The principles of digitization and sustainability applied to the manufacturing industry were touched upon by the undersecretary of the Ministry of Ecological Transition Vannia Gava and by the Member of the European Parliament Elena Lizzi during their visit to Danieli Automation of Buttrio and to beanTech of Udine. The two companies, in fact, are partners in an important project for the application of Artificial Intelligence to production processes, born time before the pandemic period but already a forerunner of the guidelines indicated by Next Generation Eu.

The project was called Artificial Intelligence for Manufacturing (Aim) and involves also two other leading companies from a region that wants to become the Advanced Manufacturing Valley, namely Brovedani based in San Vito al Tagliamento and Lima Lto based in San Daniele del Friuli. The innovative system is based on predictive capacity, which allows the activity of plants and machinery to be adapted in real time to the most diverse variables, from energy needs to the need for raw materials.

"Friuli Venezia Giulia is among the 73 most innovative European regions, but it is located in an Italian context that remains among the worst on the continent - introduced Anna Mareschi Danieli representing the Danieli group and also as president of Confindustria Udine - in this context, digitalization is too often seen as a simple dematerialization of production processes and not as a real strategy ".

This is why the Aim project represents a useful example not only for small and medium-sized enterprises in search of post-pandemic revival, but also for the institutions themselves that can thus better calibrate their actions to support the economy.

The first stage of the visit took place at the beanTech headquarters, a true example of successful ICT company born from the friendship of two fellow students, Fabiano Benedetti and Massimiliano Anziutti, which over the course of twenty years has geown up to 150 employees, partner of the most important industries of the Northeast. A company committed to the growth of new professionals and talents, so much so that soon, as announced to Gava and Lizzi, it will host a course of the ITS Kennedy in Pordenone directly at its headquarters.

Moving then to Buttrio, to welcome them were the president of Danieli Automation Antonello Mordeglia, flanked by the CEO Alessandro Ardesi, while the vice president of Digi&Met Marco Ometto presented the spearhead of their products, the Q-One digital furnace, which thanks to an innovative worldwide patent allows to optimize the use of electricity for melting, both by reducing consumption and adapting it to renewable sources. Also attending the meeting were the vice president of Confindustria Udine Dino Feragotto and the director Michele Nencioni.

"Covid - commented Mordeglia - has anticipated a green sensitivity that perhaps would have arrived not earlier than 2030. The future of the industry, however, is not only increasing the use of renewable resources but also knowing how to manage energy in the best possible ways ".

In the analysis, then, of the artificial intelligence project Aim, which provides for new investments worth 14 million Euro supported with state and regional funds, Danieli and beanTech highlighted to Gava and Lizzi how, after having presented it to the Ministry of Economic Development in November 2018 and having passed the analysis of the CNR, the confirmation of the funding has not yet come. A delay that an "ecosystem of technological culture", as defined by the regional councilor Sergio Emidio Bini, cannot afford. “We have ideas, we have funds, what is missing today is time, which we cannot waste” added Bini.

Undersecretary Gava's commitment is to verify the reasons for this delay. “Our role is to assist and support companies that want to invest and not complicate their lives - she said - if we have to respect the terms of the Recovery Fund by 2026, with these times we risk that strategic projects like this end up in the dream book. I am very confident, however, in the effects that the Simplification Decree just approved by the Council of Ministers will bring ”.

"The Italian genius is the main added value of this country - finally Lizzi intervened - in addition to the digital and ecological transition, however, we must also ask ourselves another question, the one related to the socio-economic transition, or how to accompany not only the businesses but also workers, especially those who are still 1.0 ".