Wednesday 22 June – Sunday 26 June 2022
Matera, Digital Week 2022 (22-26 June): The Divine Comedy and the first man on the moon in 3D virtual reality, digital storytelling, smart use of the hypogea of Palazzo Laffranchi (Matera underground), digitisation of the labour market. these are just some of the open topics marking the presence of the Genoese ETT of the SCAI group in the capital of the region during the five-day event dedicated to all-round innovation.
Matera 21 June 2022 – Experience first-hand Dante’s Divine Comedy thanks to 3D Virtual Reality, become Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon on 20 July 1969, at the helm of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, immerse yourself in the new trends of digital storytelling, or, through the technological platform for managing the local labour market, enabling, among other activities, the implementation of the interventions to support citizens and businesses as established by the PNRR. These are just some of the topics that ETT, the Genoa-based digital and creative branch of the SCAI Group, will bring to the first edition of Digital Week in Matera, which will run from tomorrow 22 June to Sunday, 26 June.
ETT, in particular, will share within theSan Rocco HUB, a key centre and open innovation system of the city established in 2019, the space with SCAI Lab, a company focused in Blockchain and Cybersecurity part of the SCAI Group, whose goal is to combine IoT, cognitive computing, Big Data and Machine Learning technologies to facilitate the fruition of cultural spaces through the use of virtual and augmented reality.
Immersive experiences in VR (Virtual Reality), examples of AR (Augmented Reality) and moments/opportunities for discussion and exploration of Blockchain will be the opportunities offered by ETT to the visitors of the Hub San Rocco, mostly represented by public and private partners to share project initiatives by strengthening young researchers and innovators.
The Via San Rocco 1 HUB, in parallel, will also host the CNR‘s first Interdepartmental Centre and, at the same time, CTE – Casa delle Tecnologie Emergenti (IoT, 5G, Blockchain, Robotics and AI), a project implemented by MISE that in March 2019 chose Matera as the first city for experimentation, applied research and technology transfer, followed by Turin, Rome, Bari, Prato and L’Aquila.
A local team within the digital-intense HUB will handle the ETT projects related to new technologies in the world of culture after Digital Week.
For the five-day event in Lucania, the role played by ETT will be cross-content to the various topics from time to time presented during the intense series of events, including keynote speeches, round tables, case studies, panels and masterclasses.
In fact, ETT has always taken a holistic approach so as to generate unity even among heterogeneous factors.
Commenting on the Lucania-based event Giovanni Verreschi stated: “From science to communication, entertainment, fashion, marketing, architecture, automotive, medicine, research and manufacturing, there is no sector – and it is very clear here in Matera these days – that remains untouched and intersected by the new languages of VR and AI. Digital Week is a virtuous example of how between VR manufacturers and developers on the one hand and the creative world on the other, the rigid fences of recent history have been overcome, and instead a sincere and constructive desire for dialogue and exchange of best cases has been created within the business community. In other words, it has become clear that the digital world is not so much a sector in itself as a curvature that underlies the entire manufacturing world at all levels, that is a different and more efficient way of approaching issues.”
Adele MagnelliETT’s International Project Manager, said: “I am delighted to have contributed to the ‘birth’ [of this program] and to have laid the foundations for ETT’s stability and permanent presence over the years at Digital Week in Matera. It is specifically in cases such as these that it is possible to understand that digital disruption now affects not only the technological portion of the processes, but also our imagination, insofar as our screens have been invaded by videos of a different kind that speak a language no longer traceable to television or cinema alone, but are a constant hybridisation of them. In a way, we stand in front of a new language to be learned when we experience video, video art and videogaming in immersive experiences with VR and AR, or on social platforms. The first to have understood this new market, this is what it is all about, were the young people of Gen Z, and so it is necessary for this target group to be involved not so much as the passive users of a new digital world, but also as the decision-making partners, because they can help us in the unprecedented dynamics governing socialisation, far beyond the concepts shared by an audience made up of adults only‘.
This is clear right from the start of the Matera Innovation event. After the opening session dedicated to the Smart Mobility of the Future, in fact, the first two days will be dedicated to an in-depth look at theaudiovisual sector, in collaboration with MIA Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo, ANICA Associazione Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche Audiovisive Digitali and MISE Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico. Simone Arcagni, Associate Professor at the University of Palermo, a scholar of cinema, media, new media and new technologies, will offer an overview of international productions that have been able to exploit emerging technologies such as AI, social platforms, XR technologies, for the creation of new content.
It is from these sophisticated premises that on the 23rd at 10:30 a.m., at the Raffaele Gervasio Auditorium in Piazza del Sedile, Adele Magnelli, ETT’s International Project Manager, will contribute to the work within the Digital Storytelling panel, with an overview of ETT’s main experiences in the field of XR (Extended Reality), which encompasses a wide range of possibilities, from the world of cultural heritage to the more technical and applicative situations. A protagonist of new languages, VR (Virtual Reality) can create increasingly effective and realistic immersive environments, incorporating both virtual visits to real places and, conversely, the exploration of imaginary spaces recreated via computer graphics. In the ETT’s experience, Virtual Reality is seen as a ‘journey’, linking reality and invention, representation and design.
Among the examples implemented in the field of audiovisuals, Magnelli will draw the visitors’ attention to what is considered ETT’s first in-house Virtual Reality implementation, namely “La Divina Commedia VR: l’Inferno, un viaggio immersivo” (TheDivine Comedy VR: the Inferno, an immersive journey), together with the Poet’s original verses read by Francesco Pannofino, describing the infernal settings described by Dante himself. At the same time, to expand the extended reality approach shown via audiovisuals, the case history of the Tempio del Brunello will also be discussed, a way of narrating a wine, but also a culture and a territory: the hills and vineyards of the Val d’Orcia that are the constant backdrop to the tasting of the world-famous wine.
Magnelli will emphasise in his speech that other projects take shape when VR is used in the service of education and is linked to other technologies, such as AR (augmented reality), artificial intelligence and the Digital Twin. The latter is the case of STEP (SmarT Education Platform), an innovative tool to support the training of young people at the Merchant Navy Academy, using multi-platform in (VR) and (AR) during the operations of releasing lifeboats at sea, which involve high risks and dangers when carried out in real life.
On the other hand, for ETT, participation in Digital Week is also an opportunity to consolidate a previously successful presence, when the Genoa-based company was a key player in the design of works for a smart and inclusive use of the cultural heritage.
Together with Matera’s designation as the European Capital of Culture is Ars Excavandi, a major international exhibition that, hosted in the Ridola Museum, represented an immersive investigation into the art and excavation practices that give rise to rock architecture, civilisations and landscapes throughout the centuries. Interactive games, touchscreen monitors, videos and projections make an often complex subject accessible by simplifying it when approached with traditional cognitive techniques and, at the same time, have brought places such as the hypogea (underground Matera) closer to people with mobility problems.
A further trace of ETT’s presence in Matera is the Vicinato a Pozzo , a reinterpretation in urban, sociological and psychological terms of the events in which the city was a protagonist in the 1950s. Designed with particular reference to the farming world and the neighbourhood, it represents the first piece of the “Park of Farming Civilisation” which, in turn, is part of the broader “Park of the History of Humanity” project, a historical, archaeological and naturalistic expo that will tell the story of the human presence in the Matera area, from prehistory to the exploration of space. From the study of living spaces and the social relations that developed within them, Adriano Olivetti drew material for his theories on the concept of community, which he transferred to the rural village of the La Martella project.
To highlight the different aspects of the Magna Graecia social aspects through the extraordinary iconographic heritage of the collections and by enhancing the inclusive and participatory role of cultural venues, the new exhibition at the National Museum of Matera – Ridola Venue has also been designed
Finally, in terms of the collaboration between ETT and the Basilicata Region there is a Smart Government program featuring the architecture of the BASIL Labour Information System, the technological platform for the management of the labour market that will allow, among other activities, the implementation of the interventions to support citizens and enterprises as established by the PNRR.