Why Wired Rovereto #3 | The future
New ideas, new skills, new locations: a glimpse of the city's future

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Rovereto is an innovative city, which has always been devoted to industry and manufacturing. We have described this in detail in previous chapters, retracing the milestones that have guided its growth through the centuries. Its proactive thrust, between past and present, has always remained the same. What has changed, however, are the areas of interest, with an unchanging focus on the future. Yesterday it was silk, tobacco and cotton. Today it is mechatronics, smart industry, green technology, sport-tech, renewable energy and much more.

And tomorrow? Which will be the future of Rovereto? What will be the technological guidelines that Trentino has decided to promote and that will find in Vallagarina the ideal place to grow and develop?

The Autonomous Province of Trento, in partnership with the stakeholders of the Trentino innovation system, has decided to follow two paths. On one hand, the creation of two new hubs (Hydrogen and Life Sciences), where the worlds of research and industry will dialogue and work together to develop new technologies. On the other hand, a renewed commitment to urban regeneration, with the creation of Trentino Sviluppo's widespread incubator in the city centre.

THE NEW DIRECTIONS: HYDROGEN AND LIFE SCIENCES


Hydrogen and life sciences are two fast-growing sectors in Trentino and have also been included in the provincial Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3), the European Union's tool created to maximise the impact of research and innovation in specific sectors indicated by the territories of member countries. Precisely in this context, the Province has decided to create two more Centres of Excellence in Rovereto in the coming years - in addition to Polo Meccatronica and Progetto Manifattura - that will enrich the innovation opportunities in the area:

  • Hydrogen Competence Centre: will host innovative companies and start-ups, the new TESS-Labs and the Sustainable Energy Centre of the Bruno Kessler Foundation, which promotes the development of tools and methods for the creation, storage and distribution of low environmental impact energy solutions
  • Life Sciences Pole: will provide space and services to companies and researchers active in the fields of biomedicine and biotechnology applied to human health
URBAN REGENERATION: THE WIDESPREAD INCUBATOR AND CITY CENTRE INNOVATION

Rovereto is about to host the Trentino Sviluppo widespread incubator. It will be created in Via delle Scuole, inside former commercial spaces, and will host start-ups and innovative companies. A real showcase, set up in an open and modular space, which will act as a link between the Technology Hubs and the city centre and will allow experimentation with new forms of work and new types of enterprise.

The diffused incubator is part of "Rigenera Rovereto", the project with which, for some years now, the public administration and trade associations have been stimulating regeneration paths capable of activating socio-economic dynamics to enliven the fabric of the city.

In this context, Trentino Sviluppo has always played a major role in the evolution of the concept of space destined to create value and capable of producing exchanges that enrich the city in innovative ways. One example of this is the two Rovereto Technology Hubs, created to breathe new life into the abandoned factories of two large companies which for more than a century were the backbone of Trentino industry.