On the occasion of the G7 Transport in Milan, Fondazione Triulza organized the hackathon “Smart mobility and infrastructures: innovation at the service of the community” at MIND – Milano Innovation District on Thursday, April 11th. The initiative was promoted in partnership with Microsoft and in collaboration with CIMA, the first ITS Campus in Lombardy, as part of the Social Innovation Campus.
During the G7 Ministerial, ministers and experts address the challenges of the future of mobility with a focus on technological solutions, to promote modern, efficient and sustainable infrastructure taking into account the impact of the use of artificial intelligence, in a context of increasing geopolitical tensions, climate change and cybersecurity risks.
Fondazione Triulza then asked 90 students from four Lombard ITS – schools of excellence with high technological specialization after graduation – to create services and solutions for urban areas with little connection, using artificial intelligence and cloud computing. The initiative was promoted with the support of Microsoft, which in 2023 announced the opening of the first cloud region in Italy, confirming its commitment to promote the digital transformation and sustainable innovation of the country, and in collaboration with CIMA, the first ITS Campus in Lombardy with headquarters in MIND coordinated by Valore Italia.
In addition to getting involved with their technical and creative skills, students had to face a second challenge: co-design in teams among students of four ITS with very different specialties. ITS Meccatronica Lombardia; ITS Move Academy – logistics, mobility, supply chain; ITS Angelo Rizzoli – communication, ICT, industry 4.0, and ITS Tech Talent Factory – application development. Responsibility for designing new solutions, comparison with different skills and looking to the future were the mix that guaranteed the success of the initiative. Technologies – in particular Artificial Intelligence – seen as opportunities to improve the impact of transport on people’s lives and the environment, have been a central part of the projects, thanks to the support of Microsoft mentors, which provided the tools for the design and moments of deepening.
There were 10 projects developed by 10 interdisciplinary teams that made concrete proposals to improve infrastructure and mobility in terms of security, inclusivity, sharing mobility, traffic monitoring, with a focus on smaller and less connected residential areas. The first-placed project awarded 500 euros was CloudLamp, a set of intelligent sensor monitoring and implementation services to ensure safety and savings through video surveillance and lighting devices. The project ranked second and awarded 200 euros was TAKE ME. Inclusive mobility, an on-demand transport service in rural areas for people in situations of fragility.
The awards were presented by the Ambassador of the United States of America In Italy Jack Markell together with Felice Romeo, Director of Triulza Foundation, Titian Durante, Lead Data Center Italian Region Microsoft Italy, and Valeria Baroni, Institutional and International Relations Arexpo SpA. A jury composed of representatives of Fondazione Triulza, Microsoft, CIMA-Valore Italia, Arexpo, all ITS involved and the Director of Infrastructure and Metrotramvie of the Metropolitan City of Milan, Daniela Caputo, evaluated the entries.
The initiative is part of the Social Innovation Campus, a community engagement path of Fondazione Triulza, which for five years has involved the new generations in co-planning activities to devise proposals for the cities of the future, from the point of view of innovation and social impact, of which MIND is a unique laboratory. Stakeholders and partners from different worlds are assigned the task of providing the tools to enable young people to design innovative impact solutions while continuing to look to the future. This is the context of the collaboration with Microsoft, which during the Social Innovation Campus 2024 awarded a special award on the use of AI and which supported the Hackathon of April 11th.
Considering the thematic scope of this initiative and the logic of continuing to strengthen connections and grow the MIND ecosystem, Fondazione Triulza wanted to involve the students of CIMA, the first ITS Campus in Lombardy based in the area that is becoming a model in Italy and that will soon involve other specializations.
