For a Human-Centered AI

WebValley 2017: the Data Science School Dedicated to Digital Agriculture Wrapped Up

The WebValley team always surprises us. The 2017 edition of the summer science school on data science that Fondazione Bruno Kessler has dedicated to young people aged 17 to 19 since 2001 to introduce them to interdisciplinary research closed on July 7.

From June 18, in Val di Non (Trentino), the young participants worked alongside experts and researchers with the aim of creating a new Artificial Intelligence solution to anticipate fruit ripening and quality. The system was developed thanks also to a small drone and smart technologies (IOT systems, GPU cloud computing, 3D printing) combined with biology and environmental health research.

The results were presented at the Conference Room of Casa de’ Gentili in Sanzeno (Trento) by the participants themselves: 18 students, Italian and foreign, including the INTEL ISEF Prize winners who were selected for the 2017 edition.

“It’s incredible,” Fondazione Bruno Kessler President Francesco Profumo said, ” that there is a local and global dimension in a unique experience like Webvalley. The boys and girls dive into a training course on research and make Trentino the center of the world for three weeks, with fast internet connection and contacts with friends and relatives all over the world (from Italy, to Europe, to the United States, to China), and at the same time play basketball with the town’s kids. They start as sparrows, very curious but also intimidated in the early days, and by the final presentation they become young eagles, determined and mindful. We hope theirs may be a long flight, from Trentino to the world of research and the future, but that they always remember our valleys and promote WebValley. ”

“WebValley 2017,” explained Cesare Furlanello (FBK), “has led a young team to a full-immersion into the world of digital agriculture. Digital technologies are transforming this very important economic sector, where investment in innovation is growing up to 70% per year. As always, the last hours of WebValley were intense, and once again the kids got us excited with their curiosity, their commitment, and the freshness of their ideas. We hope that the WebValley 2017 project, which we identify with the name “FreshAI.Net”, will make its way, and even take off like a drone. In the meantime, we have aroused great interest in the Trentino agricultural business and this means that we have hit the mark by showing our students how to imagine a frontier research that is very close to social and market needs. ”

As in previous years, the WebValley formula has included the choice of a small town in one of the Trentino valleys where the lab hosting the activities would be set up, proving that with good motivation and with Internet resources, research can be done also in apparently more peripheral locations. Another key feature of WebValley is that it is not a school-like experience but a real research one that kids conduct alongside scientists. The initiative, started in 2001, has come to its seventeenth edition this year and, in total, over 300 students have participated so far. Some students from recent editions have then become international researchers, even at FBK, or have set up start-ups.

Streaming of the presentation of the 2017 results

WebValley 2017 video

Here is the WebValley 2017 team

Students Team: Matteo Albi, Enrico Alarico Carbognani, Aurnov Chattopadhyay, Nico Fallio, Gregorio Giovanazzi, Vivek Gopalakrishnan, Elliot Gorokhovsky, Paolo Iachemet, Sachin Konan, Alessandro Marchioro, Surabhi Mundada, Martina Parisi, Mihir Patel, Sofia Asteria Piffer, Jan Pizzuti, Sabrina Vianini, Marco Zamboni, Andrea Zanin.

Team Tutors (* WebValley Alumni): Cesar Furlanello, Claudia Dolci and Giuseppe Jurman (Directors), Valerio Maggio, Rachele Villani (Scientific Secretary), Ernesto Arbitrio, Marco Cristoforetti, Gabriele Franch *, Andrea Nardelli *, Bartolomeo Merenda, Diego Fioravanti *, Azra Alikadic, Marco Chierici, Margherita Francescatto, Roberto Bampi *.

Visiting Scientists and Experts from Industry: Pietro Franceschi (FEM), Milena Bigatto (HIT), Silvio Antonioni (HIT), Luca Toninato (AGER Soc. Coop), Steno Fontanari (MPA Solutions), Annalisa Barla (DIBRIS UniGe), Samuele Fiorini (DIBRIS UniGe), Dragos Margineant (Boeing Research), Alessandro Cimatti (FBK), Marco Roveri (FBK), Roberto Cavada Brunello (Portland Theater), Luca Polzot (Microsoft Italia), Davide Del Vecchio (Microsoft Italia), Daniela Colombo (Microsoft Italia), Mario Giannelli (Co.Di.Pr.A.), Piero Altoè (NVIDIA), Giuseppe Loianno UPenn), Alessandro Farasin (ISMB).

Sponsors & Technical Support: Town of Sanzeno, Val di Non Tourism Agency, MotoriaLab, Smart3k, Edmund Mach Foundation, Melinda SCA, Co.Di.Pr.A., MPA Solutions, Cooperativa Sant’Orsola, CAVIT, Boeing Research, Microsoft Italia, Microsoft Azure, NVIDIA, Istituto Superiore Mario Boella (ISMB, I-REACT Project), DIBRIS-University of Genoa, HIT-Hub Innovazione Trentino, Ist. Sup Rainerum and Rovereto Civic Museum, US Society for Science – INTEL Isef, Val di Non Community, FBK Board of Trustees, Autonomous Province of Trento Government. Connectivity: Trentino Network.

 

More information about the WebValley initiative and about the scientific program of the 2017 edition can be viewed at: http://webvalley.fbk.eu

Read and listen to the stories of some of the WebValley​ participants
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Twitter: @WebValley

Foto Daniele Lira