Partner Profile

Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (SSSA) is an autonomous, special statute public university operating in the field of applied sciences with the aims of promoting the development of culture, scientific and technological research, and innovation.

SSSA participates to RollOilFree II mainly through the centre of ICT for Complex Industrial Systems and Processes (ICT-COISP) of the Telecommunications, Computer Engineering, and Photonics Institute (TeCIP). Since its origin, this team coordinated by Dr. Eng. Valentina Colla focuses its activity in the steel sector, by
investigating the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced modelling system for the monitoring, management, optimization, and control of processes for steel production as well as steel products quality monitoring, enhancement, and optimization across the whole process chain. Since 2000 the ICT-COISP team participated to 79 RFCS projects. V. Colla is also the Coordinator of the RollOilFree II project.

ICT-COISP holds relevant skills and expertise related to development of data processing tools (e.g. data filtering, outlier detection, data classification and clustering, variable selection and features extraction, image processing), design and software implementation of Machine Learning (ML)-based models and algorithms and decision support tools for industrial applications, modelling and simulations through dedicated software tools and environments. This expertise meets the main technical role of SSSA within the project. SSSA leads WP4 and develops a mathematical model of the cold rolling by including OFLs to be
used as guide, support and investigation tool. Such model will be firstly developed for the pilot mill and afterward adapted and extended for the industrial mill of TKPS, as it will be used to perform a series of numerical simulations to help TKPS to configure the industrial trials especially considering the new Oil Free Lubricants.

Moreover, a contribution to the final environmental assessment of the new Oil Free Lubricants via a Comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of steel produced with it is provided by the Interdisciplinary Center of Sustainability and Climate. Among other members of this Center, Prof. Monia Niero, Associate Professor in Environmental Sustainability, lead the activities connected to LCA by exploiting Her consolidated experience.

As an academic institution, SSSA is deeply committed to dissemination activities, by organizing and participating to workshops, conferences and lectures related to the project topics as well as through the publication of scientific papers. Therefore, within RollOilFree II SSSA also leads exploitation, dissemination, and communication, being leader of WP8.

Our Peoples

  • Dr. Eng. Valentina Colla, assistant professor in Metallurgy, is the coordinator of RollOilFree II. She works at SSSA since 1998, where She established and currently coordinated the ICT-COISP research team. Her research interests comprise modelling, simulation and monitoring and control systems for application in
    steel industry. She is author and co-author of about 400 scientific publications. She is an active member of the European Steel Technology Platform, where She chairs the Focus Group “Smart Factory” and co-chairs the Focus Group “Circular Economy”.

  • Prof. Monia Niero works in the field of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of products, processes, and systems upt to to the development of decision support tools for the implementation of circular economy strategies at product and system level. Before joining SSSA in 2023, from 2018 to 2022 she was associate professor at Aalborg University, Department of Planning in Copenhagen (DK). She is author and co-author of numerous scientific publications.