Lugano Città Universitaria: a joining of forces and intentions for academic excellence and cultural growth

Lugano Città Universitaria: a joining of forces and intentions for academic excellence and cultural growth in Lugano. The City and the universities USI, SUPSI and FUS present the initiatives that have been carried out and those planned to strengthen, enhance and promote Lugano's university campuses.

The City of Lugano, together with Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI) and Franklin University Switzerland (FUS), is pleased to announce a series of significant milestones achieved in the context of the "Lugano Città Universitaria" project. This ambitious project, launched at the end of 2021, aims to reinforce Lugano's position as a leading local, national, and international university hub. The project not only strengthens the bond between the City and the academic world but also promotes Lugano as a centre of excellence in education, culture, and research, making an important contribution to its socioeconomic growth.

Since 2017, when the City Hall first drew up the strategic document Development Lines 2018-2028, up to the first significant update in 2021, important steps have been taken towards realising Lugano's vision as a university pole of excellence. The Lugano Città Universitaria project included in the 2021 Development Guidelines is divided into five macro-areas of intervention, designed to support local universities and work closely with them to realise the city's university vocation.

The following are the five macro-areas and the main goals achieved in recent years:

Promotion: a joint effort to increase Lugano's visibility as a privileged university destination. The city coordinated a strategic study to promote Lugano as a university destination, which included creating an online portal in partnership with USI, SUPSI, and FUS. The portal will be accessible from 7 March 2024 at the following link: learn.lugano.ch. The new portal aims to offer future students of local universities and resident students a welcome and orientation service for life in the city, as well as to promote Lugano as a university city through the digital world. The portal also sees the collaboration with Lugano Region for content related to leisure time in Lugano and with Lugano Eventi for integrating a university events agenda common to the three universities. The agency Ander Group was responsible for designing and developing the site. Participation: this thematic area includes initiatives dedicated to the active involvement of students in city life, promoting projects that foster integration and cultural exchange between the academic community and the city. Some of the milestones achieved so far include:

• The launch of an extracurricular participatory platform to involve young people in the social and cultural fabric of the city called Speakers' Corner. This initiative is entirely dedicated to valorising theses and research carried out by university students. It encourages the creation of connections with local companies and institutes to involve young people in the social and cultural fabric of the city. For the launch of this project, Speakers' Corner received funding from the federal government's 'Digital Swiss Administration" office. 
• Implementation of the Culture and Health project, conceived as part of the three-year partnership between the City of Lugano and IBSA Foundation for scientific research. The project aims to improve people's quality of life and well-being by promoting initiatives and synergies between the worlds of culture and health in places of care, culture, and everyday life, based on scientific and clinical evidence from the WHO World Health Organisation. One notable action of the project is the collaboration with Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) to offer the first university course in Switzerland on Culture and Health at the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences. This course, which will be in its fourth edition in the academic year 2024-2025, is open to the public and involves leading international experts in the field as keynote speakers. Additionally, each year sees a partnership with a different city cultural institution.
• Collaboration protocol signed between the City of Lugano and Franklin University Switzerland to carry out study and research projects in cultural management and marketing in support of cultural mediation activities and to promote the city's historical and artistic heritage. This agreement was initiated in 2021, and workshops have already been conducted on subjects related to digital cultural tourism and museums.
• Punto Digitale: an experimental project that provides free individual assistance to people unfamiliar with computers, mobile phones, tablets, and the internet. Assistance is offered by students who are enrolled in a Bachelor's degree programme in Communication Sciences at Università della Svizzera italiana. These students work as digital assistants to help people get familiar with digital technologies. The project also includes collaboration with the City of Lugano's eQuiD project. This collaboration involves donating used PCs to the eQuiD project, which collects, regenerates, enhances, and distributes used computers from companies and institutions free of charge. These computers are delivered to those interested in and need a computer.
• Collaboration between the City of Lugano and USI for the use of the fitness gymnasium at the future Sports and Events Centre (PSE).
• In the context of participation, mention should also be made of the role of Lugano Living Lab, the urban laboratory of the City of Lugano born in 2018 in partnership with USI, which has carried out in recent years an activity of support for studies, research and scientific dissemination in collaboration with the universities, especially in the field of digital innovation. Specifically by acting as a use case for applied research projects, organising citizenship workshops, dissemination and awareness-raising events, contributing to training in digital innovation and population involvement through surveys and workshops, and designing new participatory experiences.

Facilities and spaces: support for creating spaces dedicated to students, such as university residences and meeting places, which facilitate the creation of a cohesive student community and the organisation of educational and recreational activities.

Conferences: the organisation of conferences and academic encounters, in collaboration with local universities and various players in the hospitality sector, to promote research and innovation and attract talent and experts from all over the world. In this context, the new Plan B Forum event emerges, as well as the free and open-to-all parallel edition called 'Palco21', dedicated to information and awareness-raising towards the Bitcoin world.

Collaboration: a close and ongoing collaboration between the City Hall and the universities, which has included

•  the appointment of Robert Bregy, Municipal Secretary of the City of Lugano and head of Lugano Living Lab, as delegate-referee for university matters.
• Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Lugano and the universities on the "Lugano Plan ₿" initiative, aiming to coordinate and maximise the effectiveness of initiatives relating to this initiative and blockchain technology. In this context, a training course called "B4B - Blockchain for Business" was launched in 2023, promoted by the City and the three universities, and intended for professionals (administrators, directors and employees of companies operating in the service sector in Ticino) who are interested in learning and developing more knowledge about blockchain to support their business. The first "B4B - Blockchain for Business" took place in spring 2023 and was attended by 63 people, including students, entrepreneurs and industry enthusiasts. The second edition of B4B - Blockchain for Business 2024 is currently kicking off, with the possibility to register by 31 March 2024 https://luganolivinglab.ch/it/eventi/detail/b4b-blockchain-for-business-2aedizione

The initiatives implemented through close collaboration between the City of Lugano and the academic institutions, USI, SUPSI, and FUS, demonstrate an extraordinary unity of purpose and a shared commitment towards making Lugano a renowned and valued university hub. The goal is to create an environment where education, research, and innovation work hand in hand, while also promoting quality of life and social inclusion.

We would like to conclude by expressing our sincere appreciation for the work and dedication of all the employees of the City of Lugano, USI, SUPSI and FUS involved in this important and ambitious project.

The press conference featured Michele Foletti, Mayor of the City of Lugano; Luisa Lambertini, Rector of Università della Svizzera italiana (USI); Franco Gervasoni, Director General of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI) and Samuel Martin Barbero, Rector of Franklin University Switzerland (FUS).

Viewpoints

The Mayor of Lugano, Michele Foletti: "The Lugano Città Universitaria project is a manifestation of the city's recent commitment to strengthening its support for local universities and promoting Lugano as an attractive university hub on both national and international levels. Ensuring a quality educational offering and attracting essential skills and resources for knowledge transfer and sharing, as well as economic development for the benefit of innovation, is an essential investment for the future of our youth. I would like to express my gratitude to the management of USI, SUPSI, and Franklin University Switzerland for believing in this project, which I am confident will continue to be enriched by new initiatives for the betterment of the entire community."

The Rector of USI, Luisa Lambertini: "We are very pleased with the collaboration with the City of Lugano and the achievements made over the past four years. In the upcoming years, we plan to expand the concept of a university campus in a university city. Our goal is to transform our campuses into vibrant hubs of life and interaction, which are open to the community. To achieve this aim, we intend to realise the 'Matrix' university residence project, but we are also dedicated to providing the population on the existing campuses with an ever-growing range of meeting and learning opportunities. Additionally, we plan to create new spaces dedicated to promoting innovation and technology transfer, fostering growth and development both within and outside our classrooms."

SUPSI Director General Franco Gervasoni: "Collaboration with the City is essential for SUPSI at various levels, especially in major infrastructure projects that have long-term impacts. One significant example is the East Campus in Viganello, which was built jointly with USI and inaugurated three years ago. This project has already demonstrated its ability to revitalise a neighbourhood, bringing new dynamism and positivity that encourages other investments. These new valuable spaces promote well-being, creating relationships and contacts between academia and citizens. We anticipate similar positive effects from upcoming significant projects, such as the Lugano station Campus, whose Master Plan variant has finally been approved, and the City of Music in Besso. These strategic projects are not only important to SUPSI but also to our entire Canton and to Lugano, a city that has always supported and believed in their development."

FUS Rector Samuel Martin Barbero: "We are delighted to share our vast experience as the only accredited university in Switzerland and the United States with the City of Lugano. Our partnership with the city is robust and mutually satisfying, focusing on various areas such as art, culture, support for Plan B, and participation in the Lugano Living Lab initiatives. At Franklin, we believe in being citizens of the world, and we are committed to bringing the world to Lugano while showcasing the best of Luganoa broad."