In the outskirts of Milan, the capital of northern Italy’s Lombardy region, the OpenAgri project is fostering innovation around agriculture and food. The project incubates new businesses and attracts investment to a deprived part of the city, while boosting social inclusion and availability of locally-produced, sustainable food throughout greater Milan and beyond.
- 22 June 2018
Thanks to EU funds and OpenAgri we will open a new business incubator in 2019 in Cascina Nosedo, on the edge of Milan. The space will be devoted to new skills and start-ups in the urban-rural sector as part of the local administration’s wider strategy for young people and entrepreneurial projects.
The project is developing an urban agricultural lab in Cascina Nosedo, a site on Milan’s south-east edge. This is the first stage in transforming the deprived Porto di Mare suburb into an agricultural innovation hub.
The lab supports innovation around urban agriculture, to generate new jobs, skills and services. Along with over 30 hectares of land, it includes co-working and event spaces, laboratories, a greenhouse, an aquaponics system and business support. Eighteen initiatives have been chosen for the project’s first round, over half of which plan to become start-ups.
Fruitful interaction
OpenAgri is led by the City of Milan (Comune di Milano), with fifteen partners from business, think tanks and research, and the non-profit sector. The first round of supported innovations involve many more people and organisations, both local and from the wider city.
Initiatives cover three main areas: production and agro-economic services; technology and ICT; and social innovation and the sharing economy. For example, the Narrare il Pane initiative is creating a bread production and sales facility, with bread-making workshops for local inhabitants. In ICT, A.S.T.R.A. is developing drone-based remote-sensing services for agriculture businesses. Among the socially-oriented initiatives, Lavoro e Vita Oltre l’Autismos uses agricultural activities to provide training and employment inclusion for people with autism.
Other initiatives are developing low-impact fruit, flower and vegetable cultivation, low-carbon food distribution, smart gardens, spirulina algae production and a zero impact brewery, for sustainable innovation in emerging industries.
Inclusive potential
Job creation is a key driver for the project. Although Milan has one in seven of Italy’s innovative start-ups, 30 % of its under 35s are unemployed and 18 % of under 25s are not in education, employment or training. Milan’s food sector is a local strength. It provides almost 4 % of Italy’s exports and has high potential for further growth.
OpenAgri is transforming the urban fringe into an area of new knowledge and opportunities, in particular for residents with limited opportunities, such as young people, disadvantaged groups and migrants. Old or lost skills are combined with new and emerging skills so that people with traditional skills are included in Milan’s development. The focus on skills and job development will intensify in 2019, when the Cascina Nosedo agricultural innovation hub opens, starting with the 18 initiatives already being incubated.
The project also builds on the 2014 Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, an international pact for sustainable urban food policies. It is an opportunity to respond to trends such as urbanisation, the need to produce and distribute food with fewer resources, an ageing but health-conscious population and growing export markets outside the EU.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “OpenAgri - New Skills for new Jobs in Peri-urban Agriculture” is EUR 6 245 931, with the EU’s European Regional Development Fund contributing EUR 4 996 745 through the “Urban Innovative Actions” initiative for the 2014-2020 programming period.