The projects in this area feature a major synergy between physics, chemistry and materials engineering, and they focus preferentially on nanotechnologies and sustainable (or green-tech) technologies. They target both radical, high-risk innovations, typically aimed at the high-tech world, and incremental, low-risk innovations with a minor technological impact, traditionally closer to the typical needs and strategies of manufacturing companies in Italy. The set of industrial sectors covered is exceptionally vast and ranges from energy, pharmaceuticals, textiles and construction, to integrated electronics and optics. Naturally, operating at the base of the production chain, there are many examples in a transversal context of innovations and new products that are the fruit of cross-market "technological contamination".

The projects in this area, precisely because of their innovative and multidisciplinary nature, have set in motion an important process of raising the awareness of textile industries to high technology, enabling some of them to expand their reference markets. For example the success of the NETeX project has led some companies to extend their joint activities to include the Far East, particularly Japan, India and China. Recently a series of initiatives and industrial and institutional relations have been activated, aimed at stimulating the development of advanced materials, and research into production processes, for energy, mobility and the environment.


EXAMPLES OF SIGNIFICANT PROJECTS:

Nanover
Why coat objects with paint? First of all, it's an effective form of protection. Just think of solar radiation, water (in the form of rain, snow, frost, fog, humidity, and dew) and atmospheric gases (carbon dioxide, oxygen, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide): all of these attack and destroy materials, at greater or lesser speeds. Paints do not only defend, they also increase the safety and performance of products: intumescent paints slow down combustion processes; decontaminating paints allow life to exist inside nuclear power stations; anti-vegetation paints keep shipping a competitive means of transport, etc. The goal of Nanover was to improve the hardness, resistance to abrasion and cleanability of paints, using new polymeric-matrix nano-composite materials that keep their aesthetic qualities unaltered and facilitate their application. This will allow paint manufacturers to define new types of high-quality product, increase competitiveness in enterprise and create new market opportunities. Partners of the project,financed by Lombardy Region, are: Dipartimento di Chimica, Materiali e Ingegneria Chimica "Giulio Natta" del Politecnico di Milano ("Giulio Natta" Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering); and the companies Alcea, Benasedo, Emmebi, MPM, Pulverit, in collaboration with Fondazione Politecnico.

NETeX - NanoEngineered TEXtile
Project funded by the Lombardy Region's Meta-Distretti grant for districts with industrial identities. It involved the Dipartimento di Chimica, Materiali e Ingegneria Chimica "Giulio Natta" ("Giulio Natta" Faculty of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering) and the Dipartimento di Ingegneria Nucleare del Politecnico di Milano (Faculty of Nuclear Engineering of the Politecnico di Milano), together with a group of eight Lombardy SMEs operating in the textile sector. The project developed innovative products for the clothing textile sector, for both process and product technologies; in particular, new optically-active, nano-structured "non-fabric fabrics" were developed for fashion applications and high-performance antibacterial treatments for sports clothing .

HOT-FDI - Hollow and Transparent Fibre Design for Industries
Project funded by MIUR grants. The project involves the Dipartimento di Matematica del Politecnico di Milano (Faculty of Mathematics of the Politecnico di Milano) and the Dipartimento di Chimica, Materiali e Ingegneria Chimica "Giulio Natta" del Politecnico di Milano ("Giulio Natta" Faculty of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering of the Politecnico di Milano), in association with two large companies in the Italian textiles sector. The project, which is still underway, aims to develop two new major types of product: hollow textile fibres with an exceptionally high void/solid ratio, and innovative textile fibres that are transparent to UV radiation. The applications vary from the clothing fabric segment (for example, garments that are very light but with extremely good thermal insulation properties) to technical textiles, with important industrial benefits.

ACHIEVEMENTS:

• The Fondazione has taken part in ten international conferences on advanced materials and on nanotechnologies in Italy, Japan, India and the USA. In five of these conferences, a Fondazione representative was an invited speaker.
• The industrial results of the coordinated projects have been reported on several occasions in leading Italian daily newspapers.
• The Fondazione's research has been presented at dozens of conferences worldwide, and its pioneering results have been published in prestigious international scientific journals.
• In 2008, at the request of Shinshu University in Ueda (Japan), the Fondazione has drawn up a framework agreement of technical/scientific and industrial cooperation in technical textiles and advanced materials for energy and sustainable technologies.