50 innovative start-ups will be at the forefront of the 1000 infrastructures to be monitored project: 500 million euros will be invested in monitoring and mapping Italian infrastructures at risk of collapse and accidents using sensors and data analysis software. A database will be created and updated with information on the state of conservation of infrastructures such as motorways, bridges and flyovers. The technologies that will be used for monitoring also include artificial intelligence, fleets of drones and microsatellites.
Turin will play a leading role in this project, with the frontline involvement of Torino Wireless and numerous start-ups from the ICT Innovation Pole and the cluster Smart Communities Tech.In addition to those already mentioned, the initiative, presented last week at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, is the result of a synergy between organisations from four other regions: Tern (Basilicata), Dac (Campania), SiiT (Liguria) which will also be joined by theItalian Institute of Technology in Genoa and the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa.
During the 36 months of activity, detailed information on risk factors will be collected in order to highlight areas for urgent intervention and those that need to be planned for consolidation and maintenance. The initiative has three phases distinct phases:
1) evaluation and setting up of the necessary technological system;
2) testing and experimentation on infrastructures indicated by the Ministry;
3) application of monitoring to 1000 infrastructures throughout the peninsula.
The involvement in the project will be extremely transversal, with a large number of organisations active in the Turin area: research bodies (ENEA, CNR, Links Foundation), universities (Politecnico di Torino), institutions, 60 industrial partners (including Leonardo, Fincantieri, Ferrovie dello Stato, Anas, Gavio Group, Ericsson, Hitachi Rail) and 50 SMEs, innovative start-ups and university spin-offs will all be working together.
In addition to the funding of 500 million, the aim is to obtain the allocation of funds from the Next Generation EU recovery fund.
This initial phase will also serve to test this project in order to evaluate, at a later stage, the use and application of these techniques to other strategic intervention areas: electricity and water networks, gas pipelines, civil and military airports, hospitals, schools and regions with a high hydrogeological or seismic risk.
