TECHNOLOGY, AUGMENTED REALITY: ETT THE ONLY ITALIAN COMPANY ATTENDING THE XR INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN LISBON, THE WORLD’S LEADING EVENT IN THE INDUSTRY
The project proposed by the Genoa-based group, centred on the Extended Experience (virtual and augmented) to discover the prestigious Brunello di Montalcino, has passed the selection steps by the Conference organisers and will be presented during the works that will take place at the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa from 27 to 29 April
Genoa, 21 April 2022 – AI, Big Data, IoT, 5G, Robot and Digital Twin, XR innovation, Virtual and Augmented Reality are the themes of the key event of the world of immersive technologies, the XR International Conference to be held in Lisbon from 27 to 29 April, in which ETT, the digital and creative industry of Genoa, where its headquarters are located, will participate as the only Italian company admitted. The project, thanks to which ETT passed the selection, is “ Il Tempio del Brunello – Viaggi virtuali per valorizzare un prodotto unico e il suo territorio: il Brunello di Montalcino’ (The Temple of Brunello – Virtual journeys to enhance a unique product and its territory: Brunello di Montalcino)”, a virtual, emotional and involving journey, with a high innovative standard, to discover one of the most famous wines in the world.
For the third time’, according to ETT CEO Giovanni Verreschi, ‘ our Group was the only Italian to be admitted to the XR International Conference, a world-class event in the field of immersive technologies. For this reason, we can say that we are particularly proud and satisfied to be able to share our background knowledge with the best practices of other industry players, an experience of mutual enrichment and an opportunity to outline new goals for ETT. On the other hand, the project that was considered in line with the Conference’s evaluation criteria, designed for the multimedia valorisation of Brunello di Montalcino, its territory and its history, responds to the vocation that is peculiar to us, namely that of increasing the boundaries of human experience through the application of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, in this case in the tourism and culture sector. We are confident not only that we have achieved the desired results, but that we have managed to implement an experiential prototype that can be exported to other contexts and industries ”.
The seventh edition of the XR Conference will have “Extended Realities (XR) in Times of Crisis”, as its main area of discussion, focusing on the degree of digital transformation in response to the Covid emergency and the use of Extended Reality (XR) tools for value creation and customer engagement. Particular emphasis will be given to projects that make use of these technologies in the fields of tourism and the enhancement of cultural heritage linked to territorial contexts, such as the one proposed by ETT.
The event was organised by the International Association of Immersive Technology Innovation (IAITI), Manchester Metropolitan University and University Institute of Lisbon. The aim of the Conference is to create a point of contact between industry and academia to present and comment on the latest trends in the field of Virtual and Augmented Reality.
The paper elaborated by ETT starts from the realisation that in the period of uncertainty due to the pandemic, consortia and production realities linked to Italian wine excellence, similarly to other sectors, have identified proactive solutions for the communication and valorisation of production.
In the case of the Temple of Brunello, the creators of ETT wanted to focus on an itinerary of knowledge aimed at highlighting the links between the product, Brunello, the territories and the personalities that have contributed to the prestigious history of the brand, so as to put the tourist/visitor in a position to enjoy a unique immersive experience. Thanks to this involvement, in fact, it is possible to go ‘beyond’ the wine itself, capturing angles otherwise impossible to obtain, especially in relation to the territorial context: drone flights in 13 locations linked to the main Brunello di Montalcino production cellars allow 360-degree skylines inaccessible to the human eye. In short, a new way of discovering the territory, questioning the traditional boundaries between culture and tourism, sectors that with Extended Experience come to overlap, beyond an outdated compartmentalised classification.
The result is a new and original storytelling, an immersive narrative continuum capable of elevating but at the same time satisfying the expectations of those who visit the hills and villages of Brunello to discover new and unexpected destinations thanks to the visors and the mobile app that accompanies and integrates the visit to the multimedia itinerary offered, realised by ETT for Opera Laboratories in the environments.