09.09.2019 10:00
Xi’an: inauguration of the Joint School of Design and Innovation Centre with XJTU
China will host the first Politecnico di Milano campus to be located outside Italy
Saturday 7th September saw the inauguration in Xi’an of the Joint School of Design and Innovation Centre of the Politecnico di Milano and Xi’an Jiao tong University (XJTU).
This is the most important step for the internationalization of our university, the accomplishment of a process started in 2009.
Taking part in the ceremony were Ettore Sequi, Italy’s Ambassador to China, the Deputy Mayor of Xi’an, the Province Governor and the academic authorities of both Universities, as well as other local leaders. A big event attended by over 7000 guests.
The Chinese city of Xi’an is a highly symbolic location: famous for the world-renowned Terracotta Army, it also marks the starting point of the ancient Silk Road.
Our relationship with China is one of the Politecnico di Milano’s greatest assets. A partnership that has grown over the past fifteen years and which today marks the launch of a Joint Platform with one of the most important technical universities in the world, the Xi’an Jiao tong University
The area in which the new structure is located is also important from a strategic standpoint: in the Xixian New Area, the Chinese Government has recently launched an innovative urbanisation project covering 900 km2, which also includes the very recent Western China Science and Technology Innovation Harbour – iHarbour, where many Fortune Top100 companies are setting up offices, and of which the Chinese-Italian Centre is a key element.
The Joint School of Design and Innovation Centre is an achievement that crowns the strategic decision made by the Politecnico di Milano to focus on China as the most important country in its process of internationalisation. It is, in fact, the first physical campus of our University to be located outside Italy, in a building measuring roughly 11,000 m2, designed by a team of architects from the Politecnico. A campus that will operate in the name of educational excellence and innovative research, set to demonstrate the very best of the synergy that exists between our two countries, in the form of creativity, a multidisciplinary approach – both typical strengths of the Made in Italy and Polytechnic culture – and the capacity for large-scale engineering that lies at the heart of the Chinese system.
The new Centre is designed for 2,000 students and 100 teachers. It will also be available for events and workshops with companies interested in the most important area of Chinese development.
We will soon be opening a campus in Xi’an, in one of the most productive provinces in China, in the name of Italy and of Milan. This is much more than a partnership agreement. It is an actual centre for research and experimentation. Eleven thousand square metres of initiatives to benefit not just education, but also companies and the creation of new start-ups
Our partnership with XJTU, one of the most important universities in China, has existed for more than a decade, and it already offers double-MA projects in all of the main areas of Engineering and Architecture.
The Centre will provide an international platform for developing skills and realising projects to support the technological innovation of Italian and Chinese companies alike.
Many agreements have been signed for educational projects and research, as well as those about to be concluded.
Our goal is:
- to provide new academic opportunities for young researchers worldwide;
- to train the next generation of world experts and leaders in view of encouraging the dissemination of innovation and technological transfer dynamics within businesses;
- to develop an international platform for research that involves the worlds of academia and industry;
- to promote entrepreneurship, including through the creation of an incubator, in key technology sectors.
The main areas in which we will operate are:
- Cars: e-vehicles, autonomous driving, fleet management.
- Advanced manufacturing: digitalization, robotics.
- Energy: smart grids, green technologies, renewable sources.
- Digital transformation: innovative business models, omnichannel marketing strategies, data-powered decision making.
- Architecture and civil engineering: sustainable urban planning and development, historic and heritage site preservation, smart city, smart building, smart mobility.
Now the Politecnico di Milano will enter into the heart of the development policies of one of the world’s largest economies, strengthen its international presence and confirm the increasingly central role played by universities in the overall growth of our country