By Marco Petrone, M&A Development VIASAT GROUP
2020 has been an atypical year: for different reasons, it will not be remembered as a particularly happy one for many of us. We needed good news, and there is finally one, at least for Turin and Italy. In September, our Prime Minister named the city as the ‘headquarter’ for the new “Italian Institute for Artificial Intelligence” -I3A- whose aim is to create a research and technology structure to attract new talents from the international market. It will become a milestone for Italy’s technological development and related activities. Once completed, I3A will include a staff of 1,000 people – 600 in the Piedmont capital – and will benefit from an annual budget of 80 million euro to create professional opportunities for young talents, innovation for universities and attract the hi-tech industry. Artificial intelligence – as the Ministry of Economic Development has pointed out – includes disciplines dealing with the development of software and hardware systems capable of operating in both physical or virtual dimension, to interact with the surrounding environment, to acquire, to interpret and to elaborate data, to formulate decisions based on evidence and to achieve goals. In other words, technologies that will change the future of the economy and society and will –hopefully- create positive, sustainable and inclusive sense for business and citizens from all over the world. Notable examples may include 4.0 industry, drones, 5G telecommunications, cybersecurity, automatic driving, Big Data, Internet of Things and – of course – connected vehicles we have been talking about for years now, in our Guida alla Sicurezza. Top players with a strong territorial business structure, including, of course Viasat Group which has put its know-how at the service of Turin’s nomination. Once the headquarter (Turin), and goals (to create a more sustainable and fair society), have been set, it is time to hit the road.