At the Technology & Trends conference, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) and Studio Volpi build new bridges between scientific research and the world of business.

Transferring science’s latest findings to the business world has always been tricky. Science and Industry seem to be stuck in two different time dimensions. On one hand, science has a long term vision of universal knowledge, while on the other hand, businesses are dealing with immediate issues they need to solve to stay ahead of the competition. The truth is, they both hold the key to each other’s success: research needs funding if any progress is to be made, and businesses need innovation if any profit is to be made. Only they’re not always speaking the same language. 

Studio Volpi teamed up with Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), in Genoa, to build fresh connections between the two universes, creating the conditions for researchers to showcase their work and attract funding, and for businesses to become aware of potential opportunities. 

The starting point of their collaboration will be the “Technology & Trends” conference, to be held in Genoa on November 17. 

The journey of technology
 

IIT and Studio Volpi are set to change the way the research conducted at the institute is disseminated, by leveraging the Studio’s experience and privileged position at the crossroads of engineering, design and communications. 

The purpose of the conference, which will be broadcast in live streaming, is to reach out to the business community, presenting the opportunities offered by the institute’s work in a clear and inspiring way. The conference will also be an occasion for networking and opening up new channels of communication. Attendees, both at the conference venue and from the web, will have the opportunity to book one-on-one meetings with the researchers involved. 

Studio Volpi will act as a catalyst and a go-between, following up on blossoming relationships and, when required, joining-in on any engineering, industrialisation or design needs. 

The four pillars of knowledge
 

The event has been conceived and produced as a real show, with a stage, lights, video content, special guests and a presenter, Barbara Gasperini, a journalist and television screenwriter specialising in innovation and new technologies. 

The conference focuses on the institute’s work and on how future trends in technology might impact the current business scenario, and our everyday lives in a not-so-distant future. It is built around four “pillars of knowledge”: Nanomaterials; Life Tech; Robotics and Computational Sciences.

For every pillar, introduced by a special guest, two researchers will “pitch” their respective work: Smart Materials and Printed and Molecular Electronics for Nanomaterials; Molecular Medicine and Food Well-being for the Life Tech pillar; Artificial and Mechanical Intelligence, and Bioinspired Soft Robotics for Robotics; Visual Geometry & Modelling, and Computational Statistics and Machine Learning for the Computational Science pillar. Studio Volpi’s own contribution will close the show.

And if the scientific titles of the presentations might sound somewhat obscure to some, let’s just say that what we’re talking about in reality, goes from printable and edible microchips to software studying crowd behaviour patterns, to mind-boggling smart packaging, to self-learning robots and octopus-mimicking ones, without mentioning the most advanced and jaw-dropping potential applications in prosthetics, general medicine, nutraceutics and mood-improving foods. As from today, Science talks a new language, and it’s exciting.

Register to "Technology & Trends" and join Studio Volpi and Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in a live streaming broadcast on November 17, from 10:20 to 13:00.

Please notice that the event will be held in Italian.