The Contamination Lab as a Possible Pathway to Make Agricultural Engineering Raise its Academic Prominence and Centrality in Italian Academia: Insights from a Case-Study

Italian Agricultural Engineering, while evolving toward the broader, inter-disciplinary field of Biosystems Engineering (which includes also the study of biomasses/biomaterials, field mechanization in difficult contexts and advanced post-harvest agri-food technologies), suffers from a structural critical issue due to its historical academic placement within the Agricultural rather than the Engineering Departments. This peripheral positioning limits the depth of the technical subjects proposed to the students, does not facilitate the necessary collaboration with core engineering disciplines in the research and didactics activities, thereby potentially slowing innovation in crucial fields like agro-bio-energies, precision agriculture and field robotics. To address this misalignment and foster inter-departmental synergy, this study proposes adopting the Contamination Lab (C-Lab) model as the archetype of a possible framework of academic and professional networking involving the Agricultural Engineering. C-Labs (transdisciplinary platforms proposed by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, MUR) function as experiential laboratories, gathering students from Engineering, Agronomy, Computer Science, and Economics to collaboratively develop solutions to real-world challenges posed by industry stakeholders. The integration of a permanent, thematic C-Lab focused on agri-forestry and food machinery, supported by methodologies for enhancing creativity in technical fields, such as the Design Thinking, represents an effective (and necessary) strategy to make Agricultural Engineering recover a higher visibility on the Italian (and international) scenario and, in prospect, relocate it the at the centre of any research involving the technological and technical aspects of agriculture, forestry and food. It is concluded that this initiative can serve as an institutional bridge for hybrid training, which is essential for aligning academic competencies with the growing demands for innovation and multidisciplinary professionalism in the national agrifood-tech sector. This study was carried out within the Interconnected Nord-Est Innovation Ecosystem (iNEST) and received funding from the European Union Next-GenerationEU (Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza (PNRR) – MISSIONE 4 COMPONENTE 2, INVESTIMENTO 1.5 – D.D. 1058 23/06/2022, ECS00000043, CUP UNIUD iNEST: G23C22001130006). This manuscript reflects only the authors’ views and opinions, neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be considered responsible for them.