Focus On  |  Business

Artificial Intelligence questions us and challenges our identity

Generative AI will reach ‘human’ performance levels by the end of the decade, but it imposes a paradigm shift accompanied by unknowns in every sphere of economic, political and social activity and organisation. The university presents itself as a reliable interlocutor up to the challenges that individuals and societies will face in the very near future


“Solar energy from every surface: this material will revolutionise our lives”

Flexible, versatile, efficient and durable: it is called perovskite and, according to researchers, it is the perfect material to produce photovoltaic energy from any object that is reached by light, even non-natural light. Annalisa Bruno, a professor working with the laboratory team that is developing its properties to achieve industrial applications, tells us about it

Cybersecurity, the 5 biggest risks for the electric and connected car

Electrification leads to increasingly digitised, networked (V2X, V2I, V2V...) and self-driving vehicles and infrastructures. Vehicle mobility is increasingly becoming an attractive attack surface for malicious actors and software: here are the major vulnerabilities to watch out for, for the safety of roads and drivers

Electric cars: 3 innovative ideas for a faster recharge

Recharging times still are a critical issue in a travel experience by electric car. Three possible solutions are being studied to improve the EV-cars performance and to boost the spread of a more sustainable mobility: dynamic wireless charging, battery swapping and solid-state batteries

Hedy Lamarr, the fleeing diva who invented Wi-Fi

Hedwig Maria Eva Kiesler, long known only as an actress, decided to help humanity defeat Nazism with her studies in the field of telecommunications. Together with musician George Antheil, she invented a remote communication system for torpedoes, which today is considered as the basic foundation of modern wireless Internet connection technologies

Fast & virtuous: fast charging for all through super cables

Superconductive electrical networks, made from an innovative material, could enable both electric and hydrogen fast charging along motorways. A flexible, versatile and large-scale solution for mass users, resulting also from Cern research

Decentralized. Web3 or the new identity in the cyber universe

What is it and how does the third-generation World Wide Web work, the heralded revolution facilitated by blockchain, promising to put the user back at the centre of the Net

Creating new worlds: Nolan Bushnell, Atari and the invention of video games

A former student of Electronic Engineering, assistant manager at an amusement park, became a serial entrepreneur and founded a revolutionary brand: Atari. Following the Pong’s success, Nolan Bushnell was the perfect conjunction ring of the History, which changed entertainment and lifestyle, developing out of nowhere a billionaire industry, such as video games

PoliMove, pushing autonomous driving a bit further

“We explore the limits of technology to push it to the limit and master it”, Sergio Savaresi, professor at Politecnico di Milano, states after the success of the PoliMove team that set the speed record in Las Vegas in a competition against nine AV teams. “But the road to autonomous driving is still long on our roads”

Airport snack ‘on its way’: here comes Ottobot, the robot delivery

Programmed to navigate in crowded environments such as car parks and airports, Ottobot is Ottonomy.IO's autonomous retail delivery vehicle already present in Europe and North America. The start-up selected for the Aeroporti di Roma Innovation Hub comes from the United States and is the new story for Infra Journal's 'Rocket' column

The robotaxi goes on the road and the competition is open

The robot taxi is almost a reality: Google, Amazon, Baidu and other companies are developing autonomous vehicles in several cities around the world

Territory, safety and roads: the drone watches over the smart city

Unmanned aerial aircraft are increasingly being used by officers and local police for land monitoring, traffic management, accident solving

The story of WhatsApp: from failure to success of an idea

Jan Koum and Brian Acton are WhatsApp’s co-founders, the most used instant messaging app in the world. Remaining faithful to their ideas, at the height of a time shaped by advancements in digital technology, in 2009 they started developing the app that later was acquired by Facebook itself for 19 billion dollars, five years later an interview gone wrong

Lost no more thanks to baggage biometrics: the BagsID idea

Artificial intelligence applied to handling: the idea of the BagsID start-up, selected for ADR's Innovation Hub, was created out of a misadventure of its founder, Marlon van der Meer. We tell the story on Rockets, Infra Journal's column dedicated to innovative ideas

Algorithms for a more efficient and safer airport with Assaia

Intelligence and computer vision software allow aircraft turnaround to be optimised, reducing waste of resources and time, ultimately ensuring better passenger service. Assaia participates in the Aeroporti di Roma Innovation Hub and is a ‘Rocket’ story

Littering? It’s up to Pixies, the robot that cleans smart cities

The first instalment of Infra Journal's 'Rocket' column features Pixies, the AI-powered robot that collects waste, recycles and recharges at a solar-powered smart bench. Andrea Saliola and Pier Paolo Ceccaranelli’s start-up participates in the Aeroporti di Roma Innovation Hub programme

What if we’ve been in the metaverse already for some time?

Etymology does not lie: “meta” is a convergence between different dimensions. It is necessary to understand our times, unless we are entertained by provocations, anecdotes and other crypto-ludic varieties. Or slightly more

The smart lamppost, the energy-saving sentinel in the city

Adaptive and intelligent public lighting can be a key to sustainability in overcoming the energy crisis. Here's how 'simple' poles can provide not only light and at the same time consume fewer resources

Mechanic profession at risk? No, it just changed

Increasingly electric and connected cars have led the figure of the mechanic to evolve into a mechatronics technician and to diversify the repair figure roles. The parent company will be increasingly involved in the IT component

Human beings can fly, according to these daring inventors

Taking off from the ground, soaring independently, covering kilometres of distance and overcoming any obstacle like a bird: the dream of flying has fascinated man since the dawn of time, but now, after a century of continuous technological innovation, it seems to be within reach. Also in “green” energy format

What is cloud seeding, a try to relief from draught

This technique was discovered in the 1940s, and is nowadays used in arid nations to stimulate rainfalls. More than fifty countries have already used it, and many others are planning to give a chance too

Supercars at the electric breakthrough

High-performance electric cars are already a reality, but there are several unknowns about the future of the sector, starting with reliability

From cargo to aerotaxis, eVTOLs are ready to take to the skies

At the dawn of Urban air mobility (UAM) there are already hundreds of ongoing projects of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft worldwide, but some are closer to the finish line. Here is a selection of four of the most promising ones

Like trains, but on the motorway: here is “truck platooning”

Seeing a truck travelling without a driver might not be so unusual in the future. Communication and semi-automated driving technologies are already making it possible to create fleets of trucks connected to each other and to the infrastructure to reduce consumption and emissions, increasing efficiency and safety

Utopia comes true: the 5 most advanced flying cars

Innovative companies, start-ups and researchers are pooling resources, energy and expertise to create electric hypercars, which can also function as flying vehicles. From scale models to already approved ones, here are five state-of-the-art projects

Self-driving buses and shuttles: the 5 most advanced cities in Italy

From Turin to Bari, from Merano to the MaaS projects in Rome and Milan: cities in Italy are also moving toward introducing modern, flexible and sustainable self-driving public transportation services. Here are the experiments at the cutting-edge

The future of mobility in the metaverse is not (only) what you imagine

Beyond the extreme vision of immersive virtual reality, the physical and digital worlds are increasingly integrating, transforming our idea of travel, mobility services and transportation

Autonomous busses: a trump card for more livable cities

A new option in public transport systems, which provides unexpected ways to integrate and interconnect with existing mobility infrastructure and neighborhoods

Hyperloop, ultra-speed in an open source idea

The new frontier of innovation in ground transportation is Hyperloop, the "train of the future" conceived by Elon Musk. It will allow travel at 1,200 km/h in a depressurised tube through magnetic levitation. But the technological challenge is still open

“Building a smart city from scratch”. The pioneers in Sicily

A Sicilian ICT company has made Taormina into a digital resort town. And now T.net is ready to export its replicable model from the “Pearl of the Ionian Sea” to other cities in Europe, starting with Helsinki. Privacy and flexibility are the keys to the idea

Cybersecurity for transportation: “smart nations” to the test

Essential services in the smart cities are targets to malicious actors. States need to defend utilities, industrial plants, payment systems, connected services and much more against cyberattacks. This issue is even destined to grow with the advent of smart mobility

Internet goes “Splinternet”: warfare on the web media

The public digital space is the new battlefield to conquer the public opinion, as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine shows. Such a divergence may lead to a partition of the Internet: the “Splinternet”

Behind the camera: how biometric boarding is used in airports

Airlines are introducing biometric technology at gates to make traveling more seamless for customers deterred by onerous Covid requirements. Nevertheless, some concerns over privacy and the tech’s reliability still need to be addressed

Satellite internet: the new space race

2022 will be a year of decisive importance for measuring the ambitions of the principal private companies aiming to colonise orbits around Earth in space in a new way

The new tools at the foundations of modern infrastructures

Digitalisation and management of big-data pave the way for new perspectives in the infrastructure sector. Monitoring systems and diagnostics can be integrated into traffic management systems, providing countries with modern and efficient structures. Universities can do much more than simply teaching new skills*

Globalization is still key to end semiconductor crisis

Bottlenecks in semiconductors supply chain are stressing crucial industries for the economic recovery in Western countries, such as tech and automotive. Once leader in production and then dismissed, the EU and US are taking remedial actions to regain the spot, along with major companies: is globalization taking a new shape?

Technology and governance: how cities make optimal use of Big data

The experiences of Barcelona, London, Paris, Seoul and Singapore demonstrate how the huge quantities of data generated in big cities can be used by digital platforms and analysis systems to provide services to citizens and improve decision-making processes

A ranking of the world’s smartest cities

Digital services for citizens, e-governance, smart management of resources and more: a Singapore consulting firm has analysed 235 cities and come up with a ranking. Presenting the world’s four most digitally advanced cities

From the new internet, a trampoline for post-pandemic recovery

Increased telecommunication capacity, modern 5G infrastructure, fibre optic access to the ultra-broadband and the Internet of Things open up opportunities for exponential growth in various sectors of the economy

Sky is (not) the limit

From SpaceX to Blue Origin, more and more private companies invest and believe in space as a journey but also as an achievement. What will its future implications and limitations be?

Logistics and ecommerce calling for a new infrastructure

While drone delivery is now a reality, today the biggest challenge involves both last-mile and transoceanic distribution