Researchers' Night Spoke 3 - Researchers and textile companies together for technological innovation The usual appointment with the Researchers' Night 2024 was held on Friday 27 September 2024 and the University of Insubria, leader of Spoke 3, in collaboration with Confindustria Varese and the City of Busto Arsizio organized a conference entitled: "The textile industry and its culture between past and future".
The event, which was held in the conference room of the Textile Museum of Busto Arsizio, brought together researchers and entrepreneurs in the textile field who had the opportunity to discuss the future of this important reality thanks to the use of new technologies aimed at sustainability.
Historical, economic and cultural interventions captured the attention of those present; at the end of the conference it was also possible to take a guided tour to discover the museum and its important collection.
Numerous initiatives were organized by the other partner universities as part of Spoke 3; the University of Valle d'Aosta and the University of Eastern Piedmont have put their expertise to work by proposing conferences and meetings of various kinds. For example, as regards Valle D'Aosta, the day was characterized by dissemination activities, moments of thematic study and spaces for discussion between researchers and the public, divided into various activities and thematic tables.
One of the main tables concerned the Flagship Project TOEP and Spoke 3 NODES, with particular attention to the Lower Valle d'Aosta. In this section, contents and results resulting from the advancement of research within TOEP were presented, with specific attention to the local context. The table proposed prize questionnaires, explanatory slides and paper materials for the presentation of the territory, involving the 80 participants in four rounds of dynamic and interactive presentations. The sessions were led by professors Raimondi, Pioletti and Dr. Favro, who involved the audience with quizzes on the Mentimeter platform, dedicated to various topics related to the Aosta Valley region, such as linguistic aspects, natural and cultural heritage, historical and industrial issues, and local events. The material produced for the event saw the active collaboration of Dr. Pons, Dr. Perri and Dr. Bernabei, who contributed to the development of the contents.
A second table, dedicated to Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, allowed us to explore the applications and perspectives of these themes in the context of the TOEP - Spoke 3 NODES project. Prof. Nava, with the collaboration of Dr. Tedeschi, currently visiting abroad, led the two presentation rounds that involved a total of 70 participants. During the sessions, the possible applications of artificial intelligence in ongoing research projects were illustrated, and the activities concluded with an interactive quiz created on the Qualtrics platform, in which visitors actively participated.
The University of Eastern Piedmont in Alessandria presented the TOEP project dedicated to encouraging tourism through a user-friendly, responsive app that can exploit user preferences to suggest new experiences through a sophisticated recommendation system based on artificial intelligence. The people present were also able to view the prototype in an advanced state.
