The water meter for the home of the future wins the Smart&Hack Veneto hackathon, promoted by Diritti, a Milanese employment agency that operates in the sector of research, selection and supply of personnel with offices also in Veneto and other Italian regions. Thanks to the use of an electromagnetic measurement system and the use of artificial intelligence, it will be possible to block the water supply remotely and monitor domestic consumption.
The minds behind the winning project
Luca De Gregorio, Salvatore Manfredi D’Angelo And Dilnaz Temirkulovastudents of artificial intelligence and robotics, theoretical physics and development and international cooperation sciences at Sapienza University of Rome, are the three winners of the Smart&Hack Veneto national competition, promoted by Diritti, an employment agency, in collaboration with the industrial engineering department of the the University of Padua and the SMACT Competence Center of Padua with the patronage of the Municipality of Padua and the City of Vicenza.
The project of the 3 students, developed starting from the challenge launched by Xylem Water Solutions Italia, won over the jury chaired by professor Fabrizio Dughiero and which saw, among others, the presence of the CEO of Diritti Marco Pagano. The winning team will have the opportunity to work alongside the technical staff of Xylem Water Solutions Italia. They will also receive Amazon vouchers worth 1,500 euros.
The winner of the Smart&Hack Innovation Award, the special prize dedicated to innovation, was the project dedicated to the digitalisation of documentation for the assembly of air conditioners developed by Jacopo Lin And Matteo Billato, energy engineering and economics students from the University of Padua following a challenge proposed by Mitsubishi Electric Hydronics & IT Cooling Systems. Their team will have the opportunity to participate, on Saturday 25 May 2024, in the TEDx Padova scheduled in the Giotto room of the conference center.
The message from the winners of Smart&Hack Veneto
«Water is a very precious commodity that should not be wasted: since the beginning of the twentieth century, available water in Italy has been reduced by 40 percent – explain the winners Luca De Gregorio, Salvatore Manfredi D’Angelo and Dilnaz Temirkulova -. We have imagined for to detect anomalous flows, a solenoid valve will be able to block the water supply. An app will allow you to monitor domestic consumption and, thanks to artificial intelligence, also predict consumption and receive suggestions on how to behave.”
«This project represents our corporate purpose focused on sustainability and evolution for the control of water management – he comments Stefano Andretta, sales engineer at Xylem –. The enthusiasm of these 3 guys was contagious: they were able to fully grasp the challenge we launched. We are waiting for them in the company to involve them in the realization of this project.”
The comment of Resources and the president of the jury
In total, six companies launched the challenges to the kids: AFV Beltrame Group, AWMS Gruppo Zucchetti, EXOR International – Corvina, Mitsubishi Electric Hydronics & IT Cooling Systems, HWG Sababa, Xylem.
«The success of joining Smart&Hack Veneto – says CEO Marco Pagano – corresponds to the kids’ need to have opportunities for discussion with companies. The participation of talents also demonstrates the fact that Veneto companies have been able to present interesting challenges. Resources is present in Veneto in Padua, Vicenza and Verona and this occasion enhances our role as a partner of companies in the search for talent and in dialogue with institutions in order to act as facilitators of local development”.
«With this seventh edition – underlines the innovation and sales director Alessia Scarpa – Smart&Hack confirms itself as a highly successful social innovation project whose quality of projects continues to grow: in this edition 20 universities participated, involving their students. Smart&Hack has aroused the interest of talents with different backgrounds, from STEM to humanities. Our project will continue with the Milan event scheduled for November.”
«We must believe more in young people – comments Professor Dughiero, president of the jury -. These opportunities for talent involvement must multiply, because they give our students an opportunity to test themselves in an alternative way to traditional teaching, identifying themselves with the role of the entrepreneur and helping them acquire an orientation towards entrepreneurship. This transversal skill will be very important in the future world of work.” «Great satisfaction – adds Dughiero – is the fact that «our university brought 2 of the 22 teams that participated in Smart&Hack Veneto to the final».
