13 December 2019 - Leonardo, Italian Air Force and Oracle came together to organise a 48-hour technological marathon called "AIRtificial Intelligence". The marathon took place at the Institute of Military Aeronautical Sciences of Florence, a centre of excellence for the formation of the leadership of the Armed Forces. It was organised to bring together the "players" in AI - startups, developers, researchers and universities - to the aeronautical sector in an open innovation approach.
The primary objective was to experiment and develop the most promising solutions emerged from the hackathon to quickly put advanced tools and technologies at the disposal of aeronautical maintenance technicians.
It was a a 48-hour marathon with nine competing teams which competed on implementation of virtual assistance solutions to optimise maintenance and training interventions applicable to aeronautical systems.
These technologies also have a significant impact on ecological sustainability, so much so that they are defined as 'green solutions' for the results they produce in terms of cutting costs and lowering the impact on the environment.
Intelligence, automation and interconnection: these are the keywords of a revolution that through technology aims to improve and create more efficient working processes on a large-scale. Through an innovation process that focuses on artificial intelligence (AI) to create a technological ecosystem capable of evolving independently under manned guidance and supervision. .
"Initiatives like these - underlined the Chief of Staff AM, Alberto Rosso - represent a valuable opportunity to know, evaluate, appreciate and share ideas and solutions proposed by talented young people who come from startups, research centres and Italian universities, worlds with which the armed forces and industry must know how to speak to in order to share information to develop and increase knowledge, to innovate and to face a future where technology and digitalisation continue to evolve in a unicum towards imponderable realities".
"Artificial Intelligence is a sector with enormous potential that increasingly pervades our lives", these are the words of Roberto Cingolani, Leonardo's Chief Technology and Innovation Officer. "AI applications are a great man's ally and will outline the future of our planet, also in a sustainable way, provided that AI will be defined in an ethical-legal framework that allows people to remain integral, in a perspective in which ethics infiltrates the digital world and not the opposite".
Leonardo and Italian Air Force together in a mutual partnership takes on new challenges to develop - through the use of enabling technologies such as AI, augmented reality and mixed reality, certified blockchain and Big data analysis - solutions that are cutting edge in the sector of Customer Support, Services and Training.
