OpenAgri

The project

The Municipality of Milan is participating - as a leader - in the "OpenAgri: New Skills for new Jobs in Periurban Agriculture" project - together with the Milan Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts, Parco Tecnologico Padano and Fondazione Politecnico di Milano as main partners . The project area is Porto di Mare - Vettabbia Park.
The project was born as part of the first call for proposals of the European initiative called "Urban Innovative Actions", pursuant to art. 8 of the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund - EU Regulation n.1303/2013), aimed at identifying and testing new solutions that address problems relating to sustainable urban development and that are relevant at a European level.

The partnership is made up as follows:

  • University of Milan,
  • Politecnico di Milano,
  • Avanzi Srl,
  • Cineca,
  • Future Food Institute,
  • Zero Impact Srl,
  • La Strada social cooperative society,
  • Sunugal,
  • Polyedra,
  • Ifoa,
  • Mare Srl social enterprise,
  • Food Partners Srl.

The project started on November 1, 2016 and ended on October 31, 2019.

  • build a sustainable food chain that goes from promotion to consumption, in order to respond to the emerging needs of the agri-food sector;
  • target young entrepreneurs and innovative SMEs in the agri-food sector and support experimental solutions that could emerge from their collaboration;
  • create an innovative ecosystem, a hub that will connect all interested parties at a territorial level in relation to the issues of economic development and social inclusion and which will encourage the creation of new skills;
  • make the OpenAgri project one of the points of reference within the Food Policy of the Municipality of Milan;
  • strengthen the position of the city of Milan at an international level in the field of food policies;
  • address the impacts of the project in the Porto di Mare area in order to promote urban redevelopment;
  • contribute to improving urban resilience;
  • bring agricultural policy closer to other innovative policies at local level;
  • build a sustainable supply chain on the topic of food, using innovative approaches along all the junctions;
  • give the Porto di Mare area a productive, recreational and multifunctional value

  • involvement of local stakeholders;
  • carrying out reporting, monitoring and reporting activities on expenses incurred;
  • planning, coordination and development of communication activities relating to the progress of the project;
  • dissemination of results;
  • creation of a network for the transfer of knowledge and good practices;
  • management, planning and creation of the entire urban regeneration process in the Porto di Mare area - in particular in Cascina Nosedo through the restoration of the building itself;
  • creation of an Innovation Hub dedicated to peri-urban agriculture

  • the project will contribute to increasing urban resilience and biodiversity, starting from the food theme;
  • the agri-food sector will experience significant changes within the producer-consumer chain, with start-ups promoting new development projects, consolidated capabilities and skills;
  • peri-urban agriculture will help guarantee the availability of food, in particular fresh products, increasing food security and improving citizens' eating habits;
  • the agri-food sector will be able to attract investments for the production of further innovative processes;
  • Milan will become a more resilient city thanks to the innovation produced in peri-urban agriculture;
  • the Innovation Hub will be created;
  • the Porto di Mare area will be regenerated and will be able to promote local development, social and territorial cohesion;
  • through the project, areas such as culture, food education and youth entrepreneurship will be promoted

Updated: 22/09/2020