Team play for a winning product

An intense group work and training experience for students, an experiment between the worlds of research and school, a collaborative model that opens up interesting prospects for innovation, looking to the future.

DomoSens, the “alternating school and work” program co-ordinated by Trento-based Fondazione Bruno Kessler, which ended with the presentation of results at Federazione Trentina della Cooperazione premises today, was all this.

Thanks to the project, which had the support of the CARITRO Foundation, the kids, during the 2016-2017 school year, simulated a production process and realized a home air quality monitoring system with a professional design that can also make of it an item of furniture. The program involved a community of over 250 high school students from Trentino who actively participated in all the operational phases, supported by their teachers and by the FBK working group. Nothing was left to chance and participants worked on the various aspects of product manufacturing, taking into consideration the research phase, the legal framework, market analysis, the design, logo, prototyping, and the user manual.

“DomoSens,” stressed Pierluigi Bellutti (FBK), scientific director of the project, “has made a large community of students the stars of an innovation process. Precisely that innovation that anyone who is thinking of the future of our society has been talking about for some time now. The innovation that, starting with the EU, is invoked every time we talk of economic revival, jobs, young people’s future. DomoSens, proposes a model that is well suited to the goals of the “alternating school and work” program. It allows participants to see how research in a broad sense, from the scientific-technological one to that related to design aspects, allows for experiencing a new way of working: group work. The complexity of processes today no longer allows for total autonomy of the individual on the whole process. Today, however, it is the teams, composed of colleagues with skills and knowledge in different fields, that can meet the achievements needed for the changes we are facing. And all this is not limited to purely technological and scientific actions. The DomoSens model can be replicated just as it is here where it was created, but can also be adopted elsewhere. It can target similar solutions or propose others in different areas. And FBK is working on this, having already prepared other initiatives of this kind. ”

Today’s event was an opportunity for retracing the challenges faced during the DomoSens program, presenting the results and exchanging views with institutional partners, and innovation and design experts.

The introduction by Pierluigi Bellutti was followed by talks by Roberto Della Marina, Venture Capital Manager of Friulia-Veneto Sviluppo SGR SpA and member of FBK’s Board of Directors, Bruno Murari, Scientific Advisor for STMicroelectronics, Micaela Vettori, Project Editorial Manager, and Michela Baldessarri, ADI-Industrial Design Association – Veneto and Trentino Alto Adige.

The meeting closed with the roundtable moderated by Giancarlo Sciascia (FBK Digital Communication & Large Events) “A scuola di DomoSens” (Learning DomoSens) with the participation of Sara Ferrari, Provincial Councillor for University and Research, Pierluigi Bellutti (FBK) Project Manager, Filippo Manfredi, Director of the Caritro Foundation, Andrea Simoni, FBK Secretary General and Oscar Pasquali, MIUR.

The prototype manufactured with DomoSens

During the project, an innovative gas detector was manufactured thanks to the latest results of scientific and technological research in the field. The device was designed as a home air monitoring system, with particular focus on carbon monoxide and methane. It is made up of a gas sensor, a silicon microdevice made at FBK (the only part of the product that was not manufactured by the schools) on which a nanostructured material sensitive to the gas to be detected was deposited, and an electronic part for the measurement and management of alarm signals. Since it was intended for home use, the device has been designed in various shapes based on where it is to be positioned. In particular, it has been designed as a product that has a decorative function as well and that can integrate additional features based on the customer’s request. As with all new products, it was necessary to identify a brand logo and care for graphic communication. The project took care of this task, as well as of market analysis and business plan, which justify the initial effort and the commercial prospects. As with any product that is going to be marketed, a box was designed for the detector, and the user manual was drafted in Italian and in English. All this within the specific legal framework, that was also evaluated as part of the project, in a joint work that has seen 7 high schools of the area work together.​

Trento June 1, 2017. Sala della Cooperazione
Presentation of the results of the DOMOSENS Project

Below are the schools that participated in the project:

–         Liceo Classico Prati (Trento)

–         ITE Tambosi-Battisti (Trento)

–         Liceo Artistico Vittoria (Trento)

–         Liceo Artistico Depero (Rovereto)

–         ITT Buonarroti-Pozzo(Trento)

–         ITT Marconi (Rovereto)

–         Liceo Curie (Pergine)