All calls are open: makerspace, schools, universities and research centres

Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Circular Economy, IoT - Internet of things, Smart Mobility, Space, Artech and Sustainable Building are some of the main themes of the 2019 edition

Plus, many new features, including "Ask Me everything", a new platform dedicated to SMEs

The opening of the Call for Makers on 3 April marked the official start of the long run-up to the "Maker Faire Rome - The European Edition". On October 18 to 20, 2019, the most important European event dedicated to technological innovation, returns to Rome for its seventh edition, organized by the Chamber of Commerce of Rome, through its special unit Innova Camera. Given the success of the event, the format was expanded but kept its basic structure: on Friday morning of October 18 we start with the Educational Day: the traditional even that offers free training, is a preview day open only to school groups (last year as many as 27 thousand students attended). On Friday afternoon, from 2 pm, "Maker Faire Rome - The European Edition" opens to the general public until Sunday, October 20.

Themes

Robotics and artificial intelligence, circular economy, IoT - Internet of things, digital manufacturing, foodtech, agritech, urbantech, smart mobility, technologies for sport and health, sustainable building, virtual and augmented reality, space, art, publishing, and this year’s novelty Ask Me Everything (matchmaking): will be some of the main themes of the 2019 edition.

First novelties

This year art will also play an important role thanks to Maker Art, a project that aims to investigate the relationship between contemporary art and new technologies, through the creation of synergistic and integrated paths between makers and a select group of international artists, with the aim of creating a genuine exhibition of interactive installations within the event that is able to interact with the audience and offer many different ways of interpreting the culture of technological innovation. Maker Faire Rome, by its nature, is the ideal place to create artistic, immersive and multimedia paths that, thanks to the use of technology, can express the ever closer relationship between man and machine.

Alongside art, this year the environmental, cultural and architectural heritage and territory will also play very valuable role thanks to the collaboration between Maker Faire Rome and “Technology for All“: a forum dedicated to technological innovation applied to territorial and to cultural heritage, organised by Mediageo. This initiative aims to deepen the use of innovative technologies (such as geolocation, satellite mapping, professional drones for the detection and study of open data) to learn, document, protect and monitor the territory and cultural heritage that surrounds us. The initiative, thanks to the well-established format that combines theme-oriented conferences with interactive exhibits, will offer high-level information and training opportunities, and will be an opportunity for public administrations, universities and specialized companies to discuss issues. In addition, within Maker Faire Rome there will be “Ed Tech for All”, an area composed of talks, panels, workshops and exhibition spaces dedicated to the world of technology for education. An event designed to be a moment of cultural sharing and training, where experience is provided from Italian and European perspectives. The aim is to create a strategic network at European level that allows a direct exchange of best practices between trainers, researchers, companies, students and, more generally, among the key figures in the field of technology in education.

Another novelty of the 2019 edition is Ask Me Everything, a new space that will be dedicated to digital culture guidance for SMEs, intended to encourage a meeting between professionals and the companies in attendance. Experts will answer questions according to a schedule of fixed slots, and will be available to speak with entrepreneurs and professionals, in order to guide them to process and product innovation through appointments and targeted meetings.

Since its first edition, curator of Maker Faire Rome is Massimo Banzi, co-founder of Arduino, named by the weekly magazine "The Economist" as one of the advocates for the "new industrial revolution" driven by the Maker movement. Banzi is assisted by Alessandro Ranellucci, executive coordinator of all MFR content.

"I am a happy witness - says Massimo Banzi, curator of Maker Faire Rome - of the evolution of the maker universe that is increasingly coming alive with proposals oriented to the education and professional sectors. I see that companies and industries are expressing a lot of interest, since they see the skills offered by makers as opportunities for new business, invention and solutions. The growing participation of schools, universities and research institutes is a testament to its creative and cultural rise. I therefore invite makers from all over the world - he concludes - to send applications to participate in Maker Faire Rome, the second most important Maker Faire in the world after that of San Mateo in California. We are curious to see your ideas and proposals.

Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

In the last two editions, the organizers of Maker Faire Rome, encouraged by a growing interest from the public and the knowledgeable curatorship of Professor Bruno Siciliano, professor of Robotics and Director of the ICAROS Centre at the University of Naples Federico II, have focused heavily on robotics and artificial intelligence. Suffice it to say that, on these issues, we have gone from a 400 square meters’ exhibit in 2017 to more than 1000 square meters last year, with a sharp increase in the number of prototypes and dedicated conferences. The quality of the exhibitors (including the Polytechnic Institute of Zurich, the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne, the INRIA Research Centre of Rennes in Atlantic Brittany, the Federico II University of Naples, the Centre "E. Piaggio" of Pisa, Sapienza University of Rome, Politecnico of Milan, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia) and the speakers (including Maria Chiara Carrozza, professor of Industrial Bioengineering at Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna of Pisa and Domenico Prattichizzo, professor of Robotics and Haptics at the University of Siena) made the difference. And to confirm the strong interest in these issues, the 2019 edition promises to make a strong leap forward: in fact, a close collaboration has started with the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines (I-RIM), which aims to connect the world of research and academia with the world of business and industry.

The event launched by the new Institute will be hosted within the MFR 2019 in a special exhibition area, with demonstration set ups and projects of excellence from all over the world. There will also be high-level scientific dissemination conferences and matchmaking events.

"A country like Italy - says Antonio Bicchi, Coordinator of the I-RIM promoting committee, who for centuries has combined advanced technical knowledge and research with the ability to transform ideas into intelligent machines that offer top quality, with great industrial and social value, so it was the natural launching point for the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines, and institute that utilises this history to respond to the challenge of the future - that is, to give substance to Artificial Intelligence.  And it is nice that the Institute was founded on the 500-year anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci, who is the forerunner of the harmony between science, art and technology, and who still inspires us all.

Circular economy

The great issue of the circular economy and, in particular, bioeconomy, greenbuilding, greentech are ever-present issues that the MFR has dealt with, successfully, proposing practical demonstrations and hosting debates of leading experts in the field. On these issues, this year Maker Faire Rome will make a further leap forward in quality, since it will be the first event in Italy that is organised, designed and built based on a real circular economy and will, therefore, be carbon-free. In order to achieve this objective, a specific decalogue has been defined which provides, among the ten points, for the prohibition of the use, within the exhibition area, of any containers made of polyethylene or other plastic materials and the production - during the set-up and exhibition phases - of renewable energy to reach the complete coverage of the energy requirements of the structure.

Space

Also this year, then, Maker Faire Rome will host a large section oriented to the space sector, with the aim of concentrating the disciplines, activities and achievements related to or arising from the space sector.

The theme will be the human exploration of Mars and, in particular, the role that the makers will have in the first permanent settlements on the Red Planet. The aim of this area, curated by the British Interplanetary Society, is to gather experiences, inventions, innovations and knowledge that can have a practical application in this new context.

Maker Faire Rome and the digital economy

With "Maker Faire Rome - The European Edition" the city of Rome becomes the hub of European innovation culture. In just a few years, this event has become the starting point for many startups and the ideal meeting place for innovators, digital craftsmen, entrepreneurs and others, and can boast constantly growing numbers. 105,000 visitors attended the last edition in just three days (a growth from the 36,000 attendees in the first edition in 2013, at the Palazzo dei Congressi in Eur).

Another important novelty of the 2019 edition will be a large space dedicated to the digital culture guidance for SMEs: experts will be available to entrepreneurs and professionals to guide them to process and product innovation through targeted meetings and appointments.

"Maker Faire Rome - explains Lorenzo Tagliavanti, President of the Chamber of Commerce of Rome - is a consolidated platform, it is the place where Science meets innovation, from the ground up, by offering training, networking and business and is, therefore, an accelerator of the process of innovation for the whole of Europe.  The event also evolves thanks to the co-creation effort we are carrying out, constantly, with companies, professionals and institutions. Maker Faire Rome, is increasingly surrounded by academia, research and industry to create vertical insights and create a system - concludes Tagliavanti - for contagious know-how, dissemination and integration at its core.

"Maker Faire Rome - says Luciano Mocci, President of Innova Camera, a special company of the Rome Chamber of Commerce - has grown over the years, both in numbers and content. Today, in addition to being an event that’s able to create scouting and business opportunities for companies, it has become a part of the strategic economic sectors aimed at modernising the country, where you will find a display of the best ideas and inventions that will change our lives for the better".

The "Maker Faire Rome - The European Edition" enjoys the valuable collaboration of institutional partners such as the ITA (Italian Trade Agency), ICE Agency, Agency for the promotion abroad and the internationalization of Italian companies. In particular, the Agency's support is part of a broader support of the Ministry of Economic Development for initiatives to promote competitiveness and innovation.

All calls are open

• Call for Makers

The Call for Makers opens from April 3, for all technology enthusiasts, educators, thinkers, inventors, engineers, authors, artists, chefs, craftsmen, designers, farmers, researchers, start uppers, and all those who create and amaze with the strength of their ideas. Makers are people with a strong innovative approach, they create products to bring our company closer to a simpler future that’s within everyone's reach.

The Call will be open until 24 June 2019.

• Call for University and Research Institutes

The objective of the "Call for Universities and Research Institutes" is to put the spotlight on innovation, through the dissemination of digital culture and the development of individual and collective entrepreneurship, by involving in MFR19 the participation of projects from state universities and public research institutes in Italy and abroad. A qualified jury will select the most innovative projects that will be hosted during the event.

The Call will be open until 24 June 2019.

• Call for Schools

The Call for Schools, in collaboration with MIUR, is open to national and EU secondary schools (14-18-year-old students). A panel of experts will select the most innovative projects that will be hosted during the Maker Faire Rome 2019 in an area dedicated entirely to schools. The aim is to offer a space where young people can express their creativity and where all teachers who contribute daily to make their student’s talent and knowledge shine, can enhance their constant commitment and dedication through initiatives, projects and innovative educational programs.

The Call will be open until 24 June 2019.

Call applications can be submitted, exclusively on-line, through the site www.makerfairerome.eu (where you can find all regulations), by clicking on the icon.

After the great success of the previous editions, the collaboration with Sanofi Genzyme was renewed for the fourth edition in the Make to Care contest (www.maketocare.it), which promotes the development of innovative solutions to meet the needs of people with disabilities. This edition will offer two new novelties: the second report on patient-innovation promoted by Fondazione Politecnico di Milano and created by Polifactory, the makerspace of Politecnico di Milano, a scientific partner of the contest, and the addition of new partners such as the Venture Factory (Investing Partner) and Arrow Electronics Italia (Technology Platform Partner). Projects collected through the Call for Makers of Maker Faire Rome, which are in line with the philosophy of the Contest, will participate in the selection of Make to Care. All projects, finalists or not, will be able to benefit from the skills brought by the two new partners of the contest. The winners will receive a training experience aimed at acquiring knowledge and contacts to further develop their ideas

This year Lazio Region will also be among the institutional partners that, together with Maker Faire Rome, will activate a series of courses aimed at helping companies improve their production processes with the support of 4.0 technologies. The Region will also provide its own exhibition space within the Fair to showcase the best of innovation in our area.

Waiting for Maker Faire Rome

Among the many events that have taken place in Maker Faire Rome, the fourth edition of Data Driven Innovation recently ended, which was the largest Italian conference on the role of data in innovation that took place (10 and 11 May) at the Department of Engineering of Roma Tre. DDI is the annual event where data scientists and specialists from many application domains express how the data culture is changing our society and our economy. Data Driven Innovation 2019 was dedicated to Automotive, IoT and 5G networks, Cybersecurity, Biomedical, Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Circular Economics, Digital Humanities, Fintech, Foodtech, Agritech, Sport and any other sector in which the data has a disruptive impact. Inaugurated by the Prime Minister of Italy, Prof. Giuseppe Conte, featured - during the two days of debates and discussions - more than 130 speakers, including Silvio Micali, H.V. Jagadish, Luca Attias, Roberto Viola, Sean Cubitt and Fosca Giannotti.

Data Driven Innovation - Rome 2019 Open Summit is promoted by the Department of Engineering of the University of Roma Tre and by "Maker Faire Rome - The European Edition", with the scientific contribution of the Foundation "Centro di iniziativa giuridica Piero Calamandrei".

Another event included Nao Challenge, an annual contest organized by Scuola di Robotica, in collaboration with Soft Bank Robotics and Maker Faire Rome, whose final phase took place in mid-April in Zagarolo in the Spazio Attivo of Lazio Innova. The contest, launched for the first time in France in 2014 and in Italy in 2015, has become the largest event dedicated to humanoid robotics for secondary schools around the world. The main objective of the competition is to raise students' awareness, motivate them and train them in the use of humanoid robotics through the development of multi-technological and innovative projects.

Two other events on the theme of artificial intelligence have recently taken place in the run-up to the Maker Faire Rome and have featured internationally-renowned experts on the subject, which received great public interest and was a big success. The first event, entitled "Man in the Age of Artificial Intelligence", was hosted by the American writer James Barrat, author of the best seller, Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era" and was held on March 15 at the Temple of Hadrian. The second, entitled "Artificial Intelligence: Challenges and Opportunities", took place on 25 March at the University of Roma Tre, with the lectio magistralis of Luciano Floridi, Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information at the University of Oxford.