Two years of CTE Next: innovation at the service of citizens in Turin

«Already 200 years ago Turin was an avant-garde city, as demonstrated by the fact that Charles Babbage chose it to present his analytical engine. And without the appointments of Count Luigi Federico Menabrea, later translated and commented by Ada Lovelace, perhaps the path towards current studies on Artificial Intelligence would have been different». With a tribute to Turin, Marco Landi, known for being the COO of Apple who rehired Steve Jobs in 1997, celebrates the second birthday of the House of Emerging Technologies of Turin (CTE Next), during the event organized by CSI Piemonte.

Here are the numbers for this first two-year period: 7 calls for startups, 30 trials launched, 37 services being provided, almost 500 companies that have joined the network. «We have hosted over 300 events, with about 9,000 participants, physical and virtual, we are becoming a point of reference for emerging technologies – comments satisfied Pietro Pacini, Director General of CSI -. Above all, we provide startups and SMEs with a technological highway for experimenting and grounding innovation».

This is demonstrated by the demos proposed by some companies of the CTE of Turin, exhibited in the Innovation Experience; this is confirmed by the new entries in the “House”, the startups selected with the Call4Testing Future City, announced during the celebrations. All realities that have been able to benefit from the support offered by CTE Next and from the proximity to the CSI. And not only in the technological field, sometimes innovation is even more necessary in the “legal and administrative field – underlines Laura Morgagni, CEO of the Piedmont Innova Foundation -. Furthermore, it is important to integrate the technological aspects with the human sciences, with people’s needs, take into account the social impact of innovations. Having a physical place where you can also experience these aspects is essential».

Opening up to collaboration with the realities of the territory and with the other Emerging Technology Houses in Italy is part of the DNA of CTE Next and represents the line to follow for the future. «We increasingly want to be an accelerator of accelerators – explains Elena Deambrogio, Head of the CTE Next project -. Startups coming out of acceleration programs such as Impact Deal or Techstars Smart Mobility Accelerator come here to validate their projects in a real context, dealing with a real PA, colliding with concrete and real problems».

Imagine the city of the future

Deambrogio’s words are confirmed by the seven finalists of Call Future City, who are starting their acceleration process within CTE Next these days. Questit, a startup born as a spinoff of the University of Siena, chaired by Marco Landi, is the only company in the world to have developed a virtual assistant that speaks sign language. The challenge that it intends to face in the acceleration process is to integrate it into the 112 emergency system. StendhApp suggests places of cultural interest to visit based on the user’s interests; Midori allows you to analyze the electrical loads of residential buildings; Synesthesia aims to test autonomous robots for logistics, integrating virtual reality to train operators. And again, Smarty focuses on the digital twin to study safe and sustainable urban mobility scenarios; Darts aims to prevent risks related to extreme weather events, providing real-time information to road users, whether they are people or connected cars. Finally, Lifetouch aims to optimize last mile logistics.

Projects in progress

While there are companies starting a new path at CTE Next, the demo area shows the projects of some of the startups that have grown in these first two years.

Impersive produces videos for virtual reality: with the VR360 Experience, through the use of viewers, users are catapulted into a 360-degree journey, full body and in motion, in some Turin museums, accompanied by exceptional testimonials: Piero Chiambretti, Cristina Chiabotto and Arturo Brachetti. The complete portfolio extends beyond the borders of Turin and also embraces other sectors besides culture: from sports to automotive, from fashion to educational.

Kineton is a Neapolitan company that has developed the Kinecar experience, a junction point between the media and the automotive industry, introducing a virtual assistant on board the car capable of providing all types of information. Useful, for example, on board shared cars, to accompany tourists to discover the city or to manage the infotainment system, with a wide range of services for passengers. At CTE Next was presented on board a full electric car, in which it was possible to try the experience of communicating with one’s own car.

To celebrate the birthday, music could not be missing, but in the absence of a real stage, Openstage has made its technological totem available: a column equipped with a connection to the 5G network, equipped with an integrated mixer to connect instruments and microphones, audio speakers and a system of lights and LEDs, which can be accessed via the app. A sort of shared stage: suitably distributed, they can be used free of charge, always booking through the app, by buskers and street artists. Thanks to its IoT sensor system, it also allows you to know in real time how many audiences are present during a performance.

From entertainment to healthcare, ABZero unveiled its Smart Capsule for transporting medicines, blood and even organs for transplants. Patented and equipped with artificial intelligence, thanks to innovative IoT sensors it is able to monitor the temperature and humidity of the transported goods, guaranteeing optimal conservation conditions. In addition to being used on board traditional vehicles, the capsule can be transported by drone, with great savings in time and costs. At the moment some test flights have been carried out, in Turin between the Cto and Regina Margherita hospitals, in Milan at the San Raffaele and again in Livorno.

Finally, UTwin, which deals with digital twins, has created the digital twin of the headquarters of the Casa delle Tecnologie Emergenti in Turin and of the Pestalozzi school. In the latter case, the digital twin has been integrated with Enerbrain technology, aimed at reducing energy consumption in buildings, and Cisco sensors, which offer real-time monitoring of the structure, for optimal space management. The particularly interesting aspect of UTwin is the possibility of integrating third-party services, which makes it possible to introduce, on a case-by-case basis, the most effective sensors for obtaining the set result. For example, they have recently integrated intelligent bolts into some digital twins, which allow you to remotely monitor some fundamental parameters of the structures to plan their maintenance in a safe and effective way.

Among both newcomers and those who have been testing their solutions for two years in the spaces of CTE Next, one of the fundamental aspects to experiment with is the impact generated. «Innovations must be useful to human beings, if something is not needed you stop. Otherwise we risk passing from the “cogito ergo sum” to the “digito ergo sum”, but is this really what we want?» asks Marco Landi.