Places in Prato:
Centres of innovation

THE PIN LABORATORIES

Research and entrepreneurship

In Prato, at the PIN - "Città di Prato" University Campus, 34 university laboratories are active, which operate in a number of productive sectors and are specialized in thematic skills: economics and management, information & communication technology, industrial technologies, quality and safety, environment, art and entertainment, cultural heritage, design, chemistry and medicine. Therefore, the PIN LABs offer a multitude of services of the highest level in very different disciplines, mainly carrying out research activities applied to the needs of private companies and public administration. The PIN LABs works mainly on applied research projects of local, national and international character, commissioned by institutions, private companies and public institutions, or financed through regional, national and European programs: every year at the PIN more than 100 projects of applied research are carried out, born from the needs of companies or any other public or private entity.

In fact, the research groups of the laboratories work in collaboration with the clients, from the analysis of the needs to the possible solutions, exploiting a successful combination given by the skills of the University world combined with an entrepreneurial approach. In addition, the offer of qualified scientific skills is complemented by analysis services and identification of funding opportunities, preparation of applications, project management and economic-financial reporting of projects. For these advantages, more and more companies, associations and institutions are interested in participating or to promote research projects with the PIN, precisely because it is able to propose complete and customized solutions, thanks to the presence within it of high-level multidisciplinary skills and the possibility of using a whole range of resources present in the University of Florence. 
Some examples:

- The QUMAP Laboratory (Goods Quality and Product Reliability Lab) helps companies to optimize production processes and increase the yield of finished products, operating in different sectors: textiles, food, furniture, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and agriculture. It mainly deals with the recycling of materials, reuse of waste, use of natural principles to replace polluting products, recovery of biomass to be used as energy sources, protection of biodiversity.
- Arco (Action Research for Co-Development) supports sustainable, inclusive and participatory human development.
- the SMIPP laboratory (Tools and Methods for Product and Process Innovation) carries out activities of Mechanical Design, Numerical Simulations, 3D Scanning and Reverse Engineering, Additive Manufacturing, Acoustics, 3D CAD, Machine Vision: these skills help companies to operate and in the realization of the products.
- Wem_ParK (Laboratory for marketing and IC technologies) was born with the objective of facilitating and supporting scientific research in the field of marketing applied to information and communication technologies.

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