Politecnico di Milano designated as a WHO Collaborating Centre

The Politecnico di Milano has been designated as ‘WHO Collaborating Centre for Design & Health: Healthcare Infrastructures Planning, Design and Evaluation’ by the World Health Organisation (WHO). 

This is an important step for academic and applied research in the field of health, which consolidates the Politecnico di Milano's position as an international leader in the sector; in fact, it is the first time that this role has been attributed to a technical university.

Politecnico di Milano joins the 26 WHO Collaborating Centres in Italy. As of today, healthcare institutions throughout Europe will be able to request the Politecnico's support through a dedicated portal to develop innovative and green healthcare infrastructures.

The recognition comes after two years of intense collaboration with WHO which, among other things, has led the Politecnico, through the Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, to develop guidelines for designing the hospitals of the future, shared with WHO member countries.

"This step represents an extraordinary opportunity to make our know-how in designing innovative and sustainable healthcare infrastructures available to Europe and the world. Collaborating with the WHO allows us to contribute concretely to improving global health through cutting-edge, patient-centred solutions." says Stefano Capolongo, Director of the Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering

The Collaborating Centre will work on a four-year roadmap, developing reports and coordinating workshops on key topics for European hospitals, such as sustainability, functional design and patient-centeredness. The activities will involve a multidisciplinary team of lecturers, young researchers and PhD students from the Design & Health Lab.

This article was first published on 20 November by Politecnico di Milano.