​​​Conventions and Accreditations​

The High Technology Network

Technological excellence in the Emilia-Romagna Province

The High Technology Network of the Emilia-Romagna Province consists of laboratories with predominance of the public research system - Universities and Research Institutions - with skills, tools and qualified human resources able to work in tune with the needs of the enterprises. 

Organised for Thematic Platforms that ensure to the research offer the best skills development model and greater visibility towards industries, the network includes industrial research laboratories and innovation centres located throughout the territory of the Emilia-Romagna Province operating in the following areas: Agricultural and Food, Constructions, Environment Energy, ICT and Design, Materials Mechanics, Life Sciences.

ASTER coordinates the High Technology Network of the Emilia-Romagna Province, which is organised in Platforms to promote a development model of the skills and ensures a research offer on the territory that can meet technological requests of innovation of the enterprises.

The Network was created as part of the development and promotion strategies of innovation that the Emilia-Romagna Province has activated since 2002, aimed at strengthening the change processes of the local productive system: it concerns of the supporting actions promoted thanks to the Industrial Research Regional Programme, Innovation and Technology Transfer (PRRIITT).

         (Extract from http://www.aster.it/tiki-index.php?page=LaRete​)

Network Laboratories and Thematic Platforms

Knowledge at the service of enterprises

The High Technology Network is organised in Thematic Platforms. These Platforms are created to ensure a research offer that can meet the requests of innovation and increase the competitiveness of the enterprises.

By approaching request and offer of industrial research, the platforms ensure that knowledge generated by research is transformed first into technologies and processes and then in marketable products and services for the enterprises.

The Thematic Platforms offer an organisational model able to approach the enterprises to the Network‘s research skills, thus promoting the competitiveness of the regional production tissue based on innovation. 

Up to now there are 6 Platforms defined to express the search offer in the Emilia-Romagna Province.

The coordination of the Network, organised in Thematic Platforms, is ensures by ASTER. 

The Thematic Platforms are created with the aim of:

• Meeting the needs of development and innovation of enterprises and aggregate the knowledge of Universities and Research Institutions in the Emilia-Romagna Province, thus approaching the request and offer of industrial research
  
• Develop strategies in which the growth, the competitiveness and the future sustainability are supported by major technological advances
  
• Define the research and technological development objectives in the medium and long term
  
• Identify the most promising technological trajectories to be given priority in the regional, national and European research programmes. 
  
• Affect the whole economic value chain, thus ensuring that the knowledge generated by research is transformed first into technologies and processes and then into marketable products and services. Offer marketing and integration tools produced to facilitate starting of the research and service contracts and improve the ability of collaborative research of the Network.
  
• Activate a capillary action of information and training towards local enterprises.
  

(​Extracted from http://www.aster.it/tiki-index.php?page=Piattaforme​)

Institutional accreditation

The Institutional Accreditation is the tool with which the Emilia-Romagna Province qualifies the Industrial Research and Innovation Centres Laboratories, by certifying that the organisational and managerial configurations are appropriate for contractual relationships with enterprises within the industrial research and technological innovation projects of products.

The users of the research structures are ensured for:

• Skill of the technical personnel
  
• Adeguacy of the measuring equipment
  
• Accuracy of the used testing methodologies 
  
• Ability to manage and design industrial research plans
  
• Development and optimisation of industrial products and processes
  
• Characterisation of materials and components​​