Press release no. 58/2018 TOWARDS LOGISTICS 4.0: A CREATIVE “AIRATHON” MARATHON FEATURING START-UPS, INDUSTRY AND UNIVERSITIES TO BE HELD ON 5 AND 6 JUNE IN PRATICA DI MARE The first hackathon in the aeronautical sector, to be known as ’Airathon“, will take place on 5 and 6 June at the Pratica di Mare military airport, inside one of the hangars of the Italian Air Force’s Experimental Flight Centre. One year on from the event ”From Industry 4.0 to Logistics 4.0: the race towards the future has begun“, organised last June in Rome, the collaboration between the Italian Air Force Logistics Command and EY (Ernst & Young) is being renewed for an open innovation initiative that is the first of its kind in Italy – the first event of this type organised within a military context – with a specific focus on logistics for the aeronautical sector and, in particular, on staff training and the optimisation of logistics processes through the implementation of new technologies. A creative marathon that will bring together, for 48 hours, participants from diverse sectors and backgrounds – technicians, IT specialists, researchers, students, military experts and industry specialists – with the aim of pooling their diverse experiences, developing the best ideas and turning them into solutions that can be prototyped and rapidly implemented within the Armed Forces” logistics sector. Fifteen start-ups are expected to take part, along with representatives from industry and the national aerospace sector (Leonardo, Vitrociset, Technosky, Mimos (Italian Modelling and Simulation Association) and from various Italian universities (professors from Sapienza – University of Rome and the University of Tor Vergata, as well as the Pordenone Technology Hub, and students from the University of Naples ’Federico II“, the University of Salerno and Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome). The initiative’s technology partners will be PTC and Microsoft. Participants, who will be supported throughout the two days by experts and mentors from the Italian Air Force and EY, as well as from industrial and technology partners, will be divided into teams that will compete to develop integrated applications combining augmented and virtual reality, the Internet of Things and blockchain, to meet the combined needs of vocational training, on-the-job training and maintenance operations relating to aeronautical systems and equipment. All the ideas submitted, which will be assessed at the end of the event by a panel of experts to determine a final ranking, will in any case represent a further step forward in terms of the Armed Forces” knowledge and experience as part of a long-standing programme of in-depth study into the impact of new technologies on the logistical processes involved in the management and deployment of aeronautical materials and equipment. In this sense, the Pratica di Mare Airathon represents not only a major opportunity to stimulate a broader debate amongst institutional (and non-institutional) stakeholders in the aerospace sector on complex issues related to Logistics 4.0, but also to promote awareness of the cultural and technological revolution already underway in the defence sector, which acts as the driving force behind the national economy.