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University of Parma
The University of Parma (UniPr), whose foundation dates back to 962, is one of the oldest universities in the world and among the most renowned in Italy, with more than 33,000 students. UniPr holds the 5th place in the Italian Censis Ranking. In the 2023 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects ARWU, Unipr is ranked within the 101-150 range worldwide in the category of Food Science & Technology
Str. dell'Università
,
12
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43121
Parma
The University offers 105 Degree Courses (13 delivered in English), 21 Doctoral Courses and 39 Master Degree courses, coordinated by 9 Departments.
The city centre hosts the departments of Humanistic subjects and Human Sciences, Economics, Law and Political Sciences, Medicine and Veterinary. The Science and Technology Campus lies south of the city and covers approximately 77 hectares, home to 4 scientific departments (Agribusiness, Pharmacy, Engineering and Architecture, Mathematics, Physics and Natural Sciences). The Campus also hosts the Technopole and numerous services, including state-of-the-art sports facilities available to all students.
Within the Campus, the structures dedicated to technology transfer play a valuable role in safeguarding and disseminating the intellectual property developed by Unipr researchers. Also inside the Campus is the Parma Technopole, an infrastructure financed under the ROP ERDF 2007-2013 with cutting-edge research centres and laboratories for industrial research and technology transfer. Among these, it is worth mentioning the SITEIA.PARMA Interdepartmental Centre on Agri-food Safety, Technologies and Innovation.
The Technopole encourages contacts between firms and researchers, thus reducing the gap between supply and demand for innovation.
Over the past ten years, Unipr has developed 40 patents, 4 of which pertained to the agri-food sector. As of December 31, 2021, the number of spin-off companies was 16.
The scientific output of Unipr researchers has exceeded 22,000 articles over the past ten years. Approximately 10% of all the papers concern Fooder topics and were published by researchers belonging to 6 of the 9 Departments (Food and Drug; Engineering and Architecture; Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability; Medicine and Surgery; Veterinary Science; Economics and Management).
Unipr in the agri-food sector
Numerous research, teaching and third mission initiatives in the agri-food sector are active at the University of Parma, spread across the different departments (starting with the Department of Food and Pharmaceutical Sciences) and within the context of the interdepartmental research centres SITEIA.PARMA and CIPACK.
Agri-food research involves at least a hundred teachers who have developed collaborations with several companies operating in this sector, also thanks to the activities performed within the regional Clust-ERs. The University has engaged in numerous regional, national and European projects on these topics.
The educational offering in the food sector is rich and diversified, with three-year and master's degree courses that address topics such as food technology, gastronomic sciences, nutrition, food safety, industrial engineering for food processing companies and management and economics of the food sector.
More specifically, the University of Parma has activated the strategic "Food Project", establishing a centre of higher education and research at the European and international level on food-related issues and policies.
More than 150 researchers are working on this project, which also involves small, medium and large local and international firms operating in the food sector.
The project also includes initiatives such as the regional coordination of the international inter-university master's degree in Food Safety and Food Risk Management or the School of Higher Studies on Food and Nutrition, which offers highly qualified training courses aimed at the development of professional profiles with teaching, technical and scientific skills in the food sector.
Financed by the Region Emilia-Romagna, the Parma Food Business Incubator will rise next to the School and is designed to host start-ups in the food sector, thus becoming an infrastructure that is complementary to the "Food Project" while being strongly interconnected with the laboratories and industrial research centres of the Technopole.
Furthermore, it is also worth mentioning the Microbiome Research Hub, which brings together researchers from different departments of the University of Parma who investigate the topic of the human and animal microbiome.
