Today, counterfeit products seriously affect the global economy and can have a negative impact on safety, health and the environment due to the lower quality of their components. The severity of the problem is estimated to reach 3 billion US dollars by 2022, causing EU companies to lose 121 billion euros in sales and over 671,000 jobs.
KEEPER is a project aiming to provide a new technological solution to this challenge: it is the first system ever to combine a unique identification code with a virtually infinite number of combinations (over 1024) to certify the product authenticity and an unprecedented level of security, ease of use and cost-effectiveness.
It is an innovative customisable solution based on two main resources: nano-engineered inks to be applied on documents or product packaging as adhesive tags or printed directly at specific points (3Tag), and a highly selective verification technique using a dedicated reader (3Check). The specificity of the inks, the coding sequence and the reading method make this technology extremely difficult or almost impossible to replicate through reverse engineering processes.
The KEEPER project, to which university and private partners from Italy, Poland and Austria are contributing, was recently funded with more than 2 million euros by the European Innovation Council (EIC) within the framework of the "EIC Transition" call for proposals, which aims to support the improvement and the laboratory validation of new technologies developed within the framework of European subsidised projects and their introduction onto the market.
“The European Innovation Council is Europe's flagship programme for technological innovation. This is the first time that a project presented by Politecnico di Milano as a lead partner has accessed this type of support; overall, this EIC Transition call has funded 34 projects across Europe, of which six in Italy and only three with a university as coordinator“
says Professor Carlo S. Casari, Department of Energy of Politecnico di Milano, head of KEEPER and former holder of the ERC Consolidator Grant EspLORE, the ERC Proof of Concept Grants PROTECHT and PYPAINT.
In 1996 the Association “Milano Biblioteca del 2000” was founded with the aim of promoting the construction of the European Library of Information and Culture. One of the many voices that have spoken in favour of this project over the years is the writer and essayist Claudio Magris: “In my opinion, this is a very important initiative, namely a European library with a large multimedia structure, which will combine books and digital media, all with free access and open shelving, thus providing a powerful, comprehensive tool for information, education, culture and, in the broadest sense, civic education. Institutions of this kind exist in Paris, New York, San Francisco and Munich, where they have been and continue to be very successful, whereas in Italy there is no large library of this kind”. In 2026, it will finally be there. In fact, at a public session on 11 July 2022, the winner of the design competition run by the City of Milan was announced, the Italian group formed by, among others, designers from Onsitestudio as well as Baukuh, dot dot, Abnormal, Luca Gallizioli and Yellow Office. “We are a very large team of architects and the result of our projects is always the result of teamwork,” says Alumnus Angelo Lunati, co-founder of Onsistestudio along with Alumnus Giancarlo Floridi, “In this specific case, the team also included digital and climate change experts, who built the pillars of the project's idea: a new library capable of being a flexible, constantly renewable platform”.
What does “new library” mean?
A place of the archaic and the futuristic. A library capable of combining the dimension of the book and the universe of documents, where the idea of the nineteenth-century public library, where the knowledge of centuries is stored, reigns supreme, and the dimension of digital and contemporary cultural creation, where knowledge is created. The building, made up of two trapezoidal wings, will immediately convey the image of a hard-working, productive place, thanks to the archetypal reference of its shape, which recalls the large roofs of the factories of yesteryear. At the same time, it will have the modernity of a greenhouse, in dialogue with the park in which it will be located, the former Porta Vittoria railway yard. A monumental building, spectacular in its size - it will be 35 metres high - and at the same time with an ordinariness of its own given by the floors of the library, which are repeated vertically with a very simple floor plan.
Almost as if it were a book, let's open this library and go inside: what will be revealed?
Firstly, the ground floor of the building will be a large open civic space, conceived as an outdoor area, i.e. it will not be air-conditioned; the idea is that the library will have air-conditioned parts that alternate with others that function like a large greenhouse. Departments ranging from Arts and Literature to Humanities and Social Sciences to Science and Technology will be housed in the south wing. At the top, a terrace with a reading room. The north wing, on the other hand, will be the most usable and most open to the possibility of hosting cultural events, then a floor dedicated to a fab lab and a floor dedicated to co-working, moving upwards with a gaming room and recording studio through to an exhibition space with the possibility of access to and use of a radio station. In short, production spaces equipped with the means to reach worlds not accessible to everyone. A large platform will connect the two buildings: on the second floor, the two worlds will be linked by a bridge between the traditional and innovative dimensions.
Since we are also in a literary field, what significance does this bridge have?
It can be an analogy, a bridge to culture, as there is a system of stairs that provides access to the different floors and at the same time allows us to see them in a vertical line. Crossing this bridge, visitors will be able to perceive the breadth of culture and knowledge that exists and is transmitted here, almost like a visionary walk that will also allow them to delve deep: the ground level floor will have a series of portholes through which visitors will be able to look into the basement storeroom, which will contain 2.5 million books. An archive manned by small robots that will fetch books and distribute them thanks to mechanised systems on the different floors; and by feeding these two wings, this will also show the size of the document collection, which in most libraries is not on display, or not displayed in its entirety. At the BEIC, however, it will be visible from the foyer of the Auditorium.
Where will the Auditorium be located?
In a third pavilion we have named the Imaginarium, which will be the children's library. We imagined it to have a very different architecture than the large main building: a red building, built entirely of wood, thus with a more homely feel, in some respects also more domestic and with very large and flexible spaces. The auditorium, which will be located below the Imaginarium, will have 300 seats and its own programme of shows and events. Also in this same building, there will be a room accessible from the outside 24 hours a day, so that there will always be a place to study and engage with the contents of the library. I remember when I was a student, when I had to prepare for exams, I would always look for a place to study, so I would go to libraries that closed as late as possible.
Which two books do you consider to have been fundamental for your education?
The first is Esperienza dell'architettura by Ernesto Nathan Rogers, a book that has significantly condensed, through a collection of texts compiled over a long career and often the result of a personal narrative, the concerns and ambitions of an intellectual architect in a decisive period for Italian culture, illustrating an extraordinary idea of modernity, in my opinion still valid in the current day and age. The second book, Unconscious Places, is a collection of photographs by Thomas Struth, accompanied by a text by Richard Sennett, of ordinary places in cities such as Düsseldorf, Naples and New York, in which the tension between the singularity of the buildings and their setting, the additive and transformative character of urban places, and their surprising physical unity are revealed in extraordinary ways.
What is the most important lesson that the Politecnico di Milano has taught you?
Understanding the project as a successful combination of the experimental and the empirical, together with the search for forms of cultural continuity, is in line with the spirit that has long promoted the modernisation of the city of Milan, characterised by an anti-dogmatic idea of progress "rooted" in the culture of the place.
Majno is 35 years old and lives in Turin, while Imparato is 34 years old and lives in Milan. Both are originally from Lombardy's capital city.
The company is called Small Giants. Majno is also a former student at the Politecnico, where he obtained his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in communication design.
The start-up was born in 2017 from the two friends' idea. The choice to leave England was a regulatory one: there, there was regulation for food created with insect flour, whereas in Europe this was still not the case, it would come later. Now things have switched somewhat, as we will see later.
The Small Giants brand and the first product were launched in November 2020. In 2023, the company was moved to Italy, to Milan. It was a full relocation: both in legal matters and in terms of production and logistics. The target market is also Italy.
Small Giants currently offers three products (cracker bites, crispy bakes and easy mixes) and has an estimated turnover of €300,000.
We interviewed Majno who clarified many aspects of this innovative company (“innovative for Europe”, he would say).
Francesco Majno and Edoardo Imparato
How did this project come about?
"More than what we were studying at university, it was something we were interested in. Edoardo and I have been friends for a long time. We have always wondered about food sustainability, we both don’t eat meat, for both sustainability and ethical reasons. We look for alternative sources of protein. As a result, we were passionate about insect flour, and we read an FAO document that was a beacon, for us and for many. It explained various aspects including that different species of insects have long been consumed in different parts of the world”.
What are the characteristics of food made from insect flour?
"Environmentally and nutritionally they are outstanding. They are superfoods. Crickets, for example, have a very high protein content, up to 80%. And from an environmental point of view, they have a very low demand for water, land and feed and have lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional animal proteins such as red meat”.
In short, you decided to try it...
"Yes, after reading and studying all this we were fascinated by it and asked ourselves: how is it possible that this super food exists and nobody in Europe is considering it, in fact, they’re disgusted by it?"
And what did you choose to start making foods with?
"We decided to use a flour, which is more familiar, and can be used to make a number of products, trying to give it a traditional and more palatable form for us western consumers."
If you had to identify a philosophy behind Small Giants?
"Trying to bring insects as a sustainable protein into the diet of us Westerners, and not doing so as an exotic extravagance but as an everyday food."
What products did you start making?
“Crispy bakes, snacks, cracker bites and now we have launched a new product, an easy mix for making burgers, meatballs, and falafel that replaces things made with meat."
Do you have insect farms here in Italy?
"No, and I don't think we ever will. The people who farm them are experts, and the farms are also very complex to manage. We buy flours made from the common cricket or buffalo worms, which use to make our crispy bakes. We have two different farmer/suppliers. I am one of few with EU authorisation to market these flours”.
Where are these two farms?
"One in the Netherlands, which supplies us with buffalo worm flour and the other in Vietnam, for cricket flour. The climate in tropical countries is ideal for insects, because they are cold-blooded animals”.
Do you encounter more issues with red tape or cultural resistance from people to these foods?
"Mainly red tape. Such as having to leave the UK. We are strongly constrained and, rightly in my opinion, controlled. Health and hygiene constraints are also vast. That's the first problem, it's a product that will remain niche for a while, because you have to convey too many things. The first response you get from the average person is “why should I eat something made from cricket flour?” For people used to experimenting, it’s a good thing and they go for it, but many people are more reluctant, because they don't associate insects with food”.
Exactly how many products do you make and sell?
“Currently three. Cracker bites with a percentage of cricket flour. They are crackers that have three times the protein content of any other type of traditional cracker. They are also high in vitamin B12 and have other micronutrients. If you eat a 40-gram packet, you are eating 10 grams of protein. Then there are crispy bakes and easy mixes that you can use to make burgers”.
Do you any interesting titbits to share?
"Well, for example, we already consume half a kilo of insects per year, unknowingly. It is impossible to remove insects from crops. Tomatoes, lettuce, ears of wheat, all will have some. Italian law allows what they call “insect contamination”. So everyone already eats insects”.
Tell us about the move from the UK to Italy, how did it happen and why?
"There were several reasons. Until Brexit we were selling our products in a well-known chain, the second largest in the country. Then with these new regulations, they actually went back on these products. We would have preferred to stay in Italy from the start, but out of necessity we started where we could actually do it”.
And can your products be found in Italian supermarkets?
“Not yet. We are talking to supermarkets, but as the regulations are recent and supermarkets take a long time, we have not yet succeeded. The interest is there. By September or so you might be able to find Small Giants products on the shelves”.
How do you sell your products then?
“In Italy on the website or other distributors, which, however, are not the same as large-scale organised distribution. In Poland, for example, we can be found in Ochan, a very important supermarket, and we hope to get into another one soon”.
How many people work at Small Giants? And what is the turnover?
“Full time there are three people, then there are a number of collaborators and consultants. The turnover for this year is expected to be around €300,000”.
How did your studies at the Politecnico influence your career path?
“At Small Giants my studies in communication design have served me well. For example, to give the brand identity. And it has certainly had a positive impact on the partial success, so far, of our brand”.
The name Small Giants is very cute..
"We chose it after rebranding with a London-based communications agency."
We're all done, is there anything you want to add?
“I would like to say this: on 21 June we launched an equity crowdfunding campaign, in essence we are selling a part of the company to investors. Minimum contribution to enter 250 euro (all info can be found here)"
A great achievement for Polimi students in the latest SCORE (Student Contest on Software Engineering) competition, the final of which was held in May in Melbourne, Australia.
Four groups of students were admitted to the finals, all four of which had Polimi students within them.
HOW IT WORKS
"Within the Distributed software development course, which is a course in the Computer Sciences Master’s degree programme," explained Professor Raffaella Mirandola, "projects are undertaken. This course is structured in collaboration between three universities: Politecnico di Milano, University of Zagreb and University of Malardalen (Sweden)".
Prof. Mirandola again: "There are a few lectures, then the students work on a project. The groups of people working on a project are mixed, i.e. chosen from two universities: either Poli-Zagreb or Poli-Malardalen or Malardalen-Zagreb. This project is chosen from a set of projects proposed by the international SCORE competition. In this competition, sponsors propose topics for projects and a committee selects the most suitable ones."
POLIMI PROJECTS
The project by Lorenzo Poletti's group was the winner. The group was asked to develop a project that would secure a stage in the creation of an app: "That is why we created a web platform that allows user-developers to upload their own source code. Through tools supporting various languages and security aspects, the code is automatically analysed and any issues and vulnerabilities in the source code are highlighted. Our tool is for developers, not for the end user.”
To give an example: during the development of an app, take Shazam for example, which recognises the titles and artists of the songs you're listening to, developers could use Lorenzo’s group's tool to check that the code they are creating is secure and has no issues or vulnerabilities.
Matteo Visotto's project made it to the finals and was very well received, although it did not win.
It is perhapseasier to understand for those who are not familiar with the subject: “We focused on scientific papers, i.e. work on papers for doctoral students, undergraduate students or lecturers. We modified Mozilla's PDF reader (which is an implementation based on a free, editable web app) and redesigned its interface. Thinking about the classic actions of people who read papers, we created a graphic that creates the citations within the paper and a tool that automatically generates the summary of the PDF. We decided to implement the summary algorithm so that a user can select a paragraph or chapter and get the summary immediately. It came out pretty well, I must say. "
"The various student groups participating," added Prof. Mirandola, "are made up of master's level students, and we are participating with students from two different universities. The students select one of the proposed projects, then undertake the project during the course. The course has the same time frame as the competition, which is biennial”.
Semifinalists are selected through the submission of a PDF document explaining how they did the work to bring their project to life. Matteo Visotto: "The PDF explains how the project was done, but more than just the coding. We clarify how we worked as a team and how tasks were divided.
The committee that organises SCORE then selects the semi-finalists. Eligible groups must then send in the code they created to develop the project.
To sum up: in the first stage, competitors submit a document detailing the work and how team members divided tasks. Semi-finalists must submit the code.
In 2023, nine projects were chosen for the semifinals, six of them from Polimi.
The four finalist groups participated in the final, which is held as part of a week of events, workshops and conferences. In 2023 it was in Australia, in Melbourne. In 2025 it will be in Canada.
SCORE partially financed the students' trip, the other part was financed by Polimi.
“We attended the conference,” Lorenzo Poletti further explained, “workshops and interesting meetings with experts in the field. Most of the time we participated in these events. The final was on Thursday and we presented our projects. Each group had 10 minutes. An explanation, live demo and jury questions. On Friday there was the award ceremony and my team won. All four projects and products were good but we nailed the presentation. It was a good opportunity to get to know people in the industry.”
Milan, June 28, 2023 - Politecnico di Milano achieves its highest ever position in the QS World University Ranking. The university is ranked 123rd this year out of a total of 1,500 global universities, registering a significant improvement of 16 positions from last year. Thus, the climb in the world's most important university ranking continues. For the first time, Politecnico di Milano enters the top 9% of global universities of excellence.
An achievement made possible thanks to important factors, which contributed to the achievement of this position. Politecnico di Milano ranks among the top 100 universities in the world for academic and business reputation. In fact, the university achieved an improvement in its Academic Reputation score, moving from 96th to 94th position.
Internationalization indicators, such as the number of international faculty and students (International Faculty Staff and International Students), also reward the Politecnico. Of particular note is the high score obtained in the indicator included this year International Research Network, which evaluates the level of international collaboration in scientific research.
These data confirm the excellent results of Politecnico di Milano, which ranks among the top 20 universities in the world in Design, Architecture and Engineering, according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023 published last March. In Design and Architecture, Politecnico is ranked 8th and 10th. In Engineering it ranks in the top 20 worldwide, coming in 18th.
“Questo importante posizionamento nel World University Ranking di QS rappresenta un traguardo significativo per il Politecnico di Milano, testimoniando il costante impegno dell’ateneo verso l’eccellenza accademica e la promozione della ricerca scientifica di livello internazionale – commented Donatella Sciuto, Rettrice del Politecnico di Milano. L’attrattività internazionale è uno dei punti chiave del Piano Strategico triennale del Politecnico di Milano. Con un solido posizionamento già acquisito, ci impegniamo a offrire maggiori opportunità di studio e di ricerca per i giovani, ponendo particolare attenzione anche alla responsabilità sociale. Vogliamo promuovere un approccio inclusivo anche a livello internazionale, rendendo il nostro ateneo un ambiente accogliente per tutti coloro che desiderano intraprendere al Politecnico di Milano percorsi formativi e di ricerca di eccellenza.
The RITESSERE (Silk Sericin materials from textile industry by-products) project has kicked off, funded by the Fondazione Cariplo. It aims to use the by-product from the treatment of raw silk, sericin, for the production of new materials and devices in the field of life sciences.
RITESSERE will evaluate new technologies which, starting from the sericin obtained from raw material of Italian origin with traceability certification (cocoon or raw silk), will lead to the obtainment of both two-dimensional electrospun matrices composed only of sericin, and new materials based on specifically modified sericin. These products will be characterized from a chemical-physical and morphological point of view, and the impact of their introduction on the textile industry market and on other high-tech sectors will be analysed.
In particular, the advantages of the circular approach will be demonstrated through three actions:
• sericin-based facial masks for the cosmetic industry
• three-dimensional scaffolds of sericin for cell culture
• modified sericin-based film for the packaging industry.
RITESSERE aims to demonstrate how sericin can be systematically recovered and used to produce high-tech materials. Starting from silk of Italian origin, RITESSERE will define and optimize a technological process aimed at giving nobility to this waste product, proposing a new sustainable and circular method for the silk production cycle.
The results of the project will also be conveyed and made available through continuous interaction with the Advisory Board, made up of players with a driving role in the silk industry, in the definition of new circular economy practices and in the involvement of civil society (Associazione Costruttori Italiani di Macchinario per l’Industria Tessile, Donne in Campo, Ufficio Italiano Seta, MADE-Competence Center Industria 4.0, Rigano Laboratories, Associazione per il Museo della Seta di Como).
The three-year project RITESSERE is a project funded by Fondazione Cariplo with the Economia Circolare - Promuovere ricerca per un futuro sostenibile program, and is led by Professor Simone Vesentini of the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering and by professors Paolo Rosa and Sergio Terzi of the Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering of the Politecnico di Milano.
Partners in the project, coordinated by our university, are Università degli Studi Milano Bicocca and Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria (Council for Agricultural Research and Agricultural Economics Analysis).
Federica Fragapane is an independent information designer. Born in Vercelli in 1988, she graduated in Communication Design from the Milan Polytechnic. Over the years she has done projects for Google, the United Nations, the Publications Office of the European Union, BBC Science Focus, and collaborates periodically with La Lettura - Corriere della Sera. She is coauthor of the Geopolitical Atlas of Water (Hoepli, 2019).
Federica Fragapane
She has lectured as a guest lecturer at Harvard University - Design Lab and the Royal College of Art in London, among others, and was a guest speaker at TEDx Verona.
In October 2021 she was awarded at the Serpentine Galleries with the Pierre Keller Award during the Hublot Design Prize.
The three visualizations-made between 2019 and 2021-were acquired by MoMA's Department of Architecture and Design.
Space Junk, a data visualization published in BBC Science Focus in 2019, tells about the waste we are leaving in space: the visualization shows space debris, classified according to its distance from Earth and the type of object.
Noise Pollution, published in The Reading in 2020, shows data on noise pollution and hearing loss in 50 different cities.
Land Defenders is a data visualization of environmental activists killed in Brazil between 2015 and 2019. The project was produced to accompany an investigative piece written by Yessenia Funes on the death of environmental defender Fernando dos Santos Araújo. It was published in 2021 by Atmos magazine.
Space Junk. Credits: MoMA
Noise Pollution. Credits: MoMA
Land Defenders. Credits: MoMA
Federica Fragapane's projects aim to narrate issues in their complexity and multidimensionality, allowing them to be read and explored through the creation of static and interactive visualizations. Over the years she has visualized data related to environmental issues, migration and human rights.
"I strongly believe in the communicative potential of data visualization and try to use it to help the telling and reading of complex topics".
Many of his works are characterized by an experimental approach and an ongoing search for forms and languages with which to shape numbers and information. He often uses soft visual elements, reminiscent of organic worlds, to bring to light the human side behind the data.
He also believes that data visualization can be used not only to communicate to people, but also to give them a voice and to provide a tool for those without platforms. In 2016, she created the project The Stories Behind a Line, a visual narrative of the journeys of six asylum seekers who arrived in Italy and stayed at a reception center.
Federica Fragapane writes, "The projects acquired by MoMA are part of my process of searching for visual languages with which to communicate numbers, information and - above all - stories. Shaping data helps to read and understand them. I often talk about how for me drawing visualizations is like writing. I write in visual words to tell about issues that are close to my heart, to bring urgent and little-known information to light, or even simply to make readers discover something new.These are the reasons that drove the design process behind the three visualizations that are now part of MoMA's collection.
Data visualization for me is not the end, but it is a medium whose purpose is to communicate and narrate. The form of that medium is itself part of the communication process. The words we use are important and important to me are the visual words I draw. Experimenting visually, attending to aesthetics and combining attention to content with a deep study of the forms used are fundamental steps in my design process. With my work-and with its forms-I try (and hope!) to invite people to approach my visualizations and read and discover data and stories.
I sincerely thank the people who have so far approached my projects and read them, I thank BBC Science Focus, La Lettura and Atmos for giving me the space to experiment and communicate, and I thank the Museum of Modern Art for this great honor".
The international Cybathlon competition, in which a Politecnico team also participates, involves people with disabilities competing over everyday activities using state-of-the-art "assistive technologies" . It takes place every four years and is organised by ETH Zurich. The Polimi team participates in the FES-bike (Functional Electrical Stimulation Bike) discipline, in which a rider with complete paraplegia competes using a three-wheeled wheelchair (technically called a ‘passive trike’) activated via an electrical muscle stimulator capable of sending coordinated impulses through surface electrodes that induce the contraction of paralysed muscles. The working group, consisting of 6-10 students, deals with optimising the trike’s mechanics and seating.
The next edition of the tournament will be held in 2024. In the meantime, however, there are also other FES-bike competitions, such as the one held last year in Lyon: "In Lyon we covered 100 metres in 39 seconds and 500 metres in 4 minutes 18 seconds. We ranked 4th out of seven", comments Professor Emilia Ambrosini from the Department of Electronics, Information Science and Bioengineering, coach of the team. "In 2020, on the other hand, we covered 860 metres in eight minutes and placed 7th out of nine. It’s no brilliant placing, of course, but we had done very little training".
It's not just the podium that counts, as the students in the team tell us: it's also being confronted with an experience like this, which is enriching both from an academic and a human perspective. "It was the most exciting academic experience ever", said Federico Cavallini, student in the Biomedical Engineering Laurea Magistrale programme. "Realising that one's work - albeit a small part of a much bigger project - really helps people and patients in need was what actually left a mark on me and made me passionate about this world. And in the end, I can't hide the satisfaction of seeing the riders, people with paraplegia, pedalling and moving around independently with the trike I worked on with my group".
Although it is a learning experience, the emotional aspect of feeling useful for a person in need is a central aspect of Cybathlon: "Interfacing directly with the patients and understanding their needs helped me broaden the way I approached the problem", noted Rachele Mariotti, also a student in the Biomedical Engineering Laurea Magistrale programme. "I think that such projects are very enriching for the students and their journey. And the fact that I involved students from different engineering backgrounds - I was in a team with two Mechanical Engineering students - taught me how to deal with people from different backgrounds and how to understand and make each one’s strengths stand out". Participating in these competitions is also a testing ground, some sort of possible prospective real work: "I decided to participate in the competition in Lyon to see the theoretical lessons learnt during the academic course put into practice. I could experience first-hand the complexity that the development of an FES-bike requires. It was thus stimulating from a problem solving point of view, thanks to a more practical approach to the hardware and software solutions one comes into contact with during one's academic training".
Milanese by birth, Californian by adoption (he teaches at the University of California, Berkeley) Alberto Sangiovanni Vincentelli, an Alumnus of the Politecnico, is among the world's leading experts in computer science. However, it would be mistaken to believe that his interests and knowledge only cover this area, as he is also a great lover of philosophy, literature and economics. “In my life I had to choose which roads not to take, rather than which ones to take”, he told us during a long conversation between Italy and California.
YET ANOTHER AWARD: THE BBVA FOUNDATION'S FRONTIERS OF KNOWLEDGE
The occasion of the interview is yet another award he has received for Computer Science, the prestigious BBVA Foundation's “Frontiers of Knowledge Award”, which is a sort of lifetime achievement award, similar to the Nobel in both the procedure and the way the victory is announced. "They called me in the middle of the night!" says Vincentelli. This very prestigious awards is assigned for eight different sectors: Vincentelli's one is Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
ELECTRONIC DESIGN AUTOMATION: WHAT IS THAT?
In the words of the Committee’s citation, Vincentelli was assigned the award for his “radically transforming the design of the chips that power today’s electronic devices, giving rise to the modern semiconductor industry”. How did he do that? By creating new Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools, which means he devised algorithms and programmes that optimise the design of integrated circuits (known as chips).
Let us go into detail to understand more. "In chips there are many elements, called transistors, that have to be placed on a planar structure", Vincentelli explains. "These transistors must then be connected to each other via electrical wires which carry a delay: the goals, therefore, are to make connections as fast as possible and to use as little space as possible to accommodate transistors and interconnections”. Once the transistors are in place, one must ensure that the chip works. To do this, there are simulation tools, which are used prior to manufacture: "Today we call them digital twins, i.e., mathematical models that digitally simulate what will happen physically to let us know whether the system works", Vincentelli explains. "Simulation was one of the first things I was involved in, in the early 1970s: it made it possible to speed up projects a lot. Another milestone in the development of the semiconductor industry was the automation of the production of the photolithography masks used to direct beams of light onto the chip to create connections and transistors. In the early days of this industry, in the early 1970s, the masks cut out by hand, but at the end of the same decade, the exponential increase in the number of transistors theorised by Moore's law made it no longer physically possible to do so. Over the years, EDA has enabled an individual chip to shift from having a few hundred of transistors to having millions”.
A LIFETIME OF SUCCESS
In his life, Professor Vincentelli has done so many things that a book would not be enough to list them all. In the next hour, our conversation is an immersion in the past amidst establishment of EDA companies - such as Cadence Design Systems and Synopyis, which together are listed on the Nasdaq at around 120 billion dollars -, collaborations with the likes of BMW, General Motors and Magneti Marelli, and success in the academia. While he was teaching at the Politecnico under a contract equivalent to today’s Associate Professor’s, he embarked on a semester-long experience at the University of California at Berkeley, encouraged by his senior colleagues from the Poli. He was young at that time, only 27. At the and of this experience, the request comes for him to remain in the USA. He was hesitating (in Milan I had a great contract, my life, my friends, he explains), but Berkeley did not let up, and after an official request and the granting of permission by the Politecnico, he left for California. And there he remained.
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS IN THE LAST YEAR
We are in front of guru of ICT, so we take the opportunity to ask him what his opinions are on the latest technology: “EDA is constantly improving, but recently, there has been no breakthrough development in the field: the most innovative thing over recent years is the extension of EDA algorithms and methods to other fields, for example, the targeted design of drugs”, Vincentelli explains.
In the field of semiconductor utilisation, a trend is underway whereby companies that have employed chips bought from specialised semiconductor design companies such as Intel, are jumping into the adventure of designing chips optimised for their own purposes. Apple was the first, but Tesla truly revolutionised the car industry with its project. In essence, Tesla "took everyone in the automotive world by surprise: its car is an electronic system dressed up as a car. This is, in my opinion, one of the greatest innovations of recent times: the fact that a car company has designed a chip”. Does this mean that a new revolution is on the horizon which is not only technological but also industrial, with Amazon, Google and Microsoft designing chips optimised for cloud servers?
“Well, of course, there is also Artificial Intelligence: but I'm not really a big fan of it”, he admits. Why?
THE INSCRUTABILITY OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
"First of all, we should understand the difference between Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, which are not the same thing: Machine Learning is a part of Artificial Intelligence. It is using mathematical models to approximate, based on a large amount of data, the functioning of a system the functioning of which we do not know or is too complex to describe. The parameters of this model, which usually takes the form of a many-layered neural network (Deep Learning), are many and must be chosen in such a way as to minimise the approximation error (training). This process is very expensive in terms of calculation (among other things, the energy consumed to carry it out is very high...), and in addition, it does not allow us to understand the reason of certain answers. Well, I don't like this: I want to understand!". What Vincentelli just cannot swallow is the failure to find the reason why Machine Learning gives certain answers: "I have to get to the bottom of why things happen, and with a certain kind of Artificial Intelligence I can't do that," he explains. "The introduction of large language models (immense neural networks used to synthesise and process human language) has made headlines everywhere. ChatGPT, introduced by OpenAI, has raised debate at all levels. The ability to interact with humans with natural language is indeed a revolution. However, when ChatGPT is used to answer questions posed by a user, it answers based on information available on the Web. Given the size of the model, it is practically able to summarise any information on the net. But on the Web there is misinformation (fake news), racial hatred messages, texts against disadvantaged groups or against women, and therefore that ChatGPT (or equivalent) has the potential to influence a large number of people in a negative way”. Many people, including Machine Learning pioneers such as Geoff Hinton, have expressed great concern about the future use of technology! And what about Artificial Intelligence becoming aware? Will it be possible, in the future, for a new, artificial 'species' to appear? "I don't think so: sometimes we may have the impression that Artificial Intelligence understands everything and is sentient, but that can't be, it is still the expression of a machine! It’s us who built it.
THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON? THAT ENGINEERING HAS ETHICS TO FOLLOW
What are the most important lessons you have received in your career? "The first one was from a professor of mine at the Politecnico, Giuseppe Grandori, who taught construction science: it was he who made me think about the ethics of engineering. He explained us that the calculations made during the construction of a civil engineering building (at least in the 1960s when I attended the Poli) even took into account a possible collapse of the building and estimated related costs: between an inexpensive building that would resist earthquakes in 80% of cases and collapse in 20%, killing a certain number of people, and a stronger but more expensive building the collapse of which would cause fewer dead, the former could be chosen when its overall cost, including compensation for damage, and the probability of collapsing are lower. And GPT, to tie in with what we said before”.
"The second lesson I learnt was when I arrived in the US, where an engineer is considered in the same way as the technician you call to solve your hotel room toilet flushing problems... or for running a train. Just the contrary of countries like France, Japan and Italy, where engineers are at the top of the social ladder. And not only that, in the scientific world engineering was ranked well below 'noble' sciences like physics. In spite of this, I believed and still believe that engineering is a real science, on a par with all others! This conviction comes from my readings of St Augustine and Kant who spoke of the fact that God or the 'real' is outside the concept of time and space, which are human categories. We engineers also create systems from an idea that comes from outside of time and space, and only after that, at the very end of our creative work, we come to face space and time in the physical world”. Are you saying that engineers are God? "Well, at least in the creative part of our work, we are!", Vincentelli laughs.
ADVICES, REGRETS AND REMORSE
If you could choose to be the inventor of anything, what would you like to have invented (or designed)? "I would say the mRNA, because it is a real revolution with immense social impacts: it has an incalculable potential in healthcare, now they even talk of a possible anti-cancer vaccine based on mRNA. And also the CRISPR-Cas-9 gene editing technique, which has been perfected at my University, as it will enable us to cure genetic diseases in the future”.
Any regrets? Any remorse? “On the spur of the moment I would say no, everything went too well for me”, Vincentelli admits. "My regrets are more on doors I closed: I would have liked to study philosophy at University, but also economy or physics, and maybe even to be a bit of a scholar. There was a time when I used to write poems!". "Remorse, only one: not being with my family enough. I must say, however, that I have a very good relationship with my two children, from whom I hear and whom I see very often, and my wife has always supported me in difficult times: definitely, I cannot complain”.
Straddling Europe, the Americas, Oceania and Asia, physics students meet to battle it out on the field of the International Physicists Tournament (IPT), an experimental physics competition organised and run by university students.
The problems to be solved are practical and difficult, fun and a little absurd. A few examples:
– Building the tallest Lego brick tower... But beware: the bricks are made of food jelly
– Understanding when honey is completely dissolved in hot tea
– Building models of maple seeds out of paper, ie the ones that fall in a spiral flight thanks to a special propeller
– Recreating the Northern Lights in a glass ball
– Placing graphite in a microwave and bringing it to the right temperature for it to glow
– Building a lighter out of things a Bronze Age man had at his disposal
The Politecnico team has existed for five years thanks to a French Erasmus student in Milan. As Professor Giacomo Ghiringhelli of the Department of Physics explained, it was said student who introduced this competition to Politecnico. After all, this tournament originated in France. At the moment, the Politecnico team is the only Italian team taking part in the IPT. Professor Ghiringhelli put us in touch with three 23-year-old students who participated last year: Sophie Cavallini, Luca Perego and Dario Ventura.
The three explained how the competition works: "It lasts from October until spring, there are various stages to go through. The final is usually held in a different city: last year we were in Colombia, whereas this year it was held in Paris from 23 to 29 April", Sophie explained. The team in which Luca, Sophie and Dario were last year ranked 7th out of 15 participants worldwide. This year the Politecnico team ranked sixth: "The best result ever" - commented Professor Ghiringhelli. There is still a long way to go!
Each competition presents around fifteen different problems, proposed by the students themselves or by PhD students. Each team is composed of about 10-15 members. The teams have 10 minutes to present the solution to the problem and one hour to discuss it with the opposing team, while a third team (called the 'reviewer') monitors the situation and decides on conflicts, like a kind of referee. A committee of doctoral students assigns marks to the various teams. At the beginning the teams are divided into two groups. The best ones advance to the semifinals and from there the best two to the final.
Summing up why it is a must-do experience was an excellent statement from Dario: "Stimulating the scientific debate". "Participating" - added Luca - "proves useful because you do practical things and also learn how to make presentations". And what’s the prize to be won? "Nothing... Or rather, honour and glory!" - said Sophie, laughing. "However, this is a wonderful experience that allows us to get to know peers from all over the world who have the same interests as us".
Alessandro Garatti and Riccardo Ferrari are students of the Flight Mechanics course taught by Professor Lorenzo Trainelli at Politecnico di Milano. Both participate with Politecnico teams in various international aircraft design competitions: Garatti was captain of Colibr-e - Project Sapphire and Ferrari was captain of Poli-e Verse - Project Kairos.
Garatti's team ranked 1st in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) graduate student design competition 2021-22. This was the goal: ‘Design an electrically piloted aircraft capable of carrying vaccines, medicines and food supplies by landing on dirt airstrips in remote areas of the world and capable of being recharged by solar panels’. Ferrari's team ranked 2nd in the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) International Light Aircraft Design Competition 2021-22. The request was: 'Designing a hybrid-electric air taxi. Entry into service (EIS) is planned for 2031. It must have four seats and a minimum autonomy of 300 nmi'.
Team Colibr-e
Team Pol-e Verse
The teams consist of a minimum of four to eight members, the optimum number to allow for the best coordination. 'We are only given the technical requirements,' Ferrari explained, 'ours was about a fully electric, ultralight aircraft - ie less than 600 kilos - to carry medicines to the equatorial zone. An aircraft that could be recharged on the ground with solar panels. This was clearly a challenge that took its cue from the current post-pandemic situation'.
‘Our project, said Garatti, ‘was about an air taxi that could fly 300 nautical miles with landing and take-off within 300 feet (100 metres, ie very little, ed.), have a water/electric component in addition to the heat engine and carry three people plus the pilot’.
‘This is a first step towards urban air mobility, ie the possibility of moving people over medium distances but without the use of airports’, Garatti added. ‘Theoretically, this aircraft could also land on a football pitch’.
Render progetto Sapphire
Colibr-e won the international competition. The competition was conducted electronically and the prize, a $750 cheque, also arrived by post. Poli-e Verse, on the other hand, ranked second and was again conducted via the web: ‘We could have gone to London to collect a certificate of participation, but we didn't’, explained the captain. What’s the main reason of taking part in these competitions? "These are challenging projects and inventiveness is needed", explained the two captains. And it is precisely the chance to try their hand at designing an airplane the main reason why the two chose this competition: ‘Maybe that's the reason why I enrolled in the Flight Mechanics course,’ said Garatti, "because during theory lessons you don't get to design something of your own.’ ‘In addition,' Ferrari added, 'this is an international challenge and the work you do is assessed by a team of experts.’
Render progetto Kairos
'In the past,' Professor Trainelli concluded, 'two patents relating to projects carried out by students have also been filed by Politecnico di Milano. In 2019, an innovative aircraft was designed for pilot training, an aircraft that had the characteristic of being both single-engine and multi-engine. In 2016, on the other hand, an aircraft with structural batteries was patented, ie 60-70% of the aircraft's components were also batteries for the power supply.
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