Over five thousand people in attendance and half a million streaming users, appeal to Meloni: increase commitment to supporting young people, startups and investments in research
The milestone of 5,000 people in attendance during the Festival and over 500 thousand unique users during the live streaming for the second edition of the Metaverse Festival promoted by ANGI, National Association of Young Innovators, staged in the Nuvola location was reached and exceeded Lavazza. “It was a truly extraordinary second edition both for the incredible number of attendees and for those connected remotely”, said the President of ANGI, Gabriele Ferrieri”. We have gathered some of the major national and international opinion leaders on the world of virtual reality and artificial intelligence, creating a very important discussion with the highest local, national and European institutional authorities. On this occasion we launched our appeal to the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, to increase the commitment to supporting young people, startups and investments in research, points that we believe are fundamental for the development and growth of our country’s ecosystem” .
The President of ANGI, Gabriele Ferrieri, opened the proceedings, followed by interventions from the local institutions with Chiara Foglietta, Councilor of the Municipality of Turin, Matteo Marnati, Councilor for Innovation and Research of the Piedmont Region and Letizia Maria Ferraris, President of CSI Piedmont. Piedmont’s investment was important as it was the first public administration in Italy to launch a service platform in the metaverse at the service of citizens, the details of which were then also illustrated by the general director of CSI Piedmont, Piero Pacini. Greetings from the Meloni Government were brought by the voice and testimony of Alessandro Morelli, Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council with delegation to the CIPE, who highlighted the priorities and guidelines on investments linked to innovation and businesses with a view to also implementing the PNRR.
Discussion on Europe, PNRR, investments, territory, social innovation and municipalities was at the center of the session with Fabrizio Spada Head of Institutional Relations of the European Parliament Offices in Italy, Alessandro Coppola Director of Innovation Development ENEA, Marco Gay Executive President of Digital Magics, Paolo Mulassano Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation, Marco Bussone President of UNCEM and Francesco Tufarelli General Secretary of CNEL. From the world of companies of particular relevance are the themes presented by Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, META and Rai Cinema. On the one hand, FS illustrated with Luca Beccastrini (FS Coordination – MOST) and Prof. Mario Tartaglia (Head of FS Research Center of FS) the new managerial approach at the center of the institutional affairs of the “Metaverso and Mobility” group. META by Laura Bononcini (Public Policy Director for Southern Europe META) highlighted the group’s position and the importance of how VR is at the center of the social media giant’s business path. Finally, Rai Cinema with Carlo Rodomonti (Head of Strategic and Digital Marketing) spoke about the challenges of audiovisual innovation between culture, education and entertainment, in dialogue with Alessandro De Grandi CEO & Founder of The Nemesis, Stefano Tropiano Delegate of the National Cinema Museum, Lorenzo Capannari CEO & Co-Founder AnotheReality, Giovanni Verreschi CEO ETT SCAI Group.
Paying attention to the topic of data protection, the intervention of Guido Scorza, member of the Board of the Guarantor for the protection of personal data, is of particular importance. On the topic of sport, of particular interest is the successful case brought forward by the EuroRoma 2024 Foundation which, through the voice of its DG Paolo Carito and the track and field champion Larissa Iapichino (in a special video created in virtual reality), in dialogue with Marcel Vulpis of Sport Economy, highlighted how: “We are the only Italian sporting event that has opened a space in the Metaverse – continues Carito – and we must not talk about virtual reality because it is a real physical concept, which aims to overcome the limits of physicality itself. The Metaverse, in fact, will allow people from all over the world to experience the atmosphere of the European Athletics Championships remotely and several months before the start of the event”.
From other cases and applications in the VR and AI world, the interventions of: Andrea Bandera CEO State1 with their first “Business Metaverse Hub” are valuable; Francesca Rese Institutional Relations Manager Errebian Spa with their idea of virtual reality design of work spaces; Giacinto Barresi of the Italian Institute of Technology with their project for the world of health. Also of great importance are the testimonies of international guests including that of Nick Rosa Industry Technology Innovation Lead Europe Accenture who coordinated the session entitled “Navigating Industry Challenges: Unearthing Collective Insights from VR/AR Professionals” with Daniel Colaianni VR & AR Innovator and AIXR and Co-Founder & CEO, also enriched by the dialogue with the famous and illustrious Prof. Tom Furness of the University of Washington, Pioneer of Virtual Reality. And finally with: Manila Di Giovanni who at just 22 years old founded a startup and created the first Metaverse in the world of a State, the Principality of Monaco, won the Prix Monte-Carlo Femme de l’Année 2023, the Woman of the Year award ‘year; Marco Ramilli international IT security expert, entrepreneur, writer and white-hat hacker who worked for the United States Government as a doctoral student.
“The renewed success of the Metaverso Festival with the great participation of young people gives us enormous pleasure – comments the councilor for Innovation and Digital Transformation Chiara Foglietta – We are ready to continue supporting the Festival which is an important moment of reflection on issues that are important to those who, like us, aim to activate and involve businesses, citizens and institutions to create a model in which emerging technologies are one of the levers of the City’s development.” “A special thanks to the National Association of Young Innovators for having organized, again in Turin, the second edition of the Metaverse Festival. The Piedmont Region has been working with the CSI for years and the technologies that were used at the beginning are now obsolete, outdated, because the world of innovation, technology and digitalisation is a world in continuous evolution and transformation and to achieve the maximum possible in terms of technology we must face a path made up of many steps. Today the metaverse is no longer just a game: today it is an opportunity that allows us to offer a series of services to citizens, businesses and public administrations”. Thus the Piedmont Region Councilor, Matteo Marnati.
“The Metaverse Festival represented an important opportunity to discuss new technologies linked to the extraordinary world of virtual reality and artificial intelligence”, declared Pietro Pacini, General Director of CSI Piemonte. “We were able to talk about the projects that the Consortium is carrying forward on these themes and many Festival participants were able to try them directly in the exhibition area where this year we were present alongside leading companies on the national and international scene”.
“In the real world, the growth of information exchange, even with the growth of technology, has always gone hand in hand with the growth of mobility of people and also of goods. From the analyzes and studies of the FS Italiane Group it appears that mobility will probably change rather than reduce. We expect that by using virtual reality, the ways of traveling and the criteria according to which people decide to travel and how to travel will evolve.” Thus Mario Tartaglia, Head of FS Research Centre, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane.
“Presenting the activities and projects linked to the most innovative and experimental area of Rai Cinema’s production and opening the doors of our virtual space with a dedicated VR corner, in a stimulating context such as that of the Festival del Metaverso in Turin, has brought satisfactory feedback for our work”, commented Paolo Del Brocco, CEO of Rai Cinema. “These days were an opportunity to dialogue with a new audience of users, bringing modern generations closer to the cinematographic experience through the narrative languages that are closest to them and, above all, we had the opportunity to convey, even among the most young people, messages of social and cultural relevance, an objective that we have been pursuing for years with Rai Cinema through the experimentation of new languages and technologies”.
Source-www.adnkronos.com