“BRAINS MEET DIGITAL ENTERPRISES” was the event featured in the program of the tenth edition of DIGITAL MEET 2022, organized by the University of Padua in collaboration with its HTLab and Human Inspired Technologies Research Center, and this edition, in partnership with the National Technological Cluster SMILE and the European Digital Innovation Hub DANTE. During the event, sponsored by the Departments of Psychology and the Regional Innovative Network ICT4SSL, doctoral students from the University presented their research projects they had been working on. Five scholarships funded by prominent companies in the digital sector were up for grabs. They were evaluated by a committee consisting of academics, entrepreneurs, and stakeholders from the public administration and civil society.

The theme of the event revolved around digital transition and its impact on people’s lives and the sustainability of living environments. The transformative power of the digital realm across all fields of knowledge, research, and socio-economic development has reached impressive levels. There is no discipline that hasn’t grappled with technical transformations and the effects they generate. It’s a chain reaction that deeply and radically involves individuals, organizations, and entire societies, along with their material and immaterial infrastructures. It’s a revolution that transforms our living spaces, workplaces, cities, and nature as a whole. Scientific research must guide and shape these processes in every conceivable area, ensuring that the individual and the environment in which we live, both natural and built, are at the center of every project and every future product. Digital technology can enhance and ensure inclusion, culture, social development, and environmental sustainability, but it must be designed with these goals in mind. The sustainability of our future depends on this, and for this reason, every technological innovation cannot be considered such unless it incorporates these considerations from the very beginning of the idea, throughout the entire design and development process. Achieving this requires growth, the invention of new methods and approaches, and above all, the development of interdisciplinary capabilities that bring together seemingly distant themes and approaches. That’s why we invited our youngest researchers in training, doctoral students from all the University’s Schools, to present their ideas if they transversely included the theme of the digital, without imposing disciplinary constraints.

The evening featured showcases and live demonstrations of numerous prototypes, from virtual or augmented environments to state-of-the-art robots, 3D cinema, cutting-edge interfaces, AI solutions, and many other exciting “inventions” with which participants could interact. The Award Ceremony for the five winners took place around 9:30 PM, following a refreshment break and guided night tours offered to all participants.