Competence Centres established at the University of Florence

Enhance the development of industrial research and the technology transfer capacity of the University of Florence together with the Fiorgen Foundation and the Lens (European Laboratory of Nonlinear Spectroscopy) is the mission of the RISE Competence Centre (Industrial Research Infrastructure Network for incubation and for advanced services to innovative companies). The headquarters, housed in two new buildings and in the University Incubator complex, houses seven laboratories specialized in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, pharmacological experimentation, electronic engineering and computer science.
RISE was created thanks to the FAS Funds "infrastructures for productive sectors" of the Regione Toscana and the contributions to the laboratory structures on projects financed by the Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze. RISE offers the opportunity to combine the skills of the Florentine University Incubator and the scientific ones present in the laboratories to respond to the need for innovation of the production system. The prerogative of RISE is the interdisciplinarity of the sub-projects covering different sectors and areas.

NEMECH (New Media for Cultural Heritage) is a Competence Centre on Cultural Heritage established in collaboration with the Tuscany Region at the MICC-University of Florence.

CERM-TT is a Competence Centre belonging to the Magnetic Resonance Centre (CERM) of the University of Florence. It provides qualified services to businesses in all applications of nuclear magnetic resonance. The CERM-TT, which is located at the Sesto Fiorentino Sciences Campus in a new structure built with the contribution of the Tuscany Region on FAS funds, and it houses cutting-edge NMR instrumentation, such as a high-field instrument dedicated to the solid state, which can study many materials of industrial interest and pharmaceutical preparations. In the biological field it can be used in the investigation of fibrils or protein aggregates, which are found, for example, in nerve tissues in cases of neurodegenerative diseases. 
The head of CERN TT is Claudio Luchinat.

The VALORE Competence Centre "Gino Florenzano" was established with the contribution of the Tuscany Region (PAR FAS 2007-2013 projects, Action line: "Infrastructures for the productive sectors"). It includes the Department of Chemistry "Ugo Schiff", the Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry - DAGRI, and the company Fotosintetica & Microbiologica S.r.l.

The mission of the VALORE Competence Centre consists in offering services to local businesses for the enhancement of biomass (such as algal masses and agro-industrial by-products). The activity focusses on the development of technologies, products and services for the transformation of biomass of plant and animal origin and agro-industrial waste materials, towards the creation of products with high added value as intermediates for the chemical, nutraceuticals, polymers, solvents and biofuels industries, and for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

The management team of the Centre includes the Director Alberto Brandi, Antonella Salvini (associate professor of Industrial Chemistry); Donatella Giomi (associate professor of Organic Chemistry); Mario Tredici (professor of Agrarian Microbiology) and  Liliana Rodolfi of F&M Srl.

The Tuscan Cybersecurity Competence Centre (C3T), established in summer 2018 through a collaboration agreement between the University of Florence, the University of Pisa, the University of Siena, the National Council of Research, the IMT High Studies School of Lucca, on the initiative of the Tuscany Region in implementation of the Industry 4.0 Regional Strategy and the Regional Digital Agenda, is a network of regional research infrastructures aimed at making available to companies and public administrations a system of research skills and infrastructures; enhance the regional cybersecurity competence system at national and European levels; share the dissemination activities that the Centre can activate to promote knowledge of the problems and solutions related to the topic of cybersecurity in the context of the digitization processes. 

Among the aims of the Centre, there is that of offering technical and scientific support to Public Administrations and Tuscan SMEs for the identification of ICT vulnerabilities and possible threats and the enhancement of defence capabilities based on the cybersecurity needs detected through the activity of the Tuscan Observatory on Cybersecurity. Furthermore, C3T contributes to the development of tools to verify the compliance of companies with EU Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR) and provides the information and IT support necessary to ensure its correct interpretation and implementation as well as providing advice on the services of software certification, an indispensable tool to guarantee reliability and competitiveness.

C3T’s headquarters are in Pisa, initially in the premises made available by the University of Pisa.

The ARTES 4.0 Competence Centre, established in December 2018 as a recognized Association with legal personality according to the provisions of the Ministerial Decree 214 /2017, and of the D.D. of 29 January 2018 of the Ministry of Economic Development (MiSE), is a highly specialized network in the areas of advanced robotics and enabling digital technologies defined by the National Industry Plan 4.0.
Its aim is to associate university partners with high intensity of afference to Departments of Excellence financed by MIUR, research bodies and highly qualified training institutes, public bodies and Institutions that carry out research functions, foundations, third sector bodies, companies and not-for-profit organizations, associations and partner companies of an innovative nature in order to provide the industry with technologies and services dedicated to responding to their needs, through orientation, training, innovation, industrial research and development of experimental projects.
ARTES 4.0 aims to help partner companies identify their innovation needs, acting as an accelerator of research transfer in order to promote industrial application and the transformation of research into new products, and organize or support training pathways, creating highly qualified job opportunities.
In the start-up phase of the activities, the Centre has its registered office in Pontedera at the Institute of BioRobotics of the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies. (Visit Artes website)

ACSI was founded at the beginning of 2020 by the will of five large international companies operating in Tuscany (Baker Hughes, El.En Group, KME, Leonardo, Thales) together with the University of Florence. Following its foundation, three other companies based in Tuscany joined ACSI: Enegan SpA, Sime Srl, Sirio Solutions Engineering SpA.

ACSI's goal is to give shape to a cultural and professional experience in the field of business management and professional updating of personnel in managerial roles and positions, with a view to high and continuous training, through the contribution of the most important companies and public and private entities in the area. ACSI is therefore a synergy and network project, a new and innovative point of reference for the growth and development of aspiring managers, who work in particular in the energy, mechanical, optical, electronic and information technology sectors and in the supply chains connected to them, with the aim of providing important support to the local entrepreneurial fabric in strengthening the ability to respond to today's economic and industrial challenges.