From the collaboration between the University of Milano-Bicocca and BiM – where Bicocca meets Milan comes the Bicocca Pavilion, an avant-garde space that promotes innovation and research through a virtuous public-private partnership, realised with the participation of Cariplo Factory, which will connect the excellence of the University of Milano-Bicocca with the business world.
The building – which will be inaugurated at the beginning of 2025 – will rise within the new green square of BiM – where Bicocca Incontra Milano, the large urban regeneration project in the heart of Bicocca, promoted by Aermont Capital, a pan-European asset management company with a focus on real estate, and Kervis SGR, a company dedicated to the management of funds reserved for leading international institutional investors, together with MTDM – Manifattura Tabacchi Development Management as project manager and placemaker.
Designed by the architectural studio Piuarch – which is entrusted with the entire BiM regeneration plan – the Bicocca Pavilion was conceived to host an evolved ecosystem of businesses and professionals through a flexible and functional architecture that meets the highest standards in terms of sustainability and technology.
In contrast to the rigorous, geometric lines of Vittorio Gregotti’s buildings, the Bicocca Pavilion has a free, almost circular shape, reflecting the multiplicity of functions housed within it.
The white, extremely light structure alternates between opaque aluminium elements, which reflect the green surroundings, and transparent glass windows, which allow natural light to enter the spaces almost unhindered.
Covering an area of 800 square metres, the building has two levels.
The first floor will host flexible offices, meeting rooms and common areas for companies, research institutes, start-ups, universities and university spin-offs.
The ground floor, open to the public, features a flexible space that accommodates a cafeteria, an arena for meetings and talks, public events, study and work spaces and a cycle workshop.
The large urban regeneration project in the heart of Bicocca envisages a unique structure capable of bringing together the best expertise in both social sciences and deep tech.
Open innovation projects and the creation of new companies with high growth potential will be developed within Bicocca Pavilion.
Starting from the reconnaissance and identification of a market need, the different types of subjects involved in the Bicocca Pavilion ecosystem will have the opportunity to create from scratch a start-up to be launched on the market, activating and exploiting in a privileged way the unique assets of the University of Milan-Bicocca such as the competences in the field of applied and translational research, the patent portfolio, the instruments, the laboratories and the access to the community of talents (students, researchers, data analysts, etc.) that compose it.
“Bicocca Pavilion is an important step in a long journey that our University has undertaken to promote academic entrepreneurship and collaboration with businesses”, observes Salvatore Torrisi, Pro-Rector for Research Enhancement at the University of Milan-Bicocca. “This initiative is part of the MUSA Innovation Ecosystem, with the aim of bringing together a rich series of projects that the University has implemented over the years to stimulate innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit of researchers, students and technical-administrative staff. These projects, from the valorisation of intellectual property, to the scouting of new ideas with a high social impact, to alternative finance for innovation and entrepreneurial training, will find in the Bicocca Pavilion a point of aggregation and acceleration open to the economy and society”.
“I would like to thank the University for making the partnership behind this ambitious initiative possible – comments Giovanni Manfredi, Managing Director of Aermont Capital – The creation of complex ecosystems capable of enhancing research and talent, and connecting them with local companies is a fundamental ingredient in urban regeneration processes, a best practice at international level. We hope that this will become a space open to all, where innovation can be expressed through the free exchange of ideas and business skills”.
“The realisation of the Bicocca Pavilion is an important step within the large urban regeneration project BiM that we are carrying out with Aermont Capital and MTDM”, says Giancarlo Patri, Head of Fund and Asset Management at Kervis SGR. “Thanks to the attention to detail, the use of technology at the service of energy efficiency, daily management, and the well-being of the future users of the spaces, BiM makes an important contribution to the creation of an attractive ecosystem in a modern district that is well connected to the urban context, such as Milano Bicocca”.
For further information visit www.unimib.it and www.bim-milano.com.
