Dalmine

The settlement opportunity available to investors in the Municipality of Dalmine is the greenfield area "AT 09: high schools campus". This is a publicly owned area with over 12,000 square meters of land surface intended for “residential for student” usage.

With the agreement, the interventions in the municipal area concerned the redevelopment and enhancement of certain road infrastructures aimed at improving the attractiveness and viability of the territory as well as the accessibility to the settlement opportunities. The Municipality has also implemented a strategic marketing plan and a study on school housing.

The Municipality has reduced the TARI [waste disposal tax] on the identified opportunities by 20% and correctly implemented the electronic desk through the use of the Unified Telematic Window on the site of the Municipality of Dalmine for simplifying the administrative procedures for interested businesses.

In detail, the Municipality implements the following actions:

Semplification commitments

• Guarantees that the Action Plan presented by the company is adopted by the City Council in less than 90 days from the date the request was registered.
• Releases, upon a complete request being made, a Planning Permission in less than 60 days from the request.
• Ensures an online 'front office' service or a dedicated section in the municipality's portal where investors or potential investors can find all useful information.
• Uses and implements the 'electronic desk'.
• Simplifies payments by creating a single contact for the payment of all expenses owed to the municipality and other entities.
• Uses the SUAP [single contact point for productive activity] for proper additions to the Electronic Company File.
• Guarantees a training course for the SUAP operators.
• Participates in training programs related to the Electronic Company File.

Economic and fiscal incentives

• Declares in advance all the urban planning and construction expenses, making sure not to introduce additional expenses.
• Provides for an IMU [municipal property tax] + TASI [municipal tax on community services] tax rate of 9.6‰ in the areas identified.
• Reduces the TARI [waste disposal tax] by 20% from the current amount.
• Provides reimbursement of IMU and TASI debits and credits.
• Reduces the primary and secondary land development expenses for the identified areas, as follows: Standard parameter of the Municipality: (tertiary) Primary 67.41€/sqm Secondary 55.71€/sqm Improvement parameter for the identified areas: (tertiary) Primary 53.62 €/sqm Secondary 44.56€/sqm

Promotional activities and assistance to investors

• Provides preliminary consulting services and support to companies in the presentation and implementation of their projects, with the issuance of written opinions if requested in the proposal.
• Holds regular meetings to solve any problems with the investment process and to provide support regarding methods for payment of local taxes.
• Enables forms of collaboration with the credit institutions in the region.

Why investing in Dalmine?

For the great entrepreneurial nature of the area and mostly for its innovation, openness, exchange and comparison vocations.

According to the major industrial representatives in the area, several are the reasons why:

• the area has a general predisposition for the establishment of production activities in a wide range of sectors;
• open-mindedness towards innovation and confrontation, which favors especially companies focused on innovation;
• companies tend to create networks, facilitating resources exchange, comparison and mutual stimulus for the activation of research projects and the introduction of new technologies and innovative processes, which allow the constant development of individual companies and the system in general;
• the variety of industries guarantees easy access to suppliers in the area, with the consequent reduction of procurement costs and the facilitation of relations and supplies;
• the presence of qualified companies and research centers guarantees the presence of different laboratories in the area to carry out research and tests on products, which facilitate the development of new solutions and allow obtaining certifications, in particular favoring start-ups;
• the territory is easily accessible, which facilitates exchanges;
• the presence of excellent training schools (High Schools, Universities and Training Courses) allows you to have a wide availability of qualified and high-level human resources;
• Authorities and institutions have a favorable attitude towards industrial development

Dalmine is one of the Municipalities involved in the Dalmine - Bergamo industrial and technological knowledge backbone, the system that integrates functions of excellence for a balanced regeneration of the territory and a reuse of containers according to a selective and quality approach oriented towards new entrepreneurship, research, services and business. Currently, the Municipality is working on a strategic project that connects the Bergamo university centers with the main places of research and production.

The industrial structure of Bergamo unites various regional excellences - medium and large highly productive and competitive companies -which are part of industrial districts, Meta-districts and Technological Clusters. The industrial past is still the backbone of the provincial economy, with a strong private sector in a competitive position on the main European markets. Dalmine also has important realities in its territory; in fact, it is included in the Meta-district of New Materials and in the Technology Clusters «Enabling technologies and practices for the manufacturing sector» and «Energy Cleantech Cluster». With meta-districts, the main objective of the Region is to define areas of "productive excellence" capable of representing development centers with a high technological potential.

• l’Università degli Studi di Bergamo (corsi in ingegneria meccanica, gestionale, informatica, edile e delle tecnologie per la salute);
• Point – Polo per l’innovazione tecnologica della provincia di Bergamo (48.000 mq in tutto, 4.000 mq di laboratori attrezzati, 26 aziende ospitate, 300 dipendenti);
• Bergamo Sviluppo – Incubatore d’impresa (spazi attrezzati e un sistema di servizi personalizzati di consulenza e assistenza a supporto delle startup);
• Tenaris (leader globale nella fornitura di tubi e servizi per l'industria energetica mondiale e per altre particolari applicazioni industriali);
• ABB (leader tecnologico all’avanguardia nelle reti elettriche, nei prodotti per l’elettrificazione, nell'automazione industriale, nella robotica e nel controllo di movimento, al servizio dei clienti nelle utility, nell’industria, nei trasporti e nelle infrastrutture a livello globale);
• Kilometro Rosso (uno dei principali distretti europei dell’innovazione);
• Brembo (leader mondiale nella progettazione, sviluppo e produzione di sistemi frenanti e componentistica per auto, moto e veicoli industriali, per il mercato del primo equipaggiamento, i ricambi e il racing).

The production structure of the Dalmine municipality involves 333 companies, with 3,920 employees. The main activity is the secondary sector with 50% of employees. The sector also holds thanks to the development of the tertiary sector, which has grown mostly in the field of business services, and employment remains high. Among the strengths of the area there are:

a good accessibility and strategic location thanks to the connections to the main highways and in close proximity to large public transport systems, such as the airport and train stations.
technical and scientific know-how and professionalism
vibrant entrepreneurial environment
coordinated management also enriched by participation in the AttrACT program
availability of urban settlement

The potential development trends for Dalmine concern the centrality of the university, both for training (pole of excellence for the recruitment of highly qualified personnel) and for research, passing through the turnover and the existing production chains of the advanced tertiary sector. Dalmine is in fact becoming increasingly popular with the image of a city favorable for the establishment of realities linked to the Advanced Tertiary sector, so much so that its name is also recognized abroad. For the development of the territory, six sectors could have possible interest:

• Off-campus residences for university students
• Services for students, and more generally for young people
• Advanced tertiary and research: sectors that can be developed in various ways and is between the productive and managerial sectors
• Industries of the present and consolidated production chains of the vast area
• Residences and Service Centers for the elderly
• Establishment of Logistic Sites

 

 Quoted from the research carried out for the Municipality of Dalmine by Politecnico di Milano and REC (Real Estate Center), named “DALMINE, RESIDENCES FOR STUDENTS. Identification of the technical-economic feasibility drivers”.

 Lombardy is among the most attractive and populated regions of Italy in the university environment, appreciated by both national and foreign students. The trends show that the University of Bergamo, from the academic year 2014/2015 onwards, has recorded a sudden rise to almost double the number of new students (from about 3,000 students in 2010-2011 to 5,500 freshmen in 2019-2020 and from 15,000 to 21,000 enrolled).

The data remains positive also in the observation of enrolled students, confirming on average a constant growth of the university especially in the last 4-5 years, also of foreign students (from about 180 foreign freshmen in 2010-2011 to 340 in 2019/2020), coming mainly from outside the EU (Ukraine, Albania, Moldova and Russia) and Africa (Morocco, Senegal, Ghana, Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Tunisia). Followed by a smaller percentage of students coming from Asia (India, Turkey, Pakistan, Iran and China), Europe (Romania) and South America (Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil). Around 6% of non-resident students (altogether more than 1000 units), come from a region other than Lombardy, while the majority of enrolled students from Lombardy come from the province of Bergamo.

The Municipality of Dalmine has carried out a first exploratory macro-survey for the identification of possible territorial development drivers both in the context of the urban planning objectives envisaged by the Territorial Governance Plan, and in the broader vision of the municipal administration of “Dalmine Città University”.

Specifically, the research launches an investigation linked to the analysis of the potential existing structured demand and supply, relating to university hospitality services, and to the interception of any essential territorial support service there may be the need of, both for students of the University of Bergamo and for those of the Engineering campus located in the municipality.

After having identified the Transformation Areas on which it is possible to evaluate the development of a university and urban residential intervention (AT 02: the North Gate of Dalmine; AT 09: the campus of high schools), these are the possible development drivers that could play a role in the area:

1. Campus & SH (Student Housing);
2. Smart District;
3. Smart Mobility;
4. Sport.

and some of the best practices deemed significant and relevant to university communities’ and, more generally, to the development of urban communities, to better understand the opportunities for an efficient, integrated and connected intervention to the surrounding area:

1) The first driver being analyzed is “Campus & SH”, which is illustrated through two examples: the Bocconi Campus¹, located in Milan, and the Student Housing model proposed by Campus X².
The first¹ example is an efficient and harmonious integrated urban intervention of regeneration as it is not limited to students, but it’s at the service of the entire city. The second², conceived as a community made up of students, professionals or people, with areas dedicated to services that are increasingly innovative, efficient and tailored to the users they host. A completely digital model, with an application allows users to book, check-in, reserve the services they prefer and conclude their stay with digital check-out.

 2) The second driver identified is "Smart District", the concept of which reflects the importance of designing city districts aimed at optimizing public services as to connect the infrastructures with the social capital of those who live there. Some examples: “Uptown Milano” is a Milanese neighborhood designed as a Smart District, a housing ecosystem consisting of a residential complex inserted in a park and connected to other buildings dedicated to schools, shopping centers and supermarkets. The integration of ICT technologies is used to connect the environmental capital (the parks) and the infrastructural capital (the buildings) to the human capital (the inhabitants of the district) to make the use of the area more efficient, by directly responding to the needs of users. "The Edge", located in Amsterdam, is the example of the most environmentally friendly building in the world. “Domitys” creates ecosystems for elderly people, offering private apartments together with countless services dedicated to well-being, hobbies, wellness and, in general, aimed at ensuring the right balance between private life and social relationships. Finally, "Città Studi Biella” is a complex of university buildings and services including residences, in addition to classrooms, a varied choice of living spaces, libraries, study rooms, sports areas and catering centers, thanks to which a real ‘university citadel’ has been established. "DoveVivo", on the other hand, is an Italian "PropTech", a company that combines the functions of 'Property' and 'Technology', exploiting the potential of Information Community Technology (ICT) to improve the traditional mechanisms and processes of the real estate sector. “Copernico”, on the other hand, is a coworking space: a shared space for work. Companies, freelancers, start-uppers and employees can decide to rent a space, a desk or a meeting room for a limited time (even a few hours).

3) The third driver identified is the “Smart Mobility”. Smart mobility integrates sharing economy concepts with the efficiency of technology. Technology is essential for collecting, optimizing, and managing important data on aspects such as consumption, the quality of the environment and city maintenance. An interesting example is City Veins, a study carried out by MIT's Sensible City Lab. The research group has installed sensors on New York taxis to define the air quality of Manhattan and to intercept problems and solutions for reducing pollution in the city.

4) The fourth and last driver is “Sport”. The example under consideration is the Giuriati Campus of the Politecnico di Milano, which, after being redesigned and expanded, has opened its doors to the inhabitants of the neighborhood by offering facilities and services to carry out different sports activities.

Besides the use of public funding at national level for the construction of university residences (represented by Law 338 issued by MIUR in 2000), the following proposals emerged from the aforementioned study, with the aim of strengthening the link and interaction of university residences with the city and its services:

• the construction of a university residence with 275 beds located in Dalmine in the municipal area AT09 and the hypothesis of a reduction in travel times between the various locations of the University and the new student residence;

• the functional and spatial optimization of the different university buildings scattered throughout the Bergamo area with the creation of an important university attraction hub in an area that could play a strategic "hinge" function between the city of Dalmine and its territory.