The project for the new place names in MIND Milano Innovation District reaches an important milestone with the naming ceremony for the first three streets and squares: through their names, the innovation district will celebrate the great innovators who have contributed to the progress of humanity, with a particular focus on the role of women and lesser-known researchers. The Cardo di Expo is named after Italian Nobel Prize-winning researcher Rita Levi-Montalcini.
With the naming ceremony for the first three streets in MIND Milano Innovation District, the project to raise awareness and celebrate great innovators, some of whom are little known or forgotten, has reached an important milestone through the names of places in the innovation district located where Expo Milano 2015 was held: the famous Decumano of the Universal Exposition will officially become "Viale Decumano," the area around the Tree of Life will be renamed "Piazzale Expo 2015," and the Cardo will be named after Rita Levi-Montalcini, Nobel Prize winner for medicine and standard-bearer for Italian scientific research around the world. The naming ceremony will take place in the presence of the President of the Senate of the Republic, Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, the Mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, and the President of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana.
The initiative was promoted by the key players involved in the redevelopment of the area: Arexpo, Human Technopole, Lendlease, the University of Milan, the Galeazzi Orthopedic Institute, and the Triulza Foundation. The aim of the project is to highlight MIND's identity and values as an ecosystem of innovation. For this reason, in recent months, the partners have developed and submitted to the City Council a comprehensive proposal to rename not only the streets but also the squares, buildings, and green areas of the area, giving life to a joint and integrated project that aims to celebrate and commemorate scientists, researchers, and prominent figures in science and technology who have made a significant contribution to the progress of humanity.
In particular, the project will pay tribute to and commemorate the extraordinary contribution of women scientists and innovators, which is too often underestimated or even forgotten. Unfortunately, today in Italy only about 5% of places are named after women, compared to a much higher percentage for men. The promoters of the initiative hope to have at least 50% of streets named after women, because place names are a highly effective tool for raising public awareness and appreciation of the important contributions made by women to the development of society.
The initiative is part of a process started by the #RememberMyName social media campaign, launched in March 2020 by Human Technopole to share the discoveries and revolutionary ideas of lesser-known scientists.
“Arexpo wanted an important area such as the one that hosted Expo to become a district of innovation that is unique in Italy and among the most important in the world. That project," explains Igor De Biasio, CEO of Arexpo, "is becoming a reality, and the names of the first streets in MIND are further confirmation of this. Research and innovation represent the decisive challenge in a rapidly changing world, but it is also important to celebrate the history of science and the 2015 Universal Exposition."
Marco Simoni, president of the Human Technopole Foundation, emphasizes: "Alongside Rita Levi-Montalcini, whose value has been universally recognized, there are other equally important figures, such as British biochemist Rosalind Franklin, whose work was fundamental to the discovery of the structure of DNA, but who have been kept in the shadows. In the past, this has often been the case for female scientists. Promoting trust in science also means learning about and celebrating the people who have made possible the discoveries that improve our daily lives. With the #RememberMyName campaign, we have told the stories of and celebrated 'forgotten' scientists: women and men who have played a fundamental role in scientific progress but whose names are often unknown. We are continuing this initiative today with this inauguration, which will also be a prize for elementary schools in the 'A City in MIND' competition to name some of HT's spaces after these important figures.
Andrea Ruckstuhl, Head of Italy and Continental Europe at Lendlease, comments: "The great personalities we wanted to pay tribute to teach us that innovation, science, and technology must be a shared heritage at the service of humanity for responsible development and a better quality of life for all. The example set by these extraordinary women and men is a source of inspiration for us and encourages us to promote the connection of ideas and projects to make MIND a unique center of excellence in the world, a resilient, inclusive, and sustainable city of the future."
