important moment for the University of Salento and for the territory – underlined the rector Pollice – Not only because a structure is created that will contribute to the creation of a biomedical center, acting as an incubator of new business initiatives and as an attractor of research intensive investments, but also because a strategic direction is implemented that our academic community has placed at the basis of its mission: to make our university – and, consequently, Salento – a hub of international level research on sustainable well-being. We began to work towards this goal with the opening of the three-year degree course in Biomedical Engineering to which starting from the next academic year, thanks to the contribution of the Puglia Region, we will support the master’s degree course single cycle in Medicine and Surgery with a specific technological declination with a strong innovative content. “You This does not only enrich our training offer: it also allows us to intensify the research activities connected to it, attracting researchers and investments that can effectively contribute to the development of the biomedical district – he added – In order for this project to be successful, however, the support of the whole territorial community, this community needs to feel it and interpret it as a collective heritage “.” Today we inaugurate this new space in the Municipality of Cavallino which represents another important initiative within a project of partnership with all the institutions involved and started in 2019 “, highlighted Michele Perrino, president and CEO of Medtronic Italia”. “After the KnowHub project reached its second edition and there Hack for Med tour which started from Salento, the opening del Salento Biomedical District is the result of how the synergy between research, biomedical engineering and clinics ca can contribute to improving people’s care and well-being by strengthening the contribution of the medical device industry as an enabler of economic and employment growth. Talent, inclusion, young people, skills and the South – concluded Perrino – are the characterizing features of this project that contribute to the contamination this country needs “.