Physical meeting #1 - June 24th 2025, Torino (Italy)

On June 24th the first physical meeting of the REGENERATE project was hosted in Torino. The meeting brought together an enthusiastic and diverse team of partners from across Europe:

- Technische Universität Graz (Georg Kaml, Thomas Marcher)
- IKB – Innsbrucker Kommunalbetriebe AG (Simone Stitch)
- Wiener Linien (Marius Cermak)
- Universitatea Tehnică din Cluj-Napoca (Iulia-Consuela Prodan)
- Technische Universität Darmstadt (Hans-Joachim Linke, Hauke Zachert, Nadine Schröder, Simon Siegel)
- Geosolving srl (Santina Aiassa, Martina Scerbo)
- Infra.To (Francesco Azzarone, Paola Merafina)

and Politecnico di Torino (DISEG PoliTO - Dipartimento di Ingegneria Strutturale, Edile e Geotecnica, with Marco Barla, Caterina Caprioli, Mesut Dinler, Alessandra Insana, Juliana Lopez Ochoa).

We also had the honour of welcoming a representative of the REGENERATE Steering Committee: Sondre Gjengedal from NGI - Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, whose active participation and thoughtful questions enriched our discussions and challenged us to reflect critically on the direction of our work.

During the day each partner presented updates on national activities, shared technical insights, and reinforced our shared mission: rethinking the use of the underground space for energy exploitation and storage.

A highlight of the day was the guided visit to the Pietro Micca and countermine tunnels museum, a place rich in history and highly symbolic for our project’s core theme.

We concluded the day with a social dinner at Monte dei Cappuccini, where we enjoyed a beautiful view of Torino and a stunning fireworks display in celebration of San Giovanni (St. John’s Day).

A truly inspiring day, full of collaboration, learning, and connection. Many thanks to all participants for making this milestone such a success!