At the opening of Genova Smart Week two doctoral dissertations were awarded a 5,000 euro prize established by ABB at the University of Genoa to honor the late GB Ferrari. Digitalization through the Internet of Things in the power generation industry, and Smart grids and smart cities were the topical subjects of the two winning dissertations.
The prizes were awarded to Ivan Vaccari for his dissertation entitled "Review of the security issues concerning Zigbee networks in relation to the Internet of Things phenomenon" in the category of Digitalization through the Internet of Things, and to Monica Crosa di Vergagni for her dissertation entitled "Control strategy of the inertial response of a wind farm and its contribution to frequency adjustment" in the Smart Grids and Smart Cities category.
GB Ferrari was a prominent figure in ABB Italy and in Genoa's industrial landscape, a member of the Executive Board of Confindustria Genova, and a founding member of the Associazione Amici Scuola d'Ingegneria di Genova. He strongly believed in collaboration between ABB and the University, pursuing goals to enhance the quality of the training and research processes, while encouraging the dissemination of a business culture.
"The topics chosen are fully consistent with ABB's strategy and were the themes in which GB Ferrari played a pioneering and pro-active role, anticipating what are now considered true, ongoing global revolutions in the areas of energy and Industry 4.0," said Mario Corsi, Managing Director of ABB Italy. "That these revolutions are in full swing in Genoa, his home town, is certainly significant. Not by chance Genoa was chosen as one of the cities of Transform, the European project dedicated to smart cities".
"The subject areas chosen for the prize are already of great interest and will become even more so in the future," commented professor Stefano Massucco, the University of Genoa's coordinator for the framework agreement for research and training collaboration with ABB. Interdisciplinary issues of such magnitude need a systemic approach and owing to their complexity, can only be developed when universities and the business world cooperate in an increasingly closer way. This means that it is of paramount importance to train future specialists in the electrical and integrated telecommunication technology industries in order to face and deal with the challenges posed by the many and significant changes that are taking place now".
Today, this collaboration comprises a broad range of activities and initiatives: awards, scholarships, seminars, PhDs, master's degrees, refresher courses, projects developed in close synergy concerning the use of new communication technologies in training processes, joint participation in Italian and international research and training programs.
ABB Energy Industries ABB is writing the future of safe and smart operations for industry, with ABB Ability™ delivering integrated and secure digital solutions that deliver value for customers with increasing autonomy, sustainability and optimized performance. ABB Energy Industries brings deep domain knowledge and technical expertise in energy and water, oil and gas, specialty chemicals and primary pharmaceutical industries. Building on our heritage, a spirit of collaboration and innovation inspires our digital leadership as we engineer and provide products, services and solutions that support our partners for success, both today and tomorrow as we look ahead to a new energy future.
ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a pioneering technology leader with a comprehensive offering for digital industries. With a history of innovation spanning more than 130 years, ABB is today a leader in digital industries with four customer-focused, globally leading businesses: Electrification, Industrial Automation, Motion, and Robotics & Discrete Automation, supported by its common ABB Ability™ digital platform. ABB’s market leading Power Grids business will be divested to Hitachi in 2020. ABB operates in more than 100 countries with about 147,000 employees. www.abb.com
