The Aracne project begins

Aracne, the integrated laboratory for advanced technologies and innovative materials for environmentally sustainable building, initially launched in November 2010, was officially presented on Tuesday 3 May at the headquarters of the Italian ceramic machinery and equipment manufacturers’ association Acimac.
Financed by the regional funding programme “Dai distretti produttivi ai distretti tecnologici” (“From production districts to technological districts”) which supports the development of production districts, the project involves the collaboration of three leading supplier companies to the construction sector based in the Emilia-Romagna region – Colorobbia Italia, Smaltiflex and S.R.S – with the contribution of ACIMAC (Italian Ceramic Machinery and Equipment Manufacturers’ Association) and the cooperation of three laboratories belonging to the Regional High Technology Network: INTERMECH (Modena), MATMEC (Bologna) and EN&TECH (Reggio Emilia).

“The aim of the project is first and foremost to create a strategic network of businesses in the building materials industry, a sector that in the Emilia Romagna region needs to adopt a more system-oriented approach given that it lacks the classic connotations of a district,” explained the regional government’s Production Activities Officer Gian Carlo Muzzarelli.

Aracne brings together the distinctive expertise of the various players in a single research programme. An integrated laboratory will be used to develop materials (flat glass, resins and metals) and application solutions with superior technological characteristics while meeting the constraints of environmental and economic sustainability during both research and the subsequent scale-up phase.

The project devotes significant resources to disseminating its results with the goal of enabling activities to be shared both inside and outside the integrated Aracne network.

For further information visit the website: www.aracne.emr.it