In Turin the call to match SMEs and artificial intelligence solutions

The objective is to build a pilot experience that starts from companies in the province of Turin and becomes a national good practice. The theme is to bring smaller companies - SMEs and micro-enterprises - closer to artificial intelligence applications, overcoming skills and cost gaps. The joint initiative is of the Turin Chamber of Commerce and the Turin-based AI4Industry Foundation.

The instrument is a call for tenders to be issued by December to award vouchers to companies willing to get involved. The programme is called AI Match, and in an initial phase will have a budget of EUR 300,000 to support companies in adopting Artificial Intelligence solutions through two methods: vouchers alongside tailor-made training courses. Around fifty companies will be selected and around twenty of them will be able to develop concrete applications based on the needs that emerge, under the scientific supervision of AI4I, with aid of up to EUR 15,000.

Part of the initiative concerns the intelligent matching of supply and demand via the SUK platform, implemented by the Foundation chaired by Fabio Pammolli. The System User Knowledge - SUK - is the AI-driven platform that connects companies (users) looking for AI solutions with those who develop them (producers), among them start-ups, research centres and technology providers. Based on a semantic and reputational engine, the SUK allows to identify the best match between business needs and technological competences, creating a dynamic ecosystem where solutions are tested, improved and become real business opportunities.

The platform also integrates a collaborative marketplace of ready-to-use AI models, algorithms and microservices, and a challenge board to launch industrial challenges and build concrete pilot projects. Of the solutions already on the SUK, more than half relate to manufacturing and industry, but there are numerous other sectors that are potentially interested, such as energy and utilities, automotive and mobility, e-commerce and retail, transport, logistics, and even finance, health, public services and telecommunications.

For the president of the Cc of Turin, Massimiliano Cipolletta, it is a path 'of accompaniment guided by a very concrete logic, the target is companies, even small ones, to overcome resistance and difficulties, with vouchers, to train companies and also to leverage those who want to carry out a specific project, on the stage of their needs. At the end of the course, therefore, the enterprises will have done training and in some cases will have generated use cases.