Plenary Stage

Keynote, big ideas, and the pulse of the event: The narrative heart of the event: here, vision talks and round tables alternate with shows, moments of collective inspiration, and special guests. Every segment is designed to make an impact and give rhythm to the day.
Note: The program is still being finalized and may be subject to changes.

Plenary

Keynote, big ideas, and the pulse of the event:
The narrative heart of the event: here, vision talks and round tables alternate with shows, moments of collective inspiration, and special guests. Every segment is designed to make an impact and give rhythm to the day.

Room Hosting

Fjona Cakalli
Fjona Cakalli
Tech Reporter, Content Creator & Presenter
Techprincess.it
Jakidale
Youtuber & Content Creator
21 JANUARY
22 JANUARY
21 jan 08:30
21 jan 13:30
22 jan 08:30
22 jan 13:30
21 jan 09:30 - 09:45
15 min
21 jan 09:45 - 09:55
10 min
21 jan 09:55 - 10:05
10 min
AI is no longer a distant promise; it is the new language of global competitiveness. For Italy, this represents a unique opportunity: a landscape of SMEs and industrial districts where creativity and craft meet concrete value. The challenge now is to move beyond isolated experiments and transition toward true industrial capability. We need a "factory" of AI results—repeatable, scalable, and human-centric. Marco Fanizzi, VP & Managing Director of Dell Technologies Italy, explores the "Dell AI Factory" vision: a holistic ecosystem of infrastructure, data, and services designed to bring AI to the heart of decision-making—from the edge to the cloud. By championing an open ecosystem over closed stacks, Dell is empowering organizations to lead in the "Agentic Era." This isn't about replacing Italian talent; it’s about amplifying it—making it faster, more inclusive, and more competitive on the world stage.
21 jan 10:05 - 10:15
10 min
The AI revolution compels us to rethink how we interpret constitutional principles in the digital society—such as freedom, equality, dignity, and accountability. The challenge is to move beyond a logic of mere compliance: what is needed is adaptive AI governance, capable of evolving alongside the models themselves. Companies are no longer merely recipients of rules, but co-creators of a digital constitutional ecosystem. The contribution puts forward a new “constitutionalization of innovation.”
21 jan 10:15 - 10:25
10 min
Artificial Intelligence is the cornerstone of ESA’s strategy for the next frontier of Earth Observation. At the heart of this mission is Φ-lab: an innovation hub designed to bridge the gap between research, industry, and bold new ideas. We shepherd transformative concepts through the entire innovation lifecycle—turning early-stage experiments into high-impact global solutions.
21 jan 10:25 - 10:40
15 min
Like for any new technology, there are different ways to build AI agents. Whether we choose to rely on big LLMs, commercial black-box AI tools or smaller, open-source models --  every small choice we make along the way can have huge repercussions. In my talk, I will address how to find the right balance through informed choices, resulting in cutting-edge AI technology that is reliable, cost-efficient, and sustainable.
21 jan 10:40 - 10:50
10 min
The proliferation of Artificial Intelligence does not signal the displacement of the human, as many fear, but rather the emergence of a “hyperhuman” dimension. In this new paradigm, human and artificial intelligence converge to augment the processes of knowledge creation and learning. However, AI—particularly Large Language Models—is inseparable from large-scale computational power. While High-Performance Computing (HPC) provides the material foundation for training and deploying complex models, viewing it merely as "raw power" is reductive. In the modern era, computing infrastructures are cultural infrastructures: they dictate which projects are viable, which datasets are prioritized, and who has the agency to innovate.
Within the Italian landscape, CINECA serves as a definitive case study. A non-profit inter-university consortium overseen by the Ministry of University and Research and the Ministry of Education and Merit, CINECA operates at the intersection of world-class HPC infrastructure and digital service provision for the public sector. This dual mission—advancing supercomputing while developing academic information systems—offers a tangible look at the deep interplay between computational backbone and digital services for research, teaching, and advanced training.
21 jan 10:50 - 11:05
15 min
AI is no longer limited by algorithms—it is constrained by energy, latency, materials, and trust. In this keynote, Rika Nakazawa, executive leader at NTT DATA, reframes the AI debate from model supremacy to system design at planetary scale. Drawing on NTT DATA’s work across AI platforms, photonic networks, and emerging quantum infrastructure, alongside her applied doctoral research, Nakazawa introduces Organic Intelligence: a design paradigm that treats intelligence as embedded in physical infrastructure, energy flows, and human context. Moving “from code to carbon,” she explores how bio-inspired systems, optical networks, and observation-driven AI can deliver scalable performance while dramatically reducing environmental and operational cost. This keynote positions AI not as a race for raw compute, but as an engineering challenge of integration, resilience, and alignment—where leaders capable of designing end-to-end intelligent systems, from infrastructure to impact, will define the next era of trusted AI at scale.
21 jan 16:20 - 16:25
5 min
21 jan 16:25 - 16:35
10 min
How are Artificial Intelligence technologies transforming the analysis, preservation, and enhancement of Cultural Heritage and archaeological practices? The talk presents real-world use cases—from automated identification to digital reconstruction and robotics—highlighting opportunities, limitations, and future perspectives for the field.
21 jan 16:35 - 16:50
15 min
21 jan 16:50 - 17:20
30 min
21 jan 17:20 - 17:40
20 min
By definition, Artificial Intelligence is a macro-scale phenomenon, favoring vast datasets, massive computational power, and significant capital concentration. This raises a critical question: is the Italian model of 'micro-efficiency'—typified by the visionary entrepreneur, the agile SME, and the exit-driven startup—still viable in this new era?
21 jan 17:40 - 17:45
5 min
21 jan 17:45 - 18:00
15 min
An interaction engineer studies how to make digital technologies more intuitive and sustainable for humans. In this session, he will explain why it is no longer useful to view artificial intelligence merely as a tool, but rather as an interlocutor we communicate and collaborate with—one we can learn from and, in many situations, rely on, both at work and in everyday life. This relationship of reliance can be appropriate or not, both cognitively and ethically, and it must remain sustainable on a human level as well, so as not to erode our knowledge base and our motivation. The goal is to create hybrid intelligence: a form of human intelligence—ours—enhanced by technology. This hybrid intelligence emerges from a functional, conscious, and responsible collaboration between humans and AI systems: an AI that makes us more capable, not more dependent.
21 jan 18:00 - 18:10
10 min
21 jan
22 jan 09:30 - 09:45
15 min
22 jan 09:45 - 10:00
15 min
We are witnessing a wave of "hyper-innovation" driven by AI, yet its success isn't plug-and-play. To move beyond the buzzwords, we must overhaul the frameworks surrounding the technology—including policy, academia, and social infrastructure. This talk challenges the mainstream narrative, arguing that AI is a catalyst that requires systemic evolution to be effective. Drawing on historical parallels from the history of science, we will explore why technology alone is never enough to change the world.
22 jan 10:00 - 10:15
15 min
22 jan 10:15 - 10:30
15 min
In recent years, the AI discourse has been dominated by the models themselves. Today, however, a critical shift is occurring: competitive advantage no longer stems from having the "best" model, but from the ability to integrate intelligence into functional, operational systems. This session explores the evolution from LLMs-as-APIs to agentic AI systems capable of understanding and acting within the real world. We will argue that we are not witnessing a model revolution, but a systemic one. Through real-world production use cases, we will examine what it means to design AI-first solutions, build robust application layers, and move AI beyond the "demo phase" into reliable, large-scale implementation. Finally, we will look toward the future—exploring exponential growth loops and world models—to understand how intelligent systems are evolving and how to prepare for what comes next.
22 jan 10:30 - 10:45
15 min
AI isn’t replacing the workforce, it’s empowering it. Join us as we dive into how forward-thinking organizations are rewriting the rulebook on roles and operations to unlock real-world results. We will break down successful human-machine partnerships and share a roadmap for closing the skills gap, ensuring your talent is ready to lead a new wave of productivity that transcends automation.
22 jan 10:45 - 10:55
10 min
An inside look at the final weeks before ChatGPT’s public debut. Through behind-the-scenes stories and exclusive anecdotes, we revisit the dawn of OpenAI’s chatbot—the exact moment AI evolved from raw computing power into an unexpected persona, sparking the fastest-growing online service in history.
22 jan 16:20 - 16:25
5 min
22 jan 16:25 - 16:35
10 min
22 jan 16:35 - 16:45
10 min
New AI-based language technologies, such as ChatGPT, are transforming our everyday lives: they inform, advise, and influence values and decisions. Drawing on recent research findings, we will explore how people actually use these systems, what risks emerge in everyday interactions, and what new directions are opening up. An invitation to look beyond the technology toward its real effects on society.
22 jan 16:45 - 16:55
10 min
22 jan 16:55 - 17:10
15 min
When we talk about "agentic AI," we usually assume that agency remains a human property—extended, amplified, or delegated to increasingly autonomous systems. But what happens when action no longer emerges from a single deciding subject, but from a network of dialogues between multiple subjective states and non-human intelligences? The Jianwei Xun experiment—a book on reality manipulation written with artificial intelligences and attributed to a fictional author built through the same mechanisms it analyzed—demonstrated how authorship can become unassignable, distributed across humans, systems, and training corpora. This is not a matter of hybrid teams where humans and algorithms collaborate while maintaining distinct roles: it is the emergence of a Beyond-Subject, a conversational entity that belongs neither to one nor the other, but is constituted in between, in the space of encounter. The real challenge is learning to consciously navigate this condition of permanent co-production, developing a “double play of consciousness”: the ability to be simultaneously inside and outside the dance with machines.
22 jan 17:10 - 17:20
10 min
In 2026, the AI landscape is shifting from "experimentation" to "industrial governance." However, the ground beneath us is far from stable. With a hardware oligopoly, a fragmented software market, and a relentless cycle of research-driven disruption, leadership has become a high-altitude challenge. How do you steer a global organization when the wind is at its strongest? Join us as we move beyond the hype of speed and focus on the necessity of direction, providing the tools to navigate the most turbulent transition in tech history.
22 jan 17:20 - 17:30
10 min
AI capabilities are advancing rapidly, but history shows that transformative technologies don’t deliver productivity gains automatically. The real challenge lies in how organizations adapt. In this session, Nestor Maslej, the former editor-in-chief of the Stanford AI Index and contributor to the forthcoming International AI Safety Report presents a data-driven view of where AI stands today and what comes next. The talk examines four forces shaping the AI era: accelerating technical performance, intensifying U.S.–China competition, a 2025 inflection point in business adoption, and the growing gap between AI availability and effective integration. Attendees will leave with a clear framework for the questions business leaders must answer now: from productivity and labor impacts to build-versus-buy decisions and responsible deployment.
22 jan 17:30 - 17:50
20 min
We are entering a new era of search capabilities that were unimaginable just five years ago. As user behaviors shift from keywords to conversations, tech giants are locked in a high-stakes race for dominance. This session explores the evolution of human intent and provides actionable insights for brands: how can businesses maintain visibility and relevance in an AI-driven "Answer Engine" landscape?
22 jan 17:50 - 18:00
10 min