A new feature of this year’s R&D Management Conference held in Milan is a start-up showcase.

The conference is a forum where academics and practitioners collaborate to push forward the frontiers of our knowledge on R&D so it was great to hear from so many innovators.

Call 4 Ideas

Individuals from the main Italian universities were invited to pitch their ideas in front of academics and practitioners and receive feedbacks and suggestions (run in partnership with PoliHub and Politecnico di Milano TTO – Technology Transfer Office).

Ideas presented:

GreenValve: GreenValve is a new concept of control valve that recovers part of the energy that is commonly dissipated by the control valves. GreenValve System allow replacing a control valve with a stand-alone system for IOT and smart-system applications.

Dirty Sensing: Dirty Sensing, designs, installs and manages IoT networks for real-time monitoring and optimized management of systems, providing tailor-made solutions to control and improve water quality and safety.

Selective and interactive device for dynamic control of electromagnetic radiation: The device allows the switch from a warm light in winter to a cold light in summer. These characteristic variables make it the only dynamic-passive product applicable to transparent surfaces of small and medium size.

Ener Tun: Ener Tun is a prefabricated structural element for tunnel cladding that allows exchanging heat with the adjacent ground in order to produce thermal energy. It can be used in the construction of tunnels dug by TBM, the so-called ‘moles’, transforming the tunnel itself into a heat exchanger with the ground to create air conditioning and heating systems for buildings on the surface and to produce hot water.

Water-oil flow meter: A simple, low-cost device to measure the flow rates of the phases for viscous oil – water flows in the core annular and dispersed flow regimes” o se serve più lungo: “A simple, low-cost device to measure the flow rates of the phases for viscous oil – water flows in the core annular and dispersed flow regimes, based on a Venturi flow meter, two pressure transducers and a thermocouple.

SafeSpeed: Flexible and tunable hw/sw solution to guarantee thermal safety for heavy-duty processors preserving maximum possible speed under highly and unpredictably varying loads.

Hyppo: Saving power in the datacenter era

Mise-en-Scene: In project Mise-en-Scene, we aim at bridging the gap between Art and AI. The main goal is to build intelligent systems that learn artistic tastes of people and generate recommendations based on that.

Random Number Generation: Nonvolatile memory devices of next-generation IoT enable embedded random number generation (RNG) and physical unclonable function (PUF) for data/hardware security.

Visihologic: VisiHologic develops specific software solutions for the holographic rendering of patient specific anatomies: with advanced proprietary algorithms we can accurately reconstruct 3D dynamic models giving clinicians an intuitive, immersive and enhanced view of their pathological target.

M.O.I: Moi’s technology merges the performances of composite materials with the potentialities of Additive Manufacturing. The patented CFM system is capable to 3D print high performances parts combining robotics with digital fabrication in order to produce employable objects and shift from mass production to mass personalization.

BlueSentinel: Bluesentinel, a complete indoor positioning solution for industrial IoT

Electronic Nose:  Electronic Nose Device is a wearable device for workers that operate in unhealthy work environments.The main purpose is to provide continuous monitoring of indoor air quality – in particular volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and carbon dioxide -, to give real-time feedback to operators on the level of contaminants monitored, and suggest him/her to use adequate protection systems.

GeDy Trass: GeDy TrAss provides a support during the pre-design phase with the help of a numerical-analytical and easy-to-use software. When the gearbox producer has few input parameters and a raw idea about the transmission design, the software leads to a skimming of the possible solutions. It takes into account the durability, the static and dynamic behaviour and finally the possible microgeometry optimization to reduce NVH problems ensure high performances and valuable outputs for the following design phases.

Smart Robots:  The centralization of the worker in the factory 4.0

Start Up Pitch

Start-ups have been invited to pitch their business ideas and trigger discussion and networking with academic and practitioners – in partnership with PoliHub.

Startups invited:

Tree Solutions

Tree Heating Solution is a service to increase the efficiency of heating systems, by means of innovative technology that increases the efficiency of the existing system. THS allows the owner of a large building to save immediately, without any investment! The “BRAIN by Tree Solutions” is a solution composed of a device to be installed in a thermal power plant, an innovative control logic and a cloud platform to transform thermal plants into IoT objects. As a proper brain, it receives high frequency data from sensors and processes them in order to control the system and reduce its energy consumption.

Zaphiro Technologies

Zaphiro Technologies offers a real-time monitoring and automation system that helps electrical utilities to operate their grid more reliably, efficiently and cost effectively during both normal and fault conditions. The combination of high-accuracy clamp-on current sensors with measurement devices integrating both Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) and Power Quality (PQ) features, provides full grid observability at a relatively low price. A central grid controller that processes the measurement in real-time, represents a complete and scalable solution that integrates monitoring, control, and fault management features in a single platform.

Idroplan

Idroplan is the intelligent component of irrigation systems, both new and old generation. We monitor the most important parameters of the soil through a reliable and scalable network of low-cost nodes. Our dashboard reworks the collected data and provides useful suggestions for a correct irrigation management, with the aim of guaranteeing the right amount of water to the crop, at the right time. Our mission is to guarantee the long-term sustainability of intensive agriculture.

Quant Co.

It is time to end concerns over lack of analytical capabilities to develop scalable, innovative and digital energy business models. Quant Co. is defining the state-of-the-art in energy analytics! Quant Co. develops high-end analytical tools for the renewable energy sector. Our first tool, PreD, is a real-time data management platform with embedded algorithms which aims to reduce power plants’ cost of imbalance caused by forecast errors. PreD guides its users on how to adjust their market position in order for decreasing the difference between forecasts and actual generations through its three modules: bid optimization, dynamic track, match & offset.

Ribes Tech

Ribes Tech srl is a company that produces and commercializes flexible and cost-effective photovoltaic (PV) films. These PV modules are printed in mass volumes on cheap plastic foils in any shape or color. The resulting modules are flexible and extremely lightweight. Initially developed and optimized for converting sunlight into electricity, we soon found out that our technology is actually very effective also for indoor applications, where it is the best energy-harvesting option. For example, our chargers, easily customizable to be integrated in any type of device, provide energy for networks of thousands of sensors and electronic devices, enabling the real Internet of Things.

Userbot

Nowadays, communicating with customers becomes more and more expensive and users are more and more demanding, expecting Brands to address their problems and their requests promptly and quickly. That’s why Userbot is born, a service that offers Artificial and Human Intelligence solutions for the automation of conversations between Brands and Consumers. The best thing about Userbot is that it learns from conversations with humans and offers a proprietary CRM.

Morpheos

Morpheos creates innovative services thanks to the experience in proprietary software solutions and advanced electronic hardware. We love designing products with multiple functionalities, simple to use and able to improve life at home or in the office. Our home robot, Momo – The Home Genius, is an Artificial Intelligence system that protects the house and its inhabitants by independently developing home automations and by learning from your behavior. Momo is able to share technologies and features with other devices in the home, for a complete smart experience.

Ermes

Ermes Cyber ​​Security is an innovative startup and spin-off of the Politecnico di Torino. Ermes is a platform that, thanks to patented algorithms based on machine learning and big data, helps companies to defend themselves from the risks caused by Web trackers. Ermes platform allows companies to filter the web browsing of each company device, authorizing the lawful ones and blocking the ones associated with Web trackers. The platform works in a totally automatic way, offering updated protection in real time.

Artiwise

Artiwise provides scalable text analytics solutions to customers to increase their analytics capability on unstructured text data such as customer emails, feedbacks, opened text surveys, news, social media so on. Artiwise is a cloud based SAAS (Software as a Service) Machine Learning and NLP supported Text Analytic Platform. Through Artiwise data analysts and application developers can do the data modelling without knowledge of machine learning. In addition, teams that work close to the customers such as marketing experts, customer’s managers, and media agency can use the smart dashboards.

Math&Sport

Math&Sport brings the sports analysis to a whole new level. It developed two platforms: Virtual Coach is dedicated to optimizing game strategies, pre-match or even in real time; MOViDA is designed for the optimization of the individual technical gesture. In both cases the starting point is data collected with video tracking systems, with no use of sensors. The differentiating element is the “Mathematics” which lies in the heart of these two platforms and which allows to process a large amount of data providing reliable and personalized information

Springa

Springa is an innovative startup and spin-off of the Politecnico di Milano. It designed and developed Goliath, a mobile machine tool for unlimited cutting and engraving. The innovative working mode solves some of the problems of traditional CNC machines, such as limited work area, encumbrance, high price and mobility. Goliath is placed directly on the surface to cut, allowing to have a work area that is potentially without limits. It uses three omnidirectional wheels, which allow the robot to move without constraints on the surface. It allows high control of the position, thanks to the sensors placed on the robot and on the panel.

Smart Factory

Smart Factory is a technological start-up. Our mission is to make Industry 4.0 a reality, bringing manufacturers closer to the advantages of a Smart Factory, leveraging technology as enabling factor for an interconnected, intelligent, and better performing factory thanks to a better human-machine collaboration. Our automation solutions are the ultimate technological innovation for assembling. Flexim open automation platform is extremely innovative and unique on the market, and comes with significant advantages: it is a modular system, easy and fast to reprogram, efficient and silent.

Bottega 52

Bottega52 designs, implements, distributes and maintains Cloud, IoT and Big Data solutions. Bottega52 is a Software House: it engineers, deploys, and maintains custom, tailor made full-stack software solutions, with a focus on the Internet of Things and Cloud Infrastructures. Bottega 52 is also a system integrator: it integrates existing software stacks for the benefit of its customers’ businesses; it is specialized in integrating hardware devices within cloud infrastructure, following its IoT mission.

Acrome

ACROME is a company that offers robotics-mechatronics systems design and control solutions for industrial and educational use. ACROME provides affordable, intuitive and easy to use industrial robotic arm solutions (ACROME ROBOT) for your industrial plant. ACROME develops and produces control system plants for academic and educational use (ACROME myCONTROL). Finally, ACROME provides turnkey solutions in the field of Embedded System Control, Test Bench Design, and Development and Data Acquisition (ACROME PROJECT).

Next Industries

Next Industries was founded in 2014 with the aim of “connecting the real world”, bringing the analog signals of the physical world into the digital world. Next Industries designs and manufactures high accuracy data acquisition loggers, gateway and sensors provided with Internet of Things technology. Thanks to wireless connectivity our device is able to communicate with the cloud, to manage alarms or notifications. Landslide events in environmental applications or strain in a pipeline can be monitored with our sensors and loggers. The data sending is made thanks to the gateway and through internet the user can view data and analyze them.

Looking forward to seeing you all in Paris next year. Success to the Paris team!

Post written by Vito Manfredi Latilla on behalf of the Organizing Committee.

Click here to read more about the keynote speakers.

The program is available to view here.

More details about the conference are available here.