HSL

The Heritage SmartLab (HSL) proposal is aimed at creating the largest, most structured and qualified European Digital Innovation Hub -based in Basilicata region, with two spokes in Campania and Apulia-, specialised on Cultural Heritage and Cultural and Creative Industries (CH&CCIs), a wide sector of the local economy and society -that is, not by chance, at the core of the three Regional Smart Specialisation Strategies- in which converge great public interest and high innovation and business potential. The EDIH initiative, that is strongly supported by Basilicata Region, through its local development agency Sviluppo Basilicata, and by the Municipality of Matera, that participates in this proposal as associated partner, is aimed at creating a Cultural and Creative district based in the wonderful context of the UNESCO World Heritage Site - Sassi of Matera, with a strong international dimension and approach to the market needs of its public and private customers. The proposal leverages on two important initiatives promoted in Basilicata region: the House of Emerging Technology (HET), the main technological infrastructure the City of Matera has made available to the project for designing, prototyping and testing of new products, and the Talent’s Academy promoted by Basilicata Region, based on the Apple Academy of Naples model: an advanced and multidisciplinary training platform, that thanks to the synergies with HSL, will be further specialised on the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI), High Performing Computing (HPC) and Cybersecurity (CS) to CH&CCIs, with the goal to attract talents, upskill and reskill personnel, create a new generation of professional with strong and up–to–date digital competences. The Hub of Matera, with the 2 spokes in Naples and Bari, will represent an innovation triangle in the sector of CH&CCIs, rooted in Southern Italy, active in the European and Mediterranean context and strongly interconnected with the global innovation ecosystem.