Plant Variety Rights

The Bernina© apple originates from years of research at the University of Bologna, but finds in Valtellina the context in which to fully express its potential. Around this variety, a project has been built involving Fondazione Fojanini, producers and the Lombardy Region, eventually developing into an organised value chain. For the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO), Bernina© represents a concrete example of how the plant variety protection system can support territorial strategies capable of combining innovation, identity and development.

Not all agricultural innovations are

From the lecture halls of the Alma Mater to the peaks of Valtellina, the story of a genetic success story that merges science, legal stewardship, and a passion for the land. A model of innovation where the University of Bologna takes center stage in the European fruit-growing landscape.

Innovation in the agricultural sector is not an immediate process, but the result of an institutional vision capable of protecting and leveraging investments in public research. The system of Community Plant Variety Rights (CPVR—a sui generis intellectual property right for protecting new plant