AI-GENIALE: cross-border project for innovation with Generative Artificial Intelligence gets underway

Cinisello Balsamo, February 2025 – AI-GENIALE, the project funded under the Interreg Italy-Switzerland Cross-Border Cooperation Program 2021-2027, has officially kicked off. The project was created with the aim of exploring the potential of Generative Artificial Intelligence and putting it at the service of innovation and business competitiveness.

On February 28, the project kick-off event was held at the headquarters of ECOLE – Enti COnfindustriali Lombardi per l’Education (Lombardy Industrial Associations for Education) in Milan, bringing together the Italian and Swiss partners involved in this strategic initiative:

• ECOLE – Enti Confindustriali Lombardi per l’Education (italian lead partner);
• ated – Associazione Ticinese Evoluzione Digitale (Swiss lead partner);
• Università LIUC;
• Servizi Confindustria Varese.

A project for the future of businesses

AI-GENIALE is one of the first 60 projects funded by the Interreg Italy-Switzerland Program and aims to support businesses in adopting Generative Artificial Intelligence through four pillars:

• 25 business cases to analyze and disseminate best practices in the use of AI in innovation processes;
• Guidelines and operational tools to facilitate the adoption of AI in companies;
• Training courses for reskilling and upskilling with webinars and pilot sessions to increase digital skills;
• An eBook and video tutorials to accompany companies in the integration of Generative AI into business processes.

The project will have a duration of 30 months and will end in 2027, with the aim of creating a reference model for the adoption of AI in cross-border companies.

The development of concrete tools that can be adopted by companies is one of the focuses of AI-GENIALE. As Raffaella Manzini, Full Professor of Innovation and Technology Management at LIUC University, points out: “A topic such as the use of AI cannot be addressed solely by reading the theory: we need to work with businesses to understand the concrete opportunities, verify the impacts, and enhance the potential for contextualizing the tools. AI-GENIALE offers us this valuable opportunity.”

Innovation and cross-border cooperation

Generative Artificial Intelligence is one of the most revolutionary technologies of recent years, with a growing impact on innovation processes. In a context such as that of the Insubric area, characterized by a strong industrial and technological fabric, AI-GENIALE responds to the need to bridge the digital skills gap, address the challenges of technological transformation, and foster an innovative ecosystem that transcends geographical boundaries.

“Collaboration between Italy and Switzerland in this area is essential for developing concrete and replicable solutions that can support companies in adopting Generative AI in an effective and informed manner,” comments Marco Pardo, General Manager of ECOLE.

“Generative Artificial Intelligence represents one of the most promising frontiers for business innovation, and with the AI-GENIALE project, we want to help businesses in the Varese area understand its potential and apply it strategically. As Servizi Confindustria Varese, our contribution will be to make our expertise available to offer concrete tools to promote the informed adoption of AI. Thanks to cross-border collaboration, we will be able to create a reference model for SMEs, helping them to become more competitive in an increasingly digital and interconnected environment,” concludes Paolo Praderio, Chief Operating Officer of Servizi Confindustria Varese.

“ated, with a consolidated presence in the Ticino region for over fifty years, actively works to promote innovation at all levels. Its commitment extends from the youngest, through the ated4kids initiative, to professionals, offering them the opportunity to obtain a federal professional certificate for new professions recognized by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).

With this solid experience behind it, ated is ready to take up the challenge of accompanying the region into the future through this project, providing companies with the tools they need to face this period of profound change,” conclude Cristina Giotto Boggia and Luca Mauriello, respectively Director and President of ated.