The annual meeting of GGI – the Young Entrepreneurs Group of Turin’s Industrial Union – took place on 11 November; the programme included a public gathering called “MigrAction – Road to Futurabile“. The event focused on the radical change the world is going through and on the will to take action with concrete ideas and solutions, a typical characteristic of the entrepreneurial vision which, often, seems to be lacking in public decision-makers.
Due to the limitations imposed by the current lockdown, the event “MigrAction – Road to Futurabile” was organised with a hybrid approach: the speakers were physically present whilst the public attended the meeting online through the VIS (Virtual Interactive Showroom) platform developed by Protocube Reply. Being a 3D environment that can be explored in real-time, it enabled users to follow the main event, to chat (or video-chat) with the other attendees and, naturally, to visit the virtual stands of the organisers and sponsors of the event.
Several innovation experts stepped on the virtual stage, shown as a 3D auditorium, including Riccardo Di Stefano (national chairman of GGI), Silvia De Francia (pharmacologist and researcher at the University of Turin), Licia Mattioli (CEO of Mattioli SpA), Maria Paola Azzario Chiesa (president of the UNESCO Centre of Turin) and Father Luca Peyron. They stand as the main supporters of the appointment of Turin as the “Italian capital of Artificial Intelligence”, a great opportunity to discover new talents and business solutions.
The experiment to make “Migraction – Road to Futurabile” a virtual conference in 3D proved to be a wise choice which had an excellent response from the public with a turnout of over 600 attendees.
The use of 3D technologies, besides being an opportunity for digital transformation, is also a need which arises from the global emergency we are going through. A concept that Alberto Lazzaro, chairman of GGI, expressly reiterated: “The entrepreneur has always embodied two qualities that must both be present and well-balanced: awareness of the present and a future-oriented vision. When the first lockdown hit us, we were all unprepared. The Young Entrepreneurs Group of the Industrial Union of Turin reacted immediately, creating a Recovery Commission with the goal of researching all the countermeasures that local companies could take to avoid bankruptcy. One of them was the introduction of augmented reality and digital events into business activities, a solution that allowed entrepreneurs to bring distant people together by creating a network. That was possible thanks to cutting-edge technological innovations developed by companies specialised in the digital industry. So, why not test these technologies first-hand and demonstrate all their potential in an important event like our annual meeting?“.
Even though no digital experience can, still, replace a fraternal hug, a warm handshake or the pleasure of meeting old friends, a virtual conference can take advantage of all the practical benefits that these technologies bring about, especially as concerns the interfaces that we use daily to communicate, at work and in social relationships.
Compared to simple video streaming, the possibility to explore the 3D environment in multi-presence offers a new level of audience engagement, allowing the organisers to establish a direct relationship with the users through their avatars. Also, online access allows those who are not able to attend the event in person to participate remotely. A win-win solution that, once the Covid-19 pandemic is over, will increasingly pave the way for hybrid events, where digital technologies capable of creating interactive 3D environments will become essential tools to enrich the traditional physical experience with a range of opportunities with enormous potential.
The main stage of MigrAction – Road to Futurabile, on which the annual conference of GGI Torino was projected Protocube Reply)
The layout of the virtual event MigrAction included the main stage, a meetup lounge and an exhibition area with the stands of the partners participating in the initiative (credit: Protocube Reply)
MigrAction – a detail of the exhibition area. In the background, the meetup lounge and the main stage (credit: Protocube Reply)
MigrAction – a detail of the exhibition stand of the Young Entrepreneurs Group of Turin’s Industrial Union (credit: Protocube Reply)
MigrAction – a detail of the meetup lounge area, where users can create private or group chats (credit: Protocube Reply)
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“MigrAction – Road to Futurabile” is an event organised by the Young Entrepreneurs Group of the Industrial Union of Turin with the support of the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation and the Turin Chamber of Commerce. The online session was created thanks to the VIS (Virtual Interactive Showroom) platform developed by Protocube Reply, a partner of the event together with Intesa Sanpaolo, TMP Group and 4Dem.it.
For further information on the initiatives of GGI Torino, please check out Futurabile’s official website.