In December 2019, JLC Milan and LC Munich invited us, 12 participants from all over Europe, to take part in an exciting workshop about the Internet of Things and 5G in Milano.
The workshop was held by two companies who informed us about the topics with presentations and interesting projects they are working on.
One of them was Cefriel. It is a company of Politecnico Milano that stands for innovation and simplification. A nice example of a project by Cefriel is an application that improves garbage disposal in Milano. Therefore, they added sensors to public bins and collected data on the amount of trash inside. Then the application calculates whether the bin lorry needs to pass or not and thus a lot of lorry driving can be avoided.
The second company was Generali. Generali is one of the biggest assurances in the world. Since their residence in Milano is a quite famous curved tower, the location where they gave us presentations was very impressive. Once we even got permission to go to the top floor and enjoy a fantastic view.
On the last day of the workshop, we had to invent a useful application ourselves. The topic was ‘The Olympic games 2026 in Milano and Cortina’. The app should use Big Data and collect Data about the tourists to make the cities smarter during the event. For example, an app to order transport buses some days in advance. With the information on demand, the schedule of the buses could be adjusted.
Of course, the workshop also included free-time activities. We had a city rally and soft skills training to get to know each other. In the evenings there was always something going on. We watched movies, had nice Italian dinners and went into bars and clubs. A highlight was the international night. Everyone brought food or drinks from his or her home country that we could try. No way to miss the Hungarian chilli paste and the Serbian Rakija.
I had a great time with the organizers and participants and I loved the mix of cultures that gave an interesting flair to work. I really recommend gaining such an experience and meeting great people.
