Feb. 4 – “This agreement confirms the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna’s ability to translate into applications its genomic research,” says Professor Pierdomenico Perata, coordinator of the Laboratory PlantLab and Dean of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna of Pisa. Perata comments on the new strategic agreement between Valagro SpA and Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in the field of applied genomics; the agreement aims at the realization of innovative technologies to manage environmental stress and nourish plants, ensuring the quality of agricultural production. As we read in a note from Valagro SpA, a world leader in the production and marketing of specialty fertilizers, the company entered into a new agreement for scientific collaboration with the Institute of Life Sciences of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna of Pisa. The agreement is valid for 12 months and builds upon the five-year cooperation agreement already in place. “The collaboration between Sant’Anna and Valagro – adds the Dean – has already borne fruit over the past seven years of collaboration, with an effective and concrete epochal shift in research in the field of specialty fertilizers, which are now being developed with the molecular technologies once exclusive to the pharmaceutical industry. Now let’s look at the next five years, with new competitive challenges against the world’s major players in the industry.” Dr. Alberto Piaggesi, Director of Business Innovation at Valagro, also expressed his satisfaction: “the collaboration with the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna is strategic for Valagro, as demonstrated last year during the first international congress on bio-stimulants, held in Strasbourg. From this moment, we’re thinking of a way further into the future; and I am pleased to announce that the collaboration with the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna will double, as the company embarks on new projects with Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. The Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa and the Normale in Paris will work closely with us to identify new natural substances used to obtain quality products for crop management. All in the traditional perspective of the close link between science, nature and sustainable production that characterizes Valagro.”