Press releases

With the kick-off meeting that began today and will conclude tomorrow, 27 November, NASCHA – North Adriatic Smart Communities Hydrogen Accelerator is officially launched. The new initiative aims to accelerate the development and adoption of renewable hydrogen-based technologies within the North Adriatic ecosystem. The European project, which will last 36 months, has a total value of approximately EUR 11 million, of which EUR 7.9 million are funded by the I3 – Interregional Innovation Investments Instrument. NASCHA represents the natural evolution and a major extension of the North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley (NAHV) initiative, inheriting its vision of an integrated, resilient and interregional hydrogen value chain. It further strengthens this vision through demonstration activities, scalability tools for the proposed solutions, and dedicated acceleration programmes for SMEs. The project, led by Area Science Park, brings together 20 public and private organisations from Italy (mainly Friuli Venezia Giulia), Slovenia and Croatia, representing the entire hydrogen value chain: research institutions, innovative SMEs, large companies, business support organisations, universities and local authorities. NASCHA aims to develop three Smart Communities of Practice and two pilot projects to advance solutions based on new technologies in the green hydrogen sector from Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 to TRL 9, making them ready for the market and for investment. In addition to developing three Smart Communities of Practice (SCP) in the cities of Celje, Ajdovščina (Slovenia) and Cres (Croatia)—aimed at demonstrating the effectiveness of green hydrogen applications respectively in in urban areas, sustainable irrigation, and transport and mobility respectively through the integration of innovators, businesses, public administrations and research centres—the project also aims to strengthen the ecosystem for hydrogen production, storage and distribution across the North Adriatic territories. NASCHA indeed integrates and shares knowledge between highly innovative regions and less developed regions in the EU hydrogen value chains, contributing to the European Green Deal, the EU Hydrogen Strategy, and broader decarbonisation goals. “NASCHA contributes to accelerating the energy transition across the North Adriatic”, explains Alberto Soraci, project coordinator. “It aims to strengthen the hydrogen ecosystem by contributing to the European Green Deal. It also reinforces cross-border cooperation and the integration of technologies into key value chains such as transport and urban areas, ensuring long-term impact and enabling the replication of best practices by other regions”. One of the most innovative elements of the initiative is the allocation of dedicated funds for businesses: NASCHA will support at least 20 SMEs through cascade funding (up to EUR 60,000 each) and advanced business acceleration and investor readiness programmes. The project will also develop a set of tools designed to facilitate the adoption of the NASCHA model in other European Hydrogen Valleys, including standardised procedures, know-how for third-party selection, and matchmaking services for investors.   Project partners: Area Science Park (coordinator), META Group, ETRA, Italian Business Angels Network Association, Občina Ajdovščina, STEMwise, META Circularity, CTS H2, Grad CRES, OTRA, RRA PORIN, SIST, ECUBES, Inkubator, PATRIA, University of Zagreb – Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Energetika, Institut Jožef Stefan, Mestna Občina Celje, INCOM. Co-financed through the I3 Instrument implemented by EISMEA.  

The World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week (WAAW), promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO), will take place from 18 to 24 November under this year’s theme “Preventing Antimicrobial Resistance Together: Protecting Our Present, Securing Our Future”. The main goal is to raise global awareness of the danger of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – a phenomenon that occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites evolve to resist the effects of medicines, making infections increasingly difficult to treat. In the lead-up to this globally significant event – from health, scientific and social perspectives – Area Science Park organised today in Trieste, in collaboration with the University of Trieste, the International Workshop “Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance: Prevention, Monitoring and Counteraction”. The event focused on prevention, monitoring and counteraction strategies to fight antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The initiative, developed within the PRP@CERIC project and promoted under the patronage of major national and international scientific institutions – including the Ministry of University and Research (MUR), the Italian Society of Microbiology (SIM) and the University of Trieste – the initiative brought together experts from academia, clinical research and industry to discuss the latest studies and innovative solutions aimed at addressing the growing threat of drug-resistant bacteria. In recent years, scientific research has been striving to find effective answers and strategies to stop the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and develop therapies capable of treating infections that no longer respond to traditional treatments. International scientific cooperation remains one of the key factors in tackling what is widely recognised as one of the greatest public health challenges of our time. During the workshop, experts emphasised that monitoring is a cornerstone of the Italian National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (PNCAR). Antimicrobial resistance is an evolutionary and global process responsible for 1.27 million direct deaths and 4.95 million total associated deaths each year – a figure that exceeds the combined totals of tuberculosis and HIV. The ESKAPE group of bacteria (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli), together with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Streptococcus pneumoniae, are currently among the main culprits of the most difficult infections to treat. “The situation regarding antibiotic resistance is highly heterogeneous. In Italy, we are observing growing caution and awareness in the prescription and correct use of antimicrobials — both in human medicine and in livestock farming — but globally, management of the issue remains inconsistent,” said Federica Mantovani of Area Science Park. The World Health Organization and the European Commission have both pointed out that, despite preventive measures, there is still a serious lack of innovation in this field. Of the roughly ninety drugs currently under development, only fifteen are considered truly innovative. It is crucial to intensify research — including basic research — to develop radically new therapies and overcome antibiotic resistance, since continuing to rely on existing therapeutic models will not be sufficient”. To combat the spread of AMR, coordinated action is needed at both international and local levels, based on antibiotic stewardship programmes – promoting the rational and targeted use of antimicrobials – along with continuous epidemiological surveillance and the “One Health” approach, which recognises the interconnectedness of human, animal and environmental health. “Antimicrobial resistance is a global phenomenon that requires local action,” highlighted Stefania Stefani of the University of Catania. Its impact varies greatly, with much more severe consequences in Africa, India and the Far East, where there are critical issues in accessing care and new antibiotics. In Italy, for instance, we face high mortality rates due to multidrug-resistant Gram-negative microorganisms. It is a multifactorial problem with no borders. To address it, the One Health approach is essential, recognising that resistance arises equally in humans, animals (livestock) and the environment. We must study the problem in all these contexts, identifying hotspots for resistant microorganisms — such as wastewater treatment facilities — to understand their origins and assess future risks to human health”. A significant portion of the workshop was devoted to presenting innovative therapeutic strategies, including research on human monoclonal antibodies isolated from convalescent patients, capable of preventing and treating bacterial infections and helping to identify new antigens for vaccine development. These advances open up concrete perspectives for countering resistant pathogens and reducing the global public health burden of AMR. “Monoclonal antibodies represent a promising alternative to traditional antibiotics,” explained Claudia Sala of the Biotecnopolo Foundation of Siena, “as they can target only pathogenic bacteria with high specificity, preserving the ‘good’ microbiota that is often harmed by conventional antibiotics. Monoclonal antibodies are already approved for other diseases, such as cancer and autoimmune disorders, where their use is well established. As for antibacterial antibodies, we are still in the discovery phase — and human trials take time, as they must go through multiple stages of testing”. Another promising approach, discussed by Mariagrazia Di Luca of the University of Pisa and the ICGEB, involves the use of bacteriophages, viruses that infect and destroy bacteria, emerging as precision antimicrobials for targeted therapies — for example, in cases of chronic infections. These viruses offer a highly specific solution because they selectively attack pathogenic bacteria while preserving beneficial microbiota. Thanks to scientific advances, researchers can now engineer phage cocktails and derivatives to overcome bacterial resistance mechanisms, with encouraging results already observed against multidrug-resistant pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Nevertheless, significant challenges remain, particularly in terms of regulatory approval and large-scale production. Fighting antimicrobial resistance requires shared commitment and strengthened international cooperation — through the promotion of responsible antibiotic use, improved hygiene and infection prevention (including vaccination), and sustained support for research into new therapies.

A joint research project carried out by the Institute of Materials Workshop of the National Research Council in Trieste (Cnr-Iom), the Universities of Trieste and Innsbruck, and Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste has synthesised a new crystalline form of diboron trioxide, entirely composed of structural units previously observed only in its vitreous form. Boron oxide is commonly used as a key component in the manufacture of highly resistant glasses such as Pyrex and in enamels: in such industrial processes, it has been demonstrated that the addition of boron oxide significantly improves the glass’s ability to withstand thermal shock and chemical reactions, making it ideal for the most demanding applications. However, the vitrification process of boron oxide is still little understood, and presents anomalies not found in other oxides, such as silica, which exist in both crystalline and amorphous form. “The key distinction between a crystal and a glass lies in the ordered arrangement of atoms in the former, which is absent in the latter,” explains Alessandro Sala, a Cnr-Iom researcher who conceived the project. “Both systems are normally made up of the same structural unit composed of a few atoms, repeated in space. In crystals this ‘building block’ repeats periodically in a geometrically ordered manner, whereas in glass it repeats in a disordered way. Boron is an exception to this rule, since its vitreous phase contains elementary units composed of a ring of three boron atoms and three oxygen atoms, which are not present in the crystal. Today, for the first time, we have succeeded in obtaining a two-dimensional crystalline phase composed exclusively of the ‘building blocks’ present in the vitreous phase”. The research was based on the use of platinum as the base material to obtain this compound and to characterise its main physical properties in detail. The scientific team was able not only to develop the “recipe” for obtaining this material, but also to study its principal physical properties in depth. Maria Peressi, Full Professor at the University of Trieste, comments: “Our numerical simulations indicate that this material, porous by construction, consists of a mesh of boron and oxygen atoms that is extremely flexible, to the point of being the most elastic monoatomic-thickness material ever reported – ten times more so than graphene! This peculiar characteristic is due to the fact that the rigid ‘building blocks’ of which it is made are linked by an oxygen atom that acts as a hinge, around which they can rotate within the plane. Experimental evidence and results from numerical simulations also indicate that this material interacts only very weakly with the platinum substrate on which it is produced, suggesting the possibility of using conventional methods to separate it in order to employ it in innovative devices”. The crystalline structure of the two-dimensional material obtained was then analysed through scanning tunnelling microscopy: “The complementary measurements carried out in Trieste and Innsbruck enabled us to observe the material down to its most fundamental components,” continues Laerte Patera, Professor at the University of Innsbruck. “With the spatial resolution achieved, we are now able to determine the position of each atom within the two-dimensional mesh: in the future we will be able to observe how the atoms rearrange as the material passes from the crystalline form to the disordered form characteristic of glass”. Andrea Locatelli, head of the Nanospectroscopy beamline at Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, concludes: “The use of synchrotron light was crucial to precisely determine the relative abundance of the constituent elements, the absence of contaminants, and the crystallinity of the new material produced. We are already capable of producing homogeneous crystals of this material measuring tens of square microns. The complementarity of the experimental techniques and theoretical simulations employed in this study proved decisive for the success of the entire scientific project. The distinctive characteristics of this new material – a wide band-gap semiconductor, extremely flexible and porous – encourage exploration of its potential use in applications across very different sectors, from electronics to catalysis to quantum technologies”. The first authors of this important work, Teresa Zio and Marco Dirindin, are two PhD students at the University of Trieste, who are brilliantly crowning a path of excellence in advanced training and introduction to research.

Imagine a universal translator that, instead of turning English into Italian, can decode the language of the proteins that make up viruses. Such a “translator” already exists: Artificial Intelligence. And it is reshaping the fight against viral diseases, from pandemic preparedness to the development of treatments. This was the key message from international experts who, today in Trieste, outlined the latest frontiers of computational virology during the workshop “AI in Virology: Leveraging AI to Advance Our Understanding of Viruses”, hosted by the Virology Unit of Area Science Park. For decades, the only way to study a virus was to grow it in the laboratory and observe its behaviour — a slow and costly process. Genetics then opened the door to reading its “instruction book”: the genome. Now AI goes further, learning the “grammar” and “syntax” of proteins — the molecular machines that allow a virus to invade cells and replicate. “New language models for proteins are like artificial brains trained on millions of biological sequences,” explains Giuditta De Lorenzo, virologist at Area Science Park. “From a single sequence of amino acids, they can identify which mutations are possible and which would instead ‘break’ the protein. This makes it possible to predict how a newly discovered virus might evolve — a crucial skill if we want to stay ahead of future pandemics. For example, our upcoming research at Area will focus on the impact of viral infection on the cell: how viruses disrupt its contents. And in collaboration with our Data Engineering Laboratory, we will also work on developing vaccines that are more effective, more stable, and designed to take into account the dynamic behaviour of viral particles   Ultra-rapid vaccines thanks to “Reverse Vaccinology 3.0” One of the most tangible impacts of AI will be on the development of vaccines and therapeutic antibodies. The so-called “Reverse Vaccinology 3.0” uses AI to instantly analyse the structure of viral proteins and identify their “Achilles’ heel” — the precise point at which antibodies can strike. “The huge advantage of Reverse Vaccinology 3.0,” explains Emanuele Andreano of the Biotecnopolo Foundation in Siena, “is the ability to discover antigens for vaccine candidates at unprecedented speed. Thanks to AI, and to advances in human immunology, it is now possible to quickly identify antibodies capable of killing a pathogen and then, from the antibody sequence, determine the target — the antigen on the surface of the virus or bacterium. This leap allows us to skip years of in vivo testing, understanding from the outset what works and what doesn’t. At the Biotecnopolo Foundation in Siena, our most important mission is to develop vaccines and monoclonal antibodies against viruses or bacteria with pandemic potential, such as the case of the monkeypox virus.” However, as noted at the workshop, this immense computing power comes with very high costs. Behind these breakthroughs are supercomputers that consume enormous amounts of energy. The public must be aware that AI, while extremely powerful, is also very expensive and demands significant investment in infrastructure.   A promising future, but one to be governed with caution The ability to read, interpret, and even “imagine” new proteins is not just an opportunity but also a profound responsibility, experts warned. “We must create shared international rules and robust control frameworks to ensure that this extraordinary scientific revolution is used solely for the benefit of humanity,” stresses Alessandro Marcello, virologist at ICGEB. “We have to consider the dual-use potential of AI, which can be very beneficial for medicine and public health, but could also pose risks if it fell into the wrong hands, given how relatively easy it could become to obtain protocols for producing highly pathogenic viruses. We must act synergistically on multiple levels: among AI developers, within the scientific community, and at the legislative level, to establish laws and regulations that, while not stifling research and innovation, protect society from these potential dangers”.

ScaleUp Lab, the capacity-building programme for technology startups promoted by Area Science Park, which aims to support new technology enterprises in developing solid, sustainable business models ready to engage with international investors. From 9 to 12 September 2025, the Summer School —organised as part of the IP4FVG-EDIH project—marks the first step of the programme: four days of intensive training that combine lectures, assessment activities and hands-on workshops. Key topics will range from open innovation to collaborative R&D models, from financial risk assessment to growth strategies, and from analysing to reinventing business models in highly dynamic markets. A significant moment will be the participation of Alexander Osterwalder, internationally recognised as one of the most influential experts in strategic innovation and co-author with Yves Pigneur of the Business Model Canvas. His presence will offer participants practical tools and proven methodologies to address the challenges of high-tech entrepreneurship and increase their chances of success in the global market. ScaleUp Lab is aimed at startups operating in high- and deep-tech sectors. Participants will have the opportunity not only to refine their skills, but also to embark on a path that will continue from September to December 2025. The programme will conclude in Trieste with Pitch Day, in mid-December, when startups will present their projects to investors and industry experts. The IP4FVG-EDIH project is funded by Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) – Mission 4, Component 2 (M4C2) – Investment 2.3: “Strengthening and broadening the thematic and territorial scope of technology transfer centres for industry segments”, financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU. The project aims to encourage the adoption of digital and green technologies by businesses and public administrations.