Artificial intelligence and supply chains, call for 100 companies

The dual transition, digital and sustainable, is the focus of attention of the Veneto Chamber system, which in collaboration with the Region and local universities is attempting to involve as many companies as possible in a path of growth and acquisition of new skills, including small ones that almost always work in teams with larger ones and must not fall behind. The first call has selected a group of SMEs from Veneto, 74 in number, which in recent weeks have begun meetings, led by experts from Ca' Foscari and professors from the Venice School of Management on the topic of Digital for market relations and on Industry 4.0: robotics and digital technologies to support industrial and production processes, coordinated by the University of Padua.

Although the first selection notice has just been closed, Unioncamere del Veneto, the Chambers of Commerce, with their digital enterprise points (PIDs), and the universities of Venice, Padua, and Verona are already defining the second notice, addressed to another 100 realities, which will be published from 28 April and will concern Artificial Intelligence to support the transformation of supply chain processes, human resources, and cybersecurity, coordinated by the University of Verona, and Industry 4.0 Technologies for supply chain relations, the result of the joint work of the three universities. SMEs in the area will be able to make use of dedicated materials for an initial online training session and will then be accompanied to explore the topics in greater depth in 4 face-to-face and online workshops.

The objective is to support their growth, promoting a culture of innovation capable of responding to the challenges of the twin transition. "We are counting on obtaining interest and a broad response from the next call as well," comments the president of Unioncamere del Veneto and the Chamber of Commerce of Padua, Antonio Santocono, who looks back with satisfaction on the results of the first notice.

"As a region, we want to support companies in the acquisition of innovative knowledge, offering them all the necessary tools: innovation means progress, growth, and income. Moreover, the digital and green transition is even more important in the delicate economic moment we are experiencing, characterised by the crisis in Germany, energy cost problems, and difficulties in accessing credit. The intention is to support companies, especially the smallest ones, so that they have the right tools to face any contingency,' adds Economic Development and Energy Councillor Roberto Marcato. The joint effort between the Region, the universities, and the regional chamber system, creates a format "that puts the results of scientific research in the digital sphere at the service of our economic realities, offering them useful skills and tools to face global challenges The formula brings together training, open innovation, and knowledge transfer," says Ca' Foscari Rector, Tiziana Lippiello. "The aim is to impact the competitiveness of the economic and production system," concludes her colleague Daniela Mapelli, Rector of the University of Padua, which for the project has requested the collaboration of the departments of Economics and Business Sciences, Information Engineering and Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology.