Pirelli enters into research and training agreement

A three-year agreement signed between Pirelli & C. S.p.A and the Politecnico di Milano, or Milan Polytechnic, on November 4 is expected to tackle several key research areas. The Italian tyre maker and the polytechnic will undertake research into Formula One tyres using mathematical models that simulate tyre grip and wear in relation to the surfaces of various circuits, study the de-vulcanisation of end of life tyres and nanocharges and biopolymers, and will continue work on Pirelli’s ‘Cyber Tyre’ by developing mathematical models that allow the chip contained in the tyre to “interpret” different road surface conditions. The agreement also covers training activities; the Polytechnic will focus on the recruitment, placement and training of engineers in Brazil, China and Mexico. These activities will be supported in coordination with the structures Pirelli has or is developing in those regions.

The Joint Labs agreement for research and training in the tyre sector, signed in Milan Polytechnic’s ’Aula Magna by Pirelli chairman and chief executive Marco Tronchetti Provera, Giovanni Azzone, dean of the Milan Polytechnic and Giampio Bracchi, chairman of the Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, continues a long collaboration between Pirelli and the polytechnic; the relationship between the two entities stretches back to 1870, when a freshly graduated Giovanni Battista Pirelli was advised by his professor Giuseppe Colombo to consider the chemicals industry and rubber production. Based on this counsel, Pirelli & C was founded in 1872.

“The agreement signed today with the Milan Polytechnic further strengthens an already consolidated collaboration and attests to our company’s constant commitment to supporting research and training,” said Marco Tronchetti Provera following the document’s signing. “We are certain that Joint Labs, which represents a virtuous example of collaboration between university and industry, will give an important contribution to innovation in areas that we have identified as strategic for the future of our sector with the goal of further reinforcing our position of leadership in the premium segment.”

“’From technological transfer to technological cooperation’ is not only a slogan, but a new way of interpreting the relationship between academia and the corporate world,” added Giovanni Azzone. “Our goal is to create relationships of research collaboration oriented to the long term, with the most significant subjects and on themes that regard social and productive reality. No longer partners to whom we transfer the results of our research and license our patents, but partners in a course of growth, with whom we can share needs and skills, and guide the industrial direction of research appreciating its results. In this way the results of the process of evaluating research becomes more natural.”

Since 2001 Pirelli and the polytechnic have been involved in a number of tyre-related collaborations, including 11 research contracts. The rapport between the polytechnic and the tyre maker has also led to the formation of the “Fondamenti Chimici della Tecnologia della Gomma e dei Compositi” faculty, which is aimed at the study of innovative materials and the application of nanotechnology for the development of new generation tyres.