Solar Impulse Foundation and MIND (Milano Innovation District) commit to a large-scale sustainable construction project.

09 May 2022 - MIND and the Solar Impulse Foundation are announcing a collaboration to make the Milano Innovation Center an example of large scale sustainable construction and environmental services.

Initially based on a geographic link, the Switzerland-Italy relationship has become over the years a bond of the heart, growing with the common goal of strengthening collaboration between the two countries. The House of Switzerland in Milan illustrates this willingness to work together by offering a unique platform to foster dialogue and future partnerships.

Building on this political commitment, MIND - Milan Innovation District, the country's largest urban regeneration project, and the Solar Impulse Foundation wish to build on this Italian-Swiss relationship. MIND, with its goal to be entirely carbon neutral by combining innovation and sustainability, and the solutions labeled by Solar Impulse Foundation are a natural match. 

The Solar Impulse Foundation will provide MIND with solutions to implement with the intention of turning this spontaneous encounter into a lasting relationship.

Andrea Ruckstuhl, Director EMEA at Lendlease and Head of Private Development at MIND, commented: "We have set a very ambitious goal for MIND: that the entire project will be carbon neutral by 2025 and absolute zero carbon by 2040 - well ahead of the Paris Agreement targets. This is a must not only to contribute but to drive the sustainability agenda for cities. However, we don't yet have all the solutions to achieve the goal, and the current global crisis makes it even more difficult. This is not an excuse for failure, but an imperative to innovate, making the most of collaborations with other like-minded organizations. MIND is the ideal place for bold partnerships, and its innovative community, designed as an enabling ecosystem for collaboration and experimentation, is the secret to its success. In fact, MIND is also a living, urban-scale laboratory where we test and implement new solutions for the sustainable cities of the future and the entire community. Our partnership with Solar Impulse Foundation is a unique opportunity to achieve our ambition and realize the green transition."

Bertrand Piccard, President of Solar Impulse Foundation, says: "A year ago, I announced that we had met the challenge of selecting more than 1,000 solutions, as promised at COP22 in Marrakech. Now I am offering this portfolio of efficient, clean and profitable climate solutions to government and business decision makers. The IPCC report tells us we have 3 years to act before it's too late. The good news is that there are hundreds of solutions, and they are just waiting to be implemented. I'm glad that some pioneering developers, like MIND's, are using them."

Going beyond the portfolio of more than 1,000 clean and profitable solutions, Bertrand Piccard and the Solar Impulse Foundation are ready to share their know-how, experience and tools with governments and businesses that are ready to act immediately on their respective paths to net zero. 

About MIND

MIND - Milano Innovation District is the first and foremost urban regeneration project in Europe to create the most important national innovation cluster for life sciences by bringing together all components of the value chain from research to new services and products for people and, at the same time, a new model for the city of the future that combines smart solutions for efficient urban life with green sustainability and wellbeing for every person. 

Legacy project of EXPO 2015, MIND is redeveloping 1m sqm (completion target by 2031) for a future brand-new community of approx. 60k people at the edge of city of Milan. It has attracted €4.5bn in public and private investments (including the Canadian pension fund CPPIB) and has been shaped by a culture of collaboration: first of all a public private partnership for 99 years between Lendlease, an Australian group with international outreach specialised in urban regeneration, and Arexpo a company representing public institutions including national, regional and local governments. MIND community also includes public anchors: the Human Technopole, the new and most important research centre for genomics in the country, the new scientific campus of the University Statale Milano, the policlinic Galeazzi Hospital, and Fondazione Triluza, the hub of civil society organisation. Furthermore, MIND has established the Federated Innovation, the association for open innovation that gather corporate partners such as Astra Zeneca, Illumina and Rold which have opened the office at MIND. Finally, the University of Berkeley opened Skydeck Europe, the first branch outside USA of its accelerator for startups. 

See www.mindmilano.it & www.mindvillage.it

About the Solar Impulse Foundation

The Solar Impulse Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by explorer and clean technology ambassador Bertrand Piccard. It identifies and promotes technological solutions that can protect the environment in a profitable way. In April 2021, the Foundation achieved its first goal of finding 1,000 such solutions to receive the Solar Impulse Efficient Solution Label. The labeling process is the only evaluation available today that assesses the economic profitability of products and processes that protect the environment in the fields of water, energy, mobility, infrastructure, industry and agriculture. It is awarded following a rigorous evaluation process carried out by a pool of independent Experts and based on verified standards covering the three main themes of feasibility, environmental impact and profitability. Bertrand Piccard brings these solutions to decision-makers to help them adopt more ambitious environmental targets and energy policies.

Access the Solutions Explorer here.

Press contact

Alessandro Gaillard, alessandro.gaillard@solarimpulse.com 

Micol Gardoni, micol.gardoni@lendlease.com  +39 (347) 5207052

Domenico D'Alessio, domenico.dalessio@lendlease.com +393473678561