PNRR - SID

The PNRR is the plan approved in 2021 by Italy to revive the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic, within the European Union’s Next Generation EU funding. The Plan includes investments and reforms aimed at greener, more digital, cohesive, and resilient growth (37% of resources are allocated to interventions for ecological transition and 25% for digital transition).

It is structured into 7 Missions, of which the one most relevant to the university sector is Mission 4 Education and Research. This Mission is structured into two Components, the first for the “Enhancement of the educational services offer” (M4C1), the second for technology transfer “From Research to Business” (M4C2).

The main funding measures are divided into:

Extended Partnerships (EP)
Innovation Ecosystems (IE)
National Centers (NC)
Research and Innovation Infrastructures (RII)

The PNRR funding in the field of academic design research

Complete booklet

The PNRR funding in the field of academic design research has been significant: at the beginning of 2025, a systematic mapping of ongoing projects was conducted, which will conclude in 2026. A total of 82 projects distributed across 21 university sites were mapped.

The data has been processed into infographics by Density Design Lab (Department of Design at the Politecnico di Milano), a summary booklet Design x PNRR has been produced along with a “pictorial,” a mini-essay with a strong visual component, for over 50 of the projects.

Download the complete booklet and explore the interactive visualizations.

Explore the interactive visualizations

1. Types of projects and participation

82 projects funded with varying levels of involvement, from scientific responsibility (solid dot) to participation. The projects are mainly concentrated in 9 Innovation Ecosystems (21 projects, of which 9 are coordinated) and 6 Extended Partnerships (33 projects, of which 21 are coordinated).

Explore the interactive visualization to consult the project titles.

2. Distribution by university

82 projects distributed across 21 national university sites, with a polycentric leadership relative to the number of structured faculty at each site (indicated next to the site name). Solid dots indicate coordinated projects, continuous red lines indicate the coordination responsibility of individual spokes (where projects are anchored) or national coordination of all spokes.

3. Project topics

The most prevalent project topics, based on keyword occurrence, are: Made in Italy (18 occurrences), Design For Cultural Heritage (17 occurrences), Life Cycle Design (15), Digital platform (13), Materials (10), and Product Performance (10).

Explore the interactive visualization to learn about all the keywords.

4. Interdisciplinarity

Another 70 SSDs (scientific-disciplinary sectors) are involved beyond design (CEAR-08/D). Each project (only two exceptions) involves at least 1 other SSD, with peaks of 16 particularly interdisciplinary projects involving 5 SSDs.

Explore the interactive visualization to learn about all the SSDs involved and the projects they participate in.

5. Researchers recruited

A total of 46 junior researchers, 53 research fellows, and 24 doctoral candidates have been recruited.

6. Partnerships

The types of entities involved are numerous and mainly distributed among companies (121) and institutions (60), primarily public administrations, territorial entities, cultural institutions (museums, literary parks), trade associations, and healthcare facilities.

Explore the interactive visualization to learn about all the partnerships activated.

Project list

Tipologia	Titolo	Azione	Titolo progetto
Centro Nazionale	CN-MOSt Centro Nazionale per la MObilità SosTenibile	coordinamento	BAC - TREATMENT - smarT foR sustainablE lAsT Mile delivEry cliNical Trials (Unisi)
Centro Nazionale	CN-MOSt Centro Nazionale per la MObilità SosTenibile	partecipazione	BAC-Ciclo (IUAV)
Centro Nazionale	CN-MOSt Centro Nazionale per la MObilità SosTenibile	partecipazione	WP 1 Task 1.1 – Geographical, Societal and Urban Environment, Urban Mapping and Sensing in Spoke 9 Urban Mobility (Unipa)
Centro Nazionale	CN-MOSt Centro Nazionale per la MObilità SosTenibile	partecipazione	WP 2.1 Vehicle design, materials and LC in Spoke 5 Light Vehicle and Active Mobility (Unifi)
Centro Nazionale	CN-MOSt Centro Nazionale per la MObilità SosTenibile	partecipazione	WP1 Users in in Spoke 5 Light Vehicle and Active Mobility (Polimi)
Centro Nazionale	CN-BIO National Biodiversity Future Center – NBFC	partecipazione	WP/Task in Spoke 5 Urban Biodiversity (Polimi)
Centro Nazionale	CN- Agritech - National Center for Technology in Agriculture	partecipazione	BAC -ASSESS Analisi Sintetica delle Strategie Evolutive delle performance di SoStenibilità nelle imprese Agricole (Unicampania)
Centro Nazionale	CN- Agritech - National Center for Technology in Agriculture	partecipazione	WP 8.4 Evaluation and assessment of new circular technologies in agriculture TASK 8.4.2 Multidimensional sustainability assessment of circular technologies in agriculture (Polito)
Partenariato Esteso	PE5 CHANGES / Cultural Heritage Active Innovation for Next-Gen Sustainable Society	coordinamento	PB -Rich Rito e Cultural Heritage. Modelli di Design-Driven di Mappatura, Archiviazione e Fruizione del Patrimonio (Sapienza)
Partenariato Esteso	PE5 CHANGES / Cultural Heritage Active Innovation for Next-Gen Sustainable Society	coordinamento	BAC TRAMA - Trasformazioni Culturali. Patrimonio intangibile e nuove professionalità digital driven (Polimi)
Partenariato Esteso	PE5 CHANGES / Cultural Heritage Active Innovation for Next-Gen Sustainable Society	coordinamento	BAC - Museo Delle Città del Mondo Diffuso (Farm Cultural Park) (Unipa)
Partenariato Esteso	PE5 CHANGES / Cultural Heritage Active Innovation for Next-Gen Sustainable Society	partecipazione	BAC CoBaLTo Community Based and Local Tourism (Unicampania)
Partenariato Esteso	PE5 CHANGES / Cultural Heritage Active Innovation for Next-Gen Sustainable Society	partecipazione	WP1, WP2, WP3 in Spoke 2 Creativity and Intangible Cultural Heritage: Corso di perfezionamento Design e Tecnologie digitali per il patrimonio culturale intangibile; progetto Milano in-formale (Polimi)
Partenariato Esteso	PE5 CHANGES / Cultural Heritage Active Innovation for Next-Gen Sustainable Society	partecipazione	WP2 (Cultural Context), WP 3 (Technological Context) e WP4 (Pilot Studies) in Spoke 4 Virtual Technologies for Museums and Art Collections (Unibo)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 08-Age-It, Ageing well in an ageing society	partecipazione	WP1 Task 1.1 Human-Centred Design assessment methods for user needs analysis, Design guidelines for physical and digital interfaces, Definition of experimental protocols for Physical avatar interfaces” in Spoke 9 Advanced Gerontechnologies for active and healthy ageing (Unifi)
Partenariato Esteso	PE10 ONFOODS (Research and innovation network on food and nutrition Sustainability, Safety and Security – Working ON Foods)	coordinamento	PB -Public and private food procurement and short food values chains in urban areas (T1.2.3) (Polimi)
Partenariato Esteso	PE10 ONFOODS (Research and innovation network on food and nutrition Sustainability, Safety and Security – Working ON Foods)	coordinamento	BAC - GNAM - Growing Novel food living lAbs in corporate Museums (Unisi)
Partenariato Esteso	PE10 ONFOODS (Research and innovation network on food and nutrition Sustainability, Safety and Security – Working ON Foods)	partecipazione	PB - Fair and efficient wholesale market for improving fruit and vegetable consumption (Polimi)
Partenariato Esteso	PE10 ONFOODS (Research and innovation network on food and nutrition Sustainability, Safety and Security – Working ON Foods)	partecipazione	T 1.1.1.Scientific Innovation, Technology and Sustainability: Governance and Regulation in Spoke 1 Global sustainability (Polimi)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	Coordinamento	Coordinamento nazionale di tutti gli spoke
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	Spoke 1 Design digitale avanzato: tecnologie, processi e strumenti (Unifi)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	Spoke 2 Strategie di eco-design: dai materiali ai sistemi prodotto-servizio (PSS) (Unifi)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	PB 1.01 FuturE-Pack. Digital Advanced Design for the Enhancement of Packaging as a ‘Broadcaster’ in the Made in Italy Supply Chain (Unibo)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	PB 1.02 Advanced virtual tools for digital acquisition and visual/haptic XR interaction for textile industry (Unibo)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	PB 1.05 Cross-sectoral Platform for sustainable and circular textile (Unifi)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	PB 1.07 From waste to manufacturing: digital tools to establish virtuous cycles (Sapienza)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	PB 1.10 Beyond the Space Life. Digital Living Lab for Human life in space (Unibo)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	PB 2.01 Circular Sofa Platform (Polimi)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	PB 2.02 NEMO – Design 4 Yacht Flexible Customization (Polimi)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	PB 2.06 EMOTIONAL: Experience Made in Italy: Immersive Storytelling DesIgn for Contemporary Values and Sustainability (Unifi)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	PB 2.07 BIOPIC: Bio-Inspired Design solutions for the living sector (Unifi)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	PB 2.08 Re-Waste. Circular Ecosystems in Textile Chain (Unifi)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	PB 2.09 Repair PSS. Circular design for lighting and furniture (Unipa)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	PB 2.10 ECO-Design Circular Knowledge. ECODeCK (Polimi)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	PB 2.12 ACTAS – Advancing Contract Furniture through Design-Driven Servitization Strategies towards sustainable transition: activating, testing and adopting (Polimi)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	PB 5.03 FasT4C – Fashion-Tech Design for Circularity (Polimi)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	PB 7.5: Cultural value chains: From local traditional production districts to a new country of origin effect (Poliba)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	BAC - Osservatorio Nazionale FILA (Unich-Pescara)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	coordinamento	BAC - AgroDesign AI Platform. Dal recupero alla valorizzazione degli scarti provenienti dalle industrie agroalimentari (Unicampania)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	partecipazione	PB 1.6 GLUELESS Digital tools for the design and evaluation of glueless ceramic solutions (Unibo)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	partecipazione	PB 1.8 Advanced human-machine interaction for continuous transformative manufacturing and robotic systems (Unibo)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	partecipazione	PB 1.9 SFIDA (Strategic Foresight for Innovation Design Augmentation) (Unibo)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	partecipazione	PB 2.03 Circular design for natural fibers (Polito)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	partecipazione	BAC - SEAL Sviluppo di Materiali Ecosostenibili per Accessori di stiLe (Uniparma)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	partecipazione	BAC - RISTI-MI Rinascita e Sfide dei Sistemi Territoriali d'Impresa: il Made in Italy (Unirc)
Partenariato Esteso	PE 11 MICS Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile	partecipazione	WP1.2, Task 1.2.6 Design dei territori in Spoke 4 Materiali intelligenti e sostenibili per prodotti e processi industriali circolari e aumentati (Unina)
Partenariato Esteso	PE D34Health – Digital Driven Diagnostics, pronostics and therapeutics for Sustainable Health care	partecipazione	WP/Task in Spoke 3 Wearable technologies, sensors and biomarkers for care through Digital Twin approaches (Sapienza)
Partenariato Esteso	PE EAR Enacting Artistic Research (AFAM)	partecipazione	WP3 Artificial and Collective Intelligence- Metodologie di Innovation Management e Sviluppo di basi di conoscenza per il sistema Kobi (Unipi)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS Ecosister Ecosystem for Sustainable Transition in Emilia-Romagna	partecipazione	WP2 Progettazione per tutti, città sana e attiva, social-housing design, cambiamenti comportamentali, innovazioni tecnologiche e sociali; WP 3 urban pavement mangement systems, streets lighiting solutions, accessiibility to historic city center, monitoring and preservation of cultural heritage; WP4 Qualità e comfort dell’aria in ambienti interni ed esterni, dispersione e controllo delle polveri sottili e degli inquinanti in aria, mitigazione delle isole di calore urbane, decarbonizzazione urbana, comunità energetiche, soluzioni basate sulla natura (nature-based solutions, NBS). (Unibo, Unife)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS Ecosister Ecosystem for Sustainable Transition in Emilia-Romagna	partecipazione	WP3 Lifecycle and sustainability Assessmnet of materials, products and processes (Unipa)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS iNEST Interconnected Nord-Est Innovation Ecosystem	coordinamento	Bando Young Researcher- Immaterial Observatory (IUAV)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS iNEST Interconnected Nord-Est Innovation Ecosystem	coordinamento	Bando Young Researcher- Material exploratory (IUAV)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS iNEST Interconnected Nord-Est Innovation Ecosystem	coordinamento	LabVillage (IUAV)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS iNEST Interconnected Nord-Est Innovation Ecosystem	partecipazione	WP(RT) 3- 3.1/ 3.2 Materiali - 4.5 Storytelling, Data Science, Interaction Design - 5. Cultura immateriale (IUAV)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS MUSA-Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action	coordinamento	Spoke 5 Sustainable Fashion Luxury and Design (Polimi)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS MUSA-Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action	coordinamento	PB LIVING LAB FASHION- Too Cool To Go Wasted (Polimi)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS MUSA-Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action	coordinamento	PB LIVING LAB FOOD- CIRCULAR FOOD SYSTEM LAB (CFS LAB) (Polimi)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS MUSA-Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action	partecipazione	WP/Task in Spoke 1 urban regeneration (Polimi)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS MUSA-Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action	partecipazione	TASK 4.5 INDACO / Indagine e co-progettazione di soluzioni per il benessere al lavoro (Polimi)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS MUSA-Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action	partecipazione	WP2-T5.9-T5.10 SUSTAINABLE DESIGN-DRIVEN RETAIL AND SERVICE MODEL (Polimi)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS MUSA-Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action	partecipazione	SUSTAINABLE DESIGN-DRIVEN RETAIL AND SERVICE MODEL (Polimi)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS MUSA-Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action	partecipazione	Task 3.3 Territorial Welfare (Polimi)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS NODES - Nord Ovest Digitale e Sostenibile	partecipazione	PB SADAIFOPLANT. NEW PRODUCTS FROM/WITH SECONDARY RAW MATERIALS- sub project Appl(e)ause (Polito)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS NODES - Nord Ovest Digitale e Sostenibile	partecipazione	PB GRIP Green processes for Industrial Productions and cost-effective effluents valorisation WP(RM) 6 Framework System (Polito)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS NODES - Nord Ovest Digitale e Sostenibile	partecipazione	WP(RM) 6 Framework System (Polito)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS RAISE (Robotics and AI for Socio-economic Empowerment)	partecipazione	WP5 From Inclusive Technologies to Inclusive Smart Cities Task 5.3 PA-citizens interaction and citizens’ engagement Task 5.4 Identification of design-driven solutions for urban regeneration strategies (Unige)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS Rome Technopole	coordinamento	PB 4 Development, innovation and certification of medical and non-medical devices for Health- sub project PHYGITAL TWINS TECHNOLOGIES FOR INNOVATIVE SURGICAL TRAINING AND PLANNING (Sapienza)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS Rome Technopole	partecipazione	PB 2 Energy transition and digital transition in urban regeneration and construction. Tematica 2 “Transizione digitale - Digital Twin” (Sapienza)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS SAMOTHRACE - Sicilian MicronanoTech Research and Innovation Center	partecipazione	WP4 CULTURAL HERITAGE Watch, Care, Enjoy. Smart Technologies for the monitoring, preservation and fruition of cultural heritage (Unipa)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS THE - Tuscany Health Ecosystem	coordinamento	PB 3 Decision support systems and telemedicine in digital diagnosis and therapy for neurodegenerative diseases (Unifi)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS THE - Tuscany Health Ecosystem	coordinamento	PB AMA – Additive Manufacturing for Advanced customized medical devices (Unisi)
Ecosistema dell’innovazione (ECS)	ECS Vitality. Digitalizzazione e Sostenibilità per l'Economia Diffusa nell'Italia centrale	partecipazione	WP 3 Sustainable design of smart furniture system with life-saving function in conditions of emergency for community settings (Unicam)
IRI (infrastruttura di ricerca e innovazione)	IRI -ITSERR Italian Strengthening of the ESFRI RI RESILIENCE	partecipazione	WP8 UbiQuity (Unipa)
MIC – Ministero della cultura	MIC- TOCC Transizione ecologica organismi culturali e creativi	coordinamento	Exhibit 2.0: verso la svolta ecologica (progetti 1, 2, 3) (IUAV)
MIC – Ministero della cultura	MIC- M1C3 “Turismo e Cultura 4.0” Misura 2 Investimento 2.1 “Attrattività dei borghi”	Partecipazione	DCH (digital cultural Heritage) PUGLIA SKILLS LAB (Poliba)
MIMIT- Ministero delle imprese e del made in italy (Ex MISE)	Accordi per l'innovazione MIMIT	coordinamento	AI HELMET - Wearable device for interactive tailored fruition (Unicampania)
MIMIT- Ministero delle imprese e del made in italy (Ex MISE)	Accordi per l'innovazione MIMIT	coordinamento	4SAFE SYSTEM - Wearable device for occupational safety (Unicampania)
MIMIT- Ministero delle imprese e del made in italy (Ex MISE)	Accordi per l'innovazione MIMIT	partecipazione	Learning for All - L4ALL WP11 User Research e Co-Design (Uninettuno)
Prin PNRR		coordinamento	Prin PNRR - RHITA -ResHaping made in ITAly. Circular models for Italian fashion heritage and manufactures through digital inclusivity and conscious innovation (Unicampania, Polimi)
Prin PNRR		coordinamento	Prin PNRR - Neural Wearable Device For Augmented Interconnection In Manufacturing Safety (Unicampania)
Prin PNRR		partecipazione	Prin PNRR - Greenwork: an interdisciplinary framework for urban health and urban resilience enhancement based on greening strategies on buildings and open spaces (Unipa)
Prin PNRR		partecipazione	Prin PNRR - CULT-UP - UPCYCLING AND CULTURAL HERITAGE (Unibo)
Prin PNRR		partecipazione	Prin PNRR - DSE - DARKSCAPE EXPERIENCE (Polimi)
Prin PNRR		partecipazione	Prin PNRR - MetaMic -Digital cultural heritage: a participatory metaverse of the unbuilt architectures of Michelangelo Buonarroti (Unifi)
Prin PNRR		partecipazione	Prin PNRR - VIBRA - Vibrations Induced on Buildings by natural and anthropic sources for the definition of Reduction And mitigation strategies (Poliba)
Prin PNRR		partecipazione	Prin PNRR - REMODEL - A ciRcular compositE Materials Design for a sustainabLe innovation of made in Italy (Sapienza)
PNRR SOE -SEAL OF EXCELLENCE		coordinamento	PNRR SOE SEAL OF EXCELLENCE -DesIA-Designing for Inclusive Attitudes: a toolbox for developing inclusive attitudes through design (unifi)
PNRR SOE -SEAL OF EXCELLENCE		coordinamento	PNRR SOE SEAL OF EXCELLENCE -SITUATED NEIGHBOURHOOD VOCABULARIES (Polimi)