The University of Trieste presented at the Urban Center the five winning projects of ‘Call4Ideas’, which, in addition to allocating 75,000 euros in funding, aims to build a bridge between university research and the world of production in order to increase the technological readiness of local businesses.

‘Call4Ideas’, promoted by the University of Trieste in cooperation with the Polo Tecnologico dell'Alto Adriatico, is an initiative financed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NNRP) through NextGenerationEU that is being implemented as part of the North-Eastern Innovation Ecosystem iNEST - Spoke 8 (coordinated by UniTS), specifically in the cross-sector activity CC2 ‘Lab Villages’.

In the first phase, the call for proposals saw local companies propose research trajectories, identified as priorities for the development of their activities consistent with the strategic areas of iNEST: blue economy, life sciences, digital, sustainability and material sciences.

Subsequently, the research teams of the University of Trieste proposed projects aimed at verifying the application potential of the research trajectories identified by the companies, in order to foster an increase in the level of technological readiness (TRL) and accelerate their transfer to the market.

The winning projects

After a rigorous selection process, five projects were chosen for funding, confirming their strategic relevance and high innovation potential:

Development of innovative biomedical systems to restore the functions of the masticatory apparatus. Gianluca Turco collaborated with Advan srl to develop a project to characterise the mechanical resistance to fatigue and the maintenance of the connection between the components of dental implants.

Development of a Sustainable Predictive Model for Fishing Through the Integration of Artificial Intelligence Data. Luca Bortolussi, together with Doz Guido - Cooperativa Fra Pescatori of Monfalcone, proposed FishAI, a predictive artificial intelligence system for sustainable fishing in the Gulf of Trieste.

Digital Twin and BI for the Advanced Digitisation of Port Processes in the Port of Trieste. Giuseppe Borruso in partnership with Prodigys Technology srl, developed a Digital Twin and business intelligence project for the advanced digitisation of port processes in the Port of Trieste.

Analysis and feasibility study for the Intermodal Terminal of the Gorizia Freight Village. Giuseppe Borruso, in collaboration with Adriafer Rail Services srl, conducted a feasibility study for the Intermodal Terminal of the Gorizia Freight Village.

Application of Generative Artificial Intelligence for the Analysis of Treatment Protocols of Cardiovascular Diseases. Luca Bortolussi, with Beantech srl, developed ChatMED, an innovative chatbot based on generative artificial intelligence to support the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

On this occasion, the Polo Tecnologico dell'Alto Adriatico presented the development actions of Lab Village, which will be located in the spaces of the Urban Center, to enable the meeting and collaboration between business and research. 

In the future of innovation and lab villages – which include some active experiments in Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto – it is expected that there will be an increasing number of market entry, brokerage and life-long learning services for researchers, entrepreneurs and human resources involved in shared technology transfer processes, where the public sector and business will operate in synergy.