It is worth one billion and one hundred million investments and potentially active repercussions on the territory for over three billion euros. Turin tries to accelerate on the dossier of the City of Space, a project that sees the main protagonists, Leonardo aligned with the unused areas of Corso Marche, Turin Polytechnic, the Region and the Municipality, alongside the Turin Chamber of Commerce and the Aerospace District, with the support of API and industrialists.
The president of Finpiemonte Partecipazioni, Francesco Zambon, puts together the figures of what is still a feasibility study for now and does so during the opening event of Defense and Aerospace Meetings, the appointment that meets every two years in Turin companies in the sector from all over the world.
The intervention program concerns an area of 184 thousand square meters with a mix of activities, from production to laboratories, up to residences and spaces for the start-up and incubator Esa Bic, recently established in the city. 50% of these are spaces relating to public functions or of general interest. «Looking at the NRP – explains Zambon – the various interventions of the project are in fact consistent with the provisions of the Plan’s seven investment lines, for a total of 13.3 billion. This means that 8% of the NPR resources consistent with the project would be sufficient to cover the costs of the intervention ”.
“Here we want to do industrial development” underlines Marco Zoff, Managing director of Leonardo’s Aircraft Division, who indicates the main lines of development of the project: research and innovation, in close collaboration with SMEs and start-ups, excellent training, with Politecnico and Its Aerospace and mechatronics, and finally urban regeneration, with an intervention that aims to return to the city an area that is currently inaccessible, integrated along the metro route, with a park and two museum areas dedicated to technologies and space exploration. «For Leonardo, Piedmont has important numbers, with 400 supply chain suppliers, 250 of which are highly qualified, 1,200 direct and indirect employees. In the area of Corso Marche we have the heart of our laboratories which will have the task of maintaining levels of excellence for the next 30-50 years “.
The goal is to accelerate technology transfer and strengthen the industrial system that revolves around big players, as well as Leonardo, Thales Alenia Space, Avio Aero, Altec, Collins Aerospace. “We must remain the best and most competitive, we cannot do it alone – adds Zoff – we need an ecosystem that brings together applied research, SMEs and suppliers, academia, a physical place where we can work together”. In the field there are the funds insured by the Region and the Polytechnic, but without a push from the NRP it will be difficult to make progress. “We must convince the government that this initiative does not represent a threat to the Lombard and Lazio aerospace district, the goal is to work in a network” say sources from the Piedmont Region.