On October 20–21, 2025, the Altinate San Gaetano Cultural Center in Padua hosted the sixth edition of the Smart Cities General Assembly, Italy’s leading event dedicated to digital innovation, urban transition, and technologies for quality of life.
Within this framework, RAISE – Robotics and AI for Socio-economic Empowerment took part as an official partner, presenting to the public the research results and future perspectives of Spoke 1, focused on applying robotics and artificial intelligence to promote the inclusive engagement of citizens in urban and regional contexts.
The event, promoted by the City Vision community and organized by Blum!, brought together over a thousand representatives from institutions, academia, and industry to discuss key topics such as urban data governance, citizens’ health, smart mobility, environmental sustainability, and participatory planning.
Over the two days, the RAISE team participated in two thematic round tables – organized in collaboration with CNR and the University of Genoa – and presented two public pitches in the Agorà space of the Innovation District, during the session “New Cities and New Citizens.”
The first pitch illustrated the research pathway of Spoke 1, while the second focused on Seagul, the tool developed by the University of Genoa within Spoke 1 to support urban planning through integrated analyses and interpretative models of the city.
The first presentation highlighted Spoke 1’s distinctive approach: connecting the socio-economic progress of cities with their ability to consider the needs and specific characteristics of all citizens, with the goal of developing services and policies that genuinely enhance everyone’s quality of life.
Within the Innovation District, the RAISE stand served as a meeting point for public administrations, companies, researchers, and citizens interested in learning more about the project’s activities. Numerous one-to-one exchanges fostered new collaborations and the sharing of sustainable innovation practices.
A particularly meaningful acknowledgment crowned RAISE’s participation: the City Vision 2025 “Good Practices Award” committee granted Spoke 1 a Special Mention as a “Good Practice.”
The project was recognized as an exemplary initiative to be shared among public administrations and enterprises committed to the intelligent transformation of territories. With this award, Spoke 1 joined the national selection of outstanding experiences that City Vision promotes through its platform and communication channels.
During the award ceremony, Michela Spagnuolo, Leader of Spoke 1, stated: “Receiving this award has been an emotional moment, one that honors the tremendous effort made by the RAISE consortium throughout the project. It also confirms the growing interest in the results achieved by Spoke 1 within the City Vision community, today perhaps the most important space in Italy for fostering smart innovation in both large and small cities.”
The presence of RAISE at the Smart Cities General Assembly, together with this recognition, reaffirmed the project’s role as a true laboratory of innovation and collaboration among research, institutions, and industry – a further step toward smarter, more inclusive, and sustainable cities, where technology serves the collective well-being.
