Carlotta Achille

Fondazione E. Amaldi (FEA) is an Italian institution for space applied research and technology transfer in support of the national scientific heritage. Born in 2017 from the will of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and from the Hypatia Research Consortium (CRH), it strives to offer a new way of interpreting applied science. FEA supports and promotes scientific research aimed at technology transfer, focusing on the Space sector as a fundamental tool for the economic development of Italy and Europe, and therefore an exceptional source of innovation and improvement for the country. Indeed, by supporting the inter-sectoral cross-fertilisation process, FEA operates all over Italy with the aim of becoming a hub between the space and non-space worlds. Since 2017, FEA has operated in Italy as the operational arm of ASI (its co-founder) through its headquarters in the city of Rome, Lazio Region, inside the Italian Space Agency premises. Since January 2020, FEA has opened a new office in the city of Turin - Piedmont Region - located inside the LINKS Foundation, with whom a joint laboratory has been created, inside the Politecnico di Torino campus.

FEA aims to represent a scalable example of an innovation accelerator best practice and as a creative force of networks between enlightened private companies and the public sector. FEA is organised in 6 departments:

Business Applications. The aim of the Dpt. is to facilitate and promote technology transfer, for the upstream and downstream sector, providing technical and commercial support to start-ups, SMEs and large italian companies that integrate or would like to integrate space technologies by creating networking, cross-fertilization actions and through public and private funding opportunities. The Dpt. also aims to improve the level of financial and entrepreneurial culture of innovative companies operating in the space sector through training and dissemination activities.

Finance for Innovation. The aim of the Dpt. is to monitor and analyse the performance of the space industry by producing annual reports and designing and deploying financial tools for the development and growth of space companies. To achieve these goals, the Dpt. creates and manages complex projects in different segments of the space value chain, carries out the activities of the ESALab on Space Finance co-founded with LUISS University and works on the development of innovative financial instruments.

Earth Observation & Telecommunications. The Dpt. develops industrial collaboration paths in the downstream sector, fostering projects for the development of algorithms for the extraction of information from Earth Observation satellite data. The Dpt. operates in various sectors fostering cross-fertilisation processes between the space sector and others such as Agritech, insurance services, transport and logistics, energy, virtual and augmented reality applications and cybersecurity in collaboration with the national entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Life Sciences. The Dpt., with competences in design, realisation and characterisation of biocompatible structures and in the implementation of nanostructured sensors as a support for highly sensitive analyses, aims to establish a European laboratory for tissue engineering to facilitate and promote joint activities such as participation in research projects responding to regional, national and international calls.

Advanced Manufacturing. The Dpt., with expertise in various areas of advanced manufacturing, acts as a technology transfer agent with the aim of creating a national network in the ALM sector to facilitate production activities, hardware system optimisation and the redesign of new components.

Electronics & New Materials. The Dpt., with expertise in the fields of thin-film technologies, complex materials development, vacuum technologies and CIGS solar cells, operates as a technology transfer agent with the aim of creating a national nanosatellite testing facility to facilitate the design, development and implementation of electronics and new materials.