Waterfront, here is the Idea Factory, the digital heart signed by the University of Genoa

The Eastern Waterfront will also have a digital heart. Not that the initiatives planned within it are devoid of them, but what is starting to take shape between the canals and the Palasport is more than an innovative and digital building, it is a real factory in which ideas and initiatives can germinate. «We certainly couldn’t miss an opportunity like this, in such a prestigious space as the Waterfront – explains the rector of the university Federico Delfino – We began to reflect with the Municipality and with the Piano studio, finding in the architect Piano an attentive interlocutor to our needs and immediately ready to share the idea of ​​creating a space for dialogue and discussion with young people.”

These are the premises that lead to the birth of the Idea Factory, the northern building in the Waterfront area which for the moment can be guessed at, but not yet seen rising upwards. The construction project, in fact, will be presented in mid-May. Now, however, the structures of the underground garage under the park are already being built in this lot. Once the foundations have been completed, the building will begin to rise from the end of July.

«With the Municipality we have decided to give life to this joint initiative – explains the rector – The Municipality has already activated various tables as a start-up accelerator, we in an area of ​​over two thousand square meters will take action with a project to encourage the presence of young people. The fact that we can do it in a prestigious context like the Waterfront is a source of further satisfaction for us.”

At the center of the operation the university wants to place one of the most important themes of its action on the territory, which goes alongside research and teaching (and now the public engagement of the Third Mission), that is, orientation. Right here, in the Idea Factory, the new spaces for the orientation of young people will arise. «We also want to deepen the interaction with the teachers – continues the rector – here there will be the opportunity to develop new ideas close to an incubator of new initiatives such as the start-ups that will be hosted. It is an idea that we immediately shared with the architect Piano.”

The Fabbrica thus aims to present itself as a space open to dialogue and transparent also from an architectural point of view, with the light that should filter directly through large windows to illuminate the spaces on the ground floor (which could also host a food court) and those on the upper floor, which will have their center of gravity in a large auditorium. And then other spaces for start-ups and offices, in addition to those for the university. «In the spaces intended for us we want to bring our historical skills such as digital training and the teaching and learning center (today in Darsena – continues the rector – We are also in the running for a project shared with other universities to create a digital education hub that the entire North West would be needed, also to encourage the development of training for digital skills”.

A place therefore in which to answer young people’s questions, but also to train those who are then called upon to undertake training tasks. The ability to improve distance learning also becomes central, with lessons that can be extended internationally. «We believe very much in this challenge – concludes rector Delfino – New spaces for students who will also be able to meet with teachers, the teaching and learning center for innovative teaching and the new headquarters of the Digital Education Hub of Northern Italy are three great opportunities that we want to make the most of it, to give a further boost to innovation to our university.”