San Donato Milanese (Milan), July 7th 2008 – The Eni Solar Frontiers Center (SFC) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been founded today. The chancellor of  Milan Polytechnic, Prof Giulio Ballio, the director of MIT Energy Venture, Prof Ernest Moniz, and Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni made the announcement at Milan Polytechnic today.

The establishment of SFC is part of the agreement signed between Eni and MIT last February, with the aim of establishing a strategic partnership focused on the development of advanced solar technologies.

The MIT Energy Initiative is the institute responsible for research into the transformation of the energy system in order to tackle the most significant challenges in the energy world through the analysis of every aspect of energy supply, demand and environmental safeguard.

Eni Solar Frontiers Center has been established to promote and accelerate the multi discipline research of next generation solar technologies, including nano-technologies, advanced materials and production of hydrogen through solar energy.     

As the multi discipline research is the most relevant aspect of the project, the SFC will be led by Prof Vladimir Bulovic, in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and by Prof Daniel Nocera, in the Department of Chemistry. The centre will also be managed by an Executive Director who will guarantee exchange of information between the researchers of Eni and MIT. 

At the symposium, researchers from Eni, MIT and Milan Polytechnic also talked about the opportunity of further cooperation between MIT and Italian universities.

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