The RAISE (Robotics and AI for Socio-economic Enpowerment) project was funded under the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Piano Nazionale Ripresa e Resilienza, PNRR) to support the development of an innovation ecosystem based on robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), focusing on the needs of a specific regional context, namely the Liguria Region. The project aspires to transform into a highly attractive ecosystem for companies, investors and researchers, both nationally and internationally.
How does the project work?
The project focuses on meeting the demand for innovation, strengthening collaborations and contamination between research and business, attracting young people, responding to the main needs/critical issues of the region (from telehealth, land protection, sustainable development of ports, quality of life in urban environments), and bringing the general public closer to understanding research and technology issues and those of significant social and economic impact, enhancing the multidisciplinary approach.
Led by the University of Genoa, RAISE is divided into 5 Spokes (Spoke 1 – Urban technologies for Inclusive Engagement; Spoke 2- Smart Devices and Technologies for Personal and Remote Healthcare; Spoke 3 – Sustainable Environmental Caring and Protection Technologies; Spoke 4 – Smart and Sustainable Portsto which is added Spoke 5, horizontal to the others, which includes initiatives for technology transfer, trainings, public involvement and awareness). Together, the Spokes aim to coordinate and enhance all robotics and AI initiatives in the Ligurian territory in a logic of integration of the technology transfer system, using the local market as an immediate laboratory for experimentation.
RAISE focuses on the Ligurian territory both because it presents some of the most important Italian laboratories for robotics and AI research and because of the fragilities of the area, represented by the strong anthropic pressure on an area squeezed between the sea and the mountains. In this sense, RAISE represents a kind of laboratory for testing the validity of new tools and policies for territorial development that can not only make the ecological and digital transition effective, but also increase the resilience of the region itself.
What are the expected results?
RAISE is organized according to the Hub & Spoke governance system and is divided into 5 areas of intervention on individual issues, the spokes are the implementing subjects and are, in fact, the research centers themselves:
- Spoke 1 – CNR Urban Technologies for Inclusive Engagement
Design and development of technologies for the inclusive use of the urban and domestic environment with particular attention to issues related to cognitive and sensory disabilities, children and the elderly. - Spoke 2 – IIT Smart Devices and Technologies for Personal and Remote Healthcare
Realization of robotic systems, prostheses, exoskeletons, devices and intelligent environments for personal care even remotely. - Spoke 3 – CNR Sustainable environmental caring and protection technologies
Development of robotic systems, techniques for energy storage and distribution and systems for monitoring and preventing natural and anthropic risks to urban, terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems. - Spoke 4 – UNIGE Smart and sustainable ports
Implementation of monitoring and simulation systems, robotic and AI technologies for logistics and security in the port and marine areas. - Spoke 5 – IIT Tech Transfer & Development
Transfer to the market of the knowledge generated by the ecosystem with consequent impact on the economic, social and technological fabric at local, national and international level.
What does CIMA Research Foundation do?
We are involved in Spoke 3 – Sustainable Environmental Caring and Protection Technologies, and specifically on the development of an Early Warning System that can improve the forecasting of intense precipitation events. To do so, we will work to investigate the dynamics of mesoscale convective systems (the thunderstorm systems that often affect the region) in more detail, improving observations with instrumentation such as X-band weather radars, temperature sensors, and meteodrones. Then, we will implement an innovative Early Warning system that includes numerical models and data assimilation technologies, innovative algorithms to reduce spatial and temporal uncertainties, and post-processing techniques to analyze wind kinematics.
The forecast products will be produced with a temporal resolution of at least one hour and will be further processed with AI techniques to improve forecasting capabilities for highly localized phenomena (heavy rains, hailstorms, high winds, etc.) through hybridization or post-processing with machine learning and deep learning techniques.
