The artificial intelligence hub is arriving, it will do research on automotive and aerospace

Turin has been waiting for four years and now it seemed it had become yet another promise then betrayed. Instead, today, at the Region’s skyscraper, what was supposed to be the National Center for Artificial Intelligence and then changed its name several times until it was baptized AI4Industry. The concept, beyond the name, remains the same: a place for research on intelligence applied above all to automotive and aerospace. Once fully operational, between 200 and 300 people will collaborate and the formula chosen is that of a foundation financed with 20 million per year by the government, which will be operational immediately. The starting location has also been chosen: one thousand square meters in the “butterfly”, the building next to the skyscraper which is part of the Piedmont Region complex and which was created to host conferences and events. It will be an “incubator” to start immediately, then checks will be made on the spaces and needs to look for the place that will become permanent. In the dossier presented in recent months, the Ogr, Tne in Mirafiori (where the laboratories of the Polytechnic and the Cim 4.0 are located), the former Olivetti areas in Ivrea and a building in the Santo Volto complex, in the area Dora park.

«It is another work that we have unlocked. I had set myself the objective of achieving it – rejoices the President of the Region, Alberto Cirio – It had been foreseen but had never been implemented after three governments. Now it’s reality. Our aim will be to give support to the foundation which is also a value for Piedmont given that it will deal with two industrial sectors such as automotive and aerospace”.

Not only local institutions will have an important role, but also businesses. It all started in 2020: what was renamed I3A for Turin was a compensation. The city had recently lost the competition with Milan to become the seat of the European Patent Court and Luigi Di Maio was at the Ministry of Economic Development (the mayor was Chiara Appendino). The goal was to create a hub to carry out the most advanced research in the field of AI and robotics. The institute envisaged initial investments of 60 million and 600 researchers hired. The city toyed with the idea of ​​becoming the national “heart” of machine learning technologies. And be one of the drivers of innovations at the center of the next 20 years of technological and economic development.

In February 2021 Mario Draghi ascends to Palazzo Chigi. Di Maio loses the Mise. A month later, in a draft of the Pnrr where in the meantime the creation of the center is conveyed, the indication of Turin as the headquarters disappears. The automotive and artificial intelligence hub appears in place of the I3A with a budget that has dropped to 20 million. In this project AI is barely mentioned. The focus is the automotive industry. Something very different from advanced research but this too remains unchanged because the statute that defines times and missions is missing. Then we start talking about it again and already before the summer of 2023 the group would have had to write the statute. Until October 17th, when during the inauguration of the academic year at the Polytechnic, Minister Urso announced an imminent turning point. He also meets the companies and confirms: «We have finally defined the statute that will allow it to be activated immediately, giving impetus to Turin’s activity and its ability to guide the transformation process which should not intimidate us». More months have passed but now we are here: the designated president is Professor Fabio Pammoli and the venue has also been chosen. «It is excellent news and a further step in the process of innovation and industrial transformation that this area is going through to consolidate its productive vocation», reiterates Cirio. The mayor, Stefano Lo Russo, also agreed, having spoken of “an important source of development for the city”.