The project, led by the Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI), received €19 million in funding in 2022 from the Agency for Territorial Cohesion (now the Department for Cohesion Policies), as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) Complementary Fund. The management of SEIC has been entrusted to the Gran Sasso Tech Foundation, with the aim of promoting the shared use of infrastructures, the implementation of joint projects, and the transfer of scientific and technological expertise to the business sector.
With today’s inauguration, held on 12 November, the SEIC project enters a new phase: the launch of its activities and the opening of its laboratories and infrastructures to public research, industry and the local community.
“Today we are inaugurating a new GSSI environment in which researchers, engineers, technologists and businesses will work side by side, sharing problems and tools and taking part in the same innovation process. It will be managed by the Gran Sasso Tech Foundation, born from the joint initiative of GSSI and Thales Alenia Space Italia, precisely to bring together the freedom, curiosity and risk associated with the extraordinary creativity of researchers and the highly advanced technological expertise and reliability typical of cutting-edge industry,” said Professor Eugenio Coccia, president of Gran Sasso Tech.
The inauguration of SEIC marks a significant milestone in GSSI’s growth path and strengthens our role as a driver of innovation and development and, in this case, as a bridge between cutting-edge scientific research, technology transfer and the business world, helping to turn knowledge into concrete opportunities. For us these are extremely important laboratories: they house absolutely state-of-the-art instruments, which I would say are almost unique in Italy and in Europe. This is certainly true for our own research, but the original idea behind the laboratory was to offer the country this kind of infrastructure, so that research and innovation can be carried out together with us, with benefits for the local area,” said GSSI Rector, Professor Paola Inverardi. SEIC currently consists of a large building located within the former Collemaggio Psychiatric Hospital complex, just a few steps from the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio. The building, renamed the Nexus Building, has undergone complete renovation and redevelopment. Thanks to approximately €10 million of the total investment allocated to machinery and equipment, it now houses laboratories and technological infrastructures designed to support research and development in the fields of the space economy, artificial intelligence and software, digital twins, and the conservation and restoration of cultural heritage.
SEIC currently consists of a large building located within the former Collemaggio Psychiatric Hospital complex, just a few steps from the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio. The building, renamed the Nexus Building, has undergone complete renovation and redevelopment. Thanks to approximately €10 million of the total investment allocated to machinery and equipment, it now houses laboratories and technological infrastructures designed to support research and development in the fields of the space economy, artificial intelligence and software, digital twins, and the conservation and restoration of cultural heritage.
SEIC extends over five floors and covers approximately 3,200 square metres. It includes seven specialised laboratories and a cleanroom of approximately 250 square metres, featuring controlled environments classified according to ISO 5 and ISO 7 standards. These infrastructures will support the design, prototyping and integration of components and systems for aerospace applications, the development of digital tools and simulation environments, high-performance computing, as well as the use of innovative technologies for cultural heritage preservation and environmental monitoring.
Among the centre’s flagship facilities are the EOS M290-2 metal 3D printer – ideal for manufacturing components in titanium, aluminium and other metal alloys that would be difficult to produce using conventional manufacturing processes – and MACHINA (Movable Accelerator for Cultural Heritage In-situ Non-destructive Analysis), a unique 2 MeV proton accelerator developed in collaboration with INFN-LABEC, the Laboratory of Nuclear Techniques for the Environment and Cultural Heritage of the National Institute for Nuclear Physics. Compact and portable, MACHINA makes it possible to analyse the composition of materials used in ancient artefacts directly on site, while preserving their integrity. By operating directly in museums and restoration laboratories, it will eliminate the need to transport artworks elsewhere, a particularly important advantage for objects that are often fragile and of great historical and artistic value.
The SEIC project is led by GSSI, acting as the lead institution, and is based on a public-private partnership bringing together universities, graduate schools, research institutions, major industrial groups, small and medium-sized enterprises, and organisations committed to innovation and local development. The partnership includes the Special Office for the Reconstruction of L’Aquila, the Abruzzo Region and the Municipality of L’Aquila as institutional partners. Its scientific and industrial partners include Thales Alenia Space Italia, Telespazio, Politecnico di Milano, the University of Milano-Bicocca, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, IUSS University School for Advanced Studies Pavia, the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), Sanofi, Granit Technologies and Engineering, Proger, H-Farm, BluHub, Gunpowder, MaMa Industry, Fondazione OSA, Fondazione Open Polis, A Sud Ecologia e Cooperazione, and Innovalley.