EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FOR THE NASCENT SICILIAN AEROSPACE HUB (PASS)
Within the framework of the projects envisaged by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), in November 2021, the Interuniversity Consortium of Applied Physical Sciences (CISFA) identified the opportunity to create – in synergy with other scientific, institutional, and industrial excellences, both national and international – a Sicilian Aerospace Research and Training University Hub for Weather-Climatic and Environmental Monitoring.
The activities of the Hub will be directed towards surveillance, environmental control, and its management (anthropogenic and natural risks, including the monitoring of volcanic ash, desert sands, anthropogenic pollutants, fires, hydrogeological risk, infrastructures, air traffic, navigation, management of migratory flows, etc.), detection systems (e.g., LIDAR), territorial crisis management, the design and construction of aerospace components and devices, weather-climatic studies, characterization studies of electro-optical sensors, the development of micro-satellites functional to weather-climatic and environmental analysis, and their ground control.
The University Hub, in particular, will enable the development of advanced decision-support systems for the adoption of contingency procedures for territorial management, for flight operations in airspaces contaminated by volcanic ash and desert sands or affected by extreme meteorological events, and for the seamless provision of assistance and warning services to air navigation.
In this way, an integrated Hub functional to the environmental monitoring of the territory, including marine basins, and airspace will be made available to all involved and/or interested public and private stakeholders. This will be done with a view to sustainable development aimed at defining resilience policies and strategies that can take into account the critical issues and vulnerabilities of Sicily – and beyond – also with reference to migratory flows. Furthermore, the planned use of micro-satellites will make it possible to identify any electromagnetic sources generated to produce cyber attacks aimed at disrupting geo-localization.
The creation of the Sicilian Aerospace Research and Training University Hub for Weather-Climatic and Environmental Monitoring is, therefore, to be considered a strategic opportunity for the creation of economic development and employment, as well as for the establishment of a center of excellence dedicated to training and research activities in the aerospace field and in territorial monitoring. In this context, Sicily would have the opportunity, alongside other regions of Italy, to equip itself with a hub dedicated to this sector.
The Hub will offer a qualified employment outlet for specialized personnel and graduates. In addition, it will allow for the reconversion of different professional profiles and their integration through appropriate training projects that will be managed by the expertise of the Universities and technological partners involved.
Within this reference framework and in order to concretely initiate the establishment and implementation process of the Project, CISFA, acting as the proposing entity, has submitted to the Ministry for the South and Territorial Cohesion, under the call for the creation of innovation ecosystems in Southern Italy, a project proposal aimed at the establishment of the first Sicilian Aerospace Hub (PASS).
The aforementioned proposal received a positive opinion upon the submission of the Expression of Interest and, therefore, has been admitted to the second evaluation phase, the deadline for which is set for 12:00 PM on March 25, 2022.
The project idea aims to redevelop and repurpose a large site (approximately 2,200 sq.m. in total over three floors, each of about 740 sq.m.) located within the military area previously used by the USAF (United States Air Force) and NATO, adjacent to the airport, currently converted to civil use, located in the Municipality of Comiso, in order to bring to life a Sicilian Aerospace Research and Training University Hub for Weather-Climatic and Environmental Monitoring.
In addition to CISFA, Academic, Institutional, and Industrial Partners operating at a national and international level are involved; specifically, the partnership consists of: Municipality of Comiso, University of Messina, University of Catania, IRIB-CNR, HENSE School, AOS, Italspazio S.r.l., Antech Space S.r.l., Etna HiTech S.C.p.A., IEENG Solution S.r.l., and Personal Soft Service s.a.s.
The duration of the proposed project is 36 months; the estimated investment amount is 16,000,000 euros.
A historic opportunity for the development of the project, through the attraction and establishment of industrial realities in the chosen territory of the intervention, is also represented by its location within a SEZ (Special Economic Zone), covering 284,376.26 sq.m. This brings all the ensuing consequences, thanks to the tax and administrative advantages that characterize this qualification, in terms of transposing the results obtained from research to the economic and productive sectors.
Within the scenario illustrated above, CISFA, acting as the lead entity, together with the project Partners, intends to welcome and evaluate expressions of interest coming from all entities that share the intent to intervene and participate in the conception, implementation, and development of the knowledge-intensive actions, activities, and services planned by the nascent Hub.
To this end, it will be possible to submit Expressions of Interest or request further information at the following email address: cisfa@pec.it.
The news has been published by various news outlets (e.g., Day Italia News: https://www.dayitalianews.com/ex-base-nato-di-comiso-polo-universitario-di-ricerca-e-formazione-siciliano-per-il-monitoraggio-meteo-climatico-ed-ambientale-unopportunita-strategica-per-la-creazione-di-sviluppo-economic?fbclid=IwAR0oO6YZH2yfgVm_SNxUzdJLaG5IiIMnbg29lBAqyyxf7GpppHO5x1B_IlI) and by the Communication area of the Municipality of Comiso.
