Corporate | Il Sentiero Campus International

Discover Il Sentiero

International Campus.

“We study materials, surfaces and processes to develop innovative components applicable to Advanced Mechanics” Fabrizio Casadei, Managing Director"

Fabrizio Casadei, CEO

Il Sentiero International Campus is an Industrial Research Centre.

Il Sentiero International Campus is an Industrial Research Centre. Operating since 2018, it offers qualified research and development services within the framework of industrial projects and funded national and European R&D programs, both for those companies that consider technological growth a key aspect of their competitiveness and for public governing bodies.

Strengths.

The laboratories of Il Sentiero International Campus are equipped with the most advanced technologies and instrumentation for the realization of projects, from metallographic, optical and scanning electron microscopes with Zeiss optics to 3D printers of different capacities, from micro-indenters and scratch testers to tribocorrosimeters, to name just a few. In relation to technological developments, the company's strategy is to equip itself with industrial-scale facilities.
This makes it possible to manage the entire chain of the innovation process : from the study of solutions in the theoretical and modelling fields, to the development of actual industrial processes, to prototyping and pre-serial production of components and systems. Over the years, significant investments have been made in Additive Manufacturing plants (laser sintering, prototyping with wire composites, etc.), Physical Vapour Deposition (industrial plant with arc technologies, DC sputtering, CVD), HVOF, etc. The approach to R&D activities is focused on industrial spin-offs and sustainability: most projects are accompanied by specific business plans and the cost of solutions is always one of the main drivers of activities.
The Research Centre collaborates as a beta tester for the development of a rapid prototyping suite, testing the new functions of the latest release.
This collaboration is very beneficial because it allows Il Sentiero International Campus to stay up-to-date on the latest programme developments.

Mission.

The activities of Il Sentiero International Campus are aimed at companies that need to integrate growth in technology, quality, performance and environmental friendliness of products and reduce production costs.

Origins.

Sentiero International Campus was founded in 2018 and is accredited by ART-ER (former ASTER), a consortium with the participation of the Emilia Romagna Regional Authorities, the Universities, the national public research bodies CNR, ENEA, INFN and the regional system of Chambers of Commerce, becoming part of the Emilia-Romagna Rete Alta Tecnologia (High Technology Network), which integrates skills, instruments and resources for business development.With a network of professional relations and relationships, it collaborates with the main national and international reference centres and participates in Italian R&D projects (Regional, MIUR, MISE, MOD).

Our activities.

Il Sentiero’s activities include:

Drafting and management of R&D projects, including all phases from the functional diagram to the industrialisation of process/product systems.

Study, prototyping, design and production of special systems and equipment, with particular reference to process subsystems in the field of automatic packaging machines.

Construction and management of test benches.

Integrated systems for the study of reliability and maintenance methodologies.

Machines for wear and corrosion testing of materials and components.

Provision of industrial design and prototyping activities for process-product development projects.

Drafting and co-ordination of specific research projects related to international, European, national and regional calls for tender.

Training qualified professionals in research and development activities.

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Skills and expertise.

The technical and scientific expertise of the researchers at Il Sentiero International Campus covers the following areas:

Reliability Engineering

Additive Manufacturing

Surface Engineering

Design and Prototyping

Jointing Technologies

Failure Analysis and Chemical/Physical/Mechanical Analysis of Materials

The Ecor International Group.

The Il Sentiero International Campus project is based on the awareness that innovation is the result of the integration of applied research and production. In fact, the Research Centre is part of the Ecor International Group, a company founded in 1976 in Schio (Vicenza) and now a strategic partner of companies and multinationals for the production of critical steel and special alloy components and highly complex systems. The Group’s strategy is based on an organisational system that integrates production and R&D activities. Finally, the Group participates with some of the most important Italian and European bodies for the promotion of research and development in the field of materials and advanced engineering technologies, such as EUMAT, APRE and AIAD. In Veneto, Il Sentiero International Campus is a member of the Regional Innovative Networks (R.I.R.): Sinfonet (Regional Innovative Network on Foundry), Veneto Green Cluster (Regional Innovative Network focused on innovation in Circular Economy) and AIR (Aerospace Network). In Emilia-Romagna, it participates in the Clusters Clust-ER Mech (Mechatronics and Motor Cluster) and Clust-ER Health (Health and Wellness Industries).

The Castelvetro campus.

The new headquarters of the advanced industrial research centre is in Castelvetro, in the hilly area of Modena, and covers a total of 37 thousand square metres. The facility is exceptionally spacious and composed of individual units which are fully autonomous, to make each research area independent and capable of operating according to its specific needs.
It houses the technical and administration offices, laboratories and conference rooms for conventions, meetings and specialist courses.
Castelvetro is the embodiment of Il Sentiero International Campus’s core objective: to become an international reference centre in the field of industrial research. The facility will host more than 50 engineers, physicists and chemists, who will be able to focus on the research and development of innovative solutions, as well as creating new job opportunities for many researchers. The activities envisage the study and development of new materials, their enabling technologies and the integrated design of high-efficiency and low-cost mechanical systems, while a specific section will be dedicated to the installation of test benches. In order to achieve this ambitious goal, it is vital to introduce highly specialised know-how and expertise to the company, to be proactive in an increasingly demanding and dynamic market by offering customers technologically advanced and competitive products and services.