The close link between Lugano and the academic world

• 07 March 2024
• 3 minutes

At a joint press conference, the City outlined its numerous initiatives, projects and collaborations with SUPSI, USI and Franklin University Switzerland.

A city in constant dialogue with the academic world of Italian-speaking Switzerland. The connections and collaborations between Lugano, SUPSI, USI and Franklin University Switzerland are many and varied, as was reiterated at the press conference on Thursday, 7 March, during which an assessment was made of the Lugano Città Universitaria project contained in the City's 2028-2028 Development Guidelines.

"The Lugano Città Universitaria project concretises the City's commitment over the last few years to consolidate its support for local universities and to promote Lugano as an attractive university pole on a national and international level - stated Lugano's mayor Michele Foletti. The ability to ensure a quality educational offer, but also to attract skills and resources that are essential for the transfer and sharing of knowledge and the development of the economy, for the benefit of innovation, is an essential investment for the future of our young people. I would like to thank the management of USI, SUPSI and Franklin University Switzerland for having believed in this project which, I am sure, will continue to be enriched by new initiatives to the benefit of the entire community".

In recent years, SUPSI and the municipal authority have been sharing a path that is redesigning the city's spaces. "Collaboration with the city is fundamental for SUPSI, at various levels," emphasised Franco Gervasoni, Director General of SUPSI. One particularly significant area is that of major infrastructure projects, which have a long-term impact. The Campus Est in Viganello, built together with USI and inaugurated three years ago, has already shown that it can redevelop a neighbourhood, bringing a breath of dynamism and positivity that is a stimulus for other investments. These new spaces of value are a source of well-being, creating relationships and contacts between academia and citizens. We expect a similarly positive effect for the next big projects that await us: from the Campus to the Lugano station, whose variant of the Master Plan has finally been approved, and for the City of Music in Besso. Strategic projects for SUPSI, for our entire Canton, and for Lugano, a city that has always believed in and actively supported their development".

Thanks to the collaboration with Lugano Living Lab, the city is also shaping up to be an open-air laboratory for various research projects conducted by SUPSI and especially related to sustainability: both InclusiveMicromob and MixMyRide explore new concepts of mobility and synergies with public transport, calling for the active participation of citizenship in the research; the Sweet Lantern programme, financed by the Federal Office of Energy, involves Lugano as a case study in the decarbonisation of travel and leisure practices and the efficient use of work spaces, exploring the energy-saving potential of new office work models.

A university city constantly dialogues with academia, in a dialectic in which the benefits reverberate on both realities, extending to the population and the local economic fabric. In this, the multiplication of scientific conferences supports the hospitality sector: one of the next important events organised by SUPSI will be the FTAL conference of the Association of Swiss Schools of Engineering, Architecture and Life Sciences dedicated to the circular economy, to be held on 14 and 15 November 2024 at the USI-SUPSI East Campus.

There are also a number of initiatives involving students at the universities, offering them moments of leisure or opportunities for personal development outside education. These include Speaker's Corner, the mentoring programme for USI, SUPSI and FUS students that aims to offer young people the chance to learn how to present their projects effectively and create an opportunity for contact with the world of work. The next edition will start on 22 March at Bloomberg's Lugano office.

The joint effort to increase Lugano's visibility as a university destination is also reflected in the new portal learn.lugano.ch, inaugurated by the City at the press conference, which brings together in one place all the information needed by those who are considering Lugano as a place for their university education.

In addition to the Mayor of Lugano Michele Foletti and the deputy mayor Roberto Badaracco, the Director General of SUPSI Franco Gervasoni, the Rector of USI Luisa Lambertini and the Rector of Franklin University Switzerland Samuel Martin Barbero also spoke at the press conference.