Login
Registered users
What’s the future of urban living? It will be more sustainable, resilient, inclusive, and green. But how can we achieve these goals when time is short? And how do we transform our cities when they’re still so un-inclusive and based around the logic of consumerism? All this, along with how we can build innovative environments centered on quality of life, will be discussed at the first MIND Innovation Week between Monday, May 8, and Saturday, May 13, 2023. To be staged in the Milan Innovation District, a.k.a. MIND, one of the most cutting-edge centers in Europe, the festival will attract experts and professionals, while also sending out an invitation to the public to participate in six days of events organized around six key themes.
And there will be over 100 events, workshops, talks, and performances featuring academics and researchers, institutions, businesses, and startups from around the world, who’ll discuss the most pressing issues of today. Presented by Lendlease – an international group involved in real estate, infrastructure, and urban regeneration projects, which was behind the private development of MIND – in partnership with Arexpo and all the businesses of the district, MIND Innovation Week will become an annual event. This first edition, timed to take place exactly one year after the opening of MIND (and eight years after Expo 2015), will also be an excellent opportunity to examine the success of the district with real numbers and data. Today, MIND is occupied by 25 companies with over 2000 staff. It’s estimated that, to date, they’ve been responsible for attracting over 30 million euros in public and private investments.
MIND Innovation Week’s partners include institutions such as the Human Technopole Foundation, the IRCCS Polyclinic, Milan State University, the Triulza Foundation, Politecnico di Milano, Confindustria Dispositivi Medici, and the CNR; associations such as Ambrosetti, Assolombarda, and Farmindustria; and companies such as ABB, Enel X, EON, AstraZeneca, Illumina, members of Federated Innovation, Bio4Dreams, Designtech, ELT, and Synlab. Other partners are firms from the district itself, including PlusValue, Arexpo, the T-Factor Horizon 2020 project, Valore Italia, Cariplo Factory, and a number of startups.
“Our plan is that this weeklong event will become an annual celebration of innovation for Italy and Europe. This is an objective we share with the entire MIND community, both present and future, since it reflects the spirit of the district itself to foster collaborative innovation and social inclusion, experiment with sustainable lifestyles, and promote technology transfer to grow the civil, cultural, and economic spheres as well as sustainable development.”
Domenico D’Alessio, head of Marketing & Communications with Lendlease, Italy
From medicine to biotechnology, from genomics to clinical research, from restoration to technology, while also encompassing solutions for green mobility, and energy and environmental sustainability for the cities of the future, MIND Innovation Week will be a unique opportunity for discussion and growth for the local community and beyond.
The first MIND Innovation Week will run for six days, with each day focusing on a particular theme. The program includes numerous discussion sessions aimed at industry professionals, opinion leaders, and the public. The program begins with an address by Milan’s mayor, Giuseppe Sala, and a tour of the district by Rome-based foreign ambassadors and the consular corps of Milan. It ends on Saturday with games, workshops, and exhibitions aimed at families, with the participation of television personality Costantino della Gherardesca, former high jumper and gold medalist at the 1980 Moscow Olympics Sara Simeoni, and Radio Raheem. Including guided tours of MIND organized by Open House Milano, the event is both a celebration and a chance to discover the district and what’s happening today in the world of innovation.
The themes of each of the six days of the event will be:
All images courtesy of Lendlease
