Call for projects to upgrade the research infrastructure "Airport Test Bed" of Taranto-Grottaglie. Resources for 11 million Euros

Enhance the Taranto-Grottaglie airport, the first Italian spaceport and an important center for carrying out research projects and experimentation with new technologies and processes, confirming its strategic importance. With this objective, the Puglia Region - Research and International Relations Section - publishes the notice with which it intends to support the strengthening of the Taranto-Grottaglie Airport Test Bed Research Infrastructure and strengthen the territorial innovative system, increasing collaboration between companies and research structures and consolidating the link between the scientific community of national and international excellence and the regional productive fabric. The notice has a budget of 11 million euros from the resources of the POR Puglia 2014/2020, Action 1.7 "Interventions to support the research infrastructures of the regional system" and will be managed by Puglia Sviluppo as an intermediate body. "Aerospace - declares the Councilor for Economic Development - is a particularly important asset for Puglia, as demonstrated on the one hand by the regional policies of the last decade which have generated significant investments also in the field of industrial research and development experimental, on the other hand the number of companies existing today that employ about 7000 workers and exports for almost 339 million euros in 2021,  despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic. The importance of this supply chain (from the production of components to software) is also represented by the need to develop skills, processes and technologies, consistent with the community strategies that are based on the dynamics of technological change and in the rapid evolution of technologies that enable mutation. structural of economic systems. The public notice we are presenting - concludes the commissioner - identifies the "Airport Test Bed" as a regional research infrastructure, deemed of priority importance by the National Program for Research Infrastructures 2014-2020 ("PNIR Infrastructure") and aims to to favor the process of integration and transfer of knowledge from research to production activities and to contribute significantly to the enhancement of areas of excellence in line with the Smart Puglia 2030 Strategy ".

Taranto-Grottaglie Airport is an airport of national interest, managed under concession by Aeroporti di Puglia and performs "the function of an integrated logistics platform for the development, research and testing of aeronautical products, with the activation of procedures management for the flexible use of airspace ". It is a site for defining, testing and validating operating procedures and on-board and ground-based instruments and systems for the creation and management of a "single sky" for aircraft with and without pilot on board. Research organizations, research laboratories and companies, consortia, individually or in aggregate form, can submit project proposals. The deadline for submitting grant applications is set for 8 June. The selection of eligible interventions for funding will take place through a "ranking" procedure, ie the eligible projects will be subsidized through an investigation carried out with a comparative assessment on the basis of predetermined criteria. The selection will be made by an Evaluation Commission.

For further informations link to https://por.regione.puglia.it/-/potenziamento-infrastruttura-ricerca-airport-test-bed-taranto-grottaglie?redirect=%2F.