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ITALIAN NIGHT AT SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST IN AUSTIN: ON STAGE, MUSIC AND INNOVATION MADE IN ITALY

  • The networking and entertainment evening organized by the ICE Agency in the name of Italian creativity in the arts and technology reported more than 400 participants including investors, music and audiovisual industry stakeholders and journalists
  • The companies in the Italian pavilion of the South by Southwest Creative Industries Expo, and the shows by three Italian artists: the duo, Baseball Gregg, and singer-songwriters, Her Skin and Prim, played a leading role

Italian creativity as a point of contact between the arts and technological innovation, becoming a brand to be valued on the Italian and international market. The Italian mission at the South by Southwest innovative companies Expo, an event organized by the Italian Trade Agency (ITA) held on March 14, in the main ballroom of the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Austin, reached its climax merging the business and entertainment worlds at the most important US independent film and music festival, and bringing together more than 400 people including media and insiders.

 

Spritz, Tech & Sounds” was the theme of an evening with different aims. First and foremost, networking and informal meetings between stakeholders in the sector, accompanied by the Italian aperitif par excellence.

 

Then the presentations of the 11 companies in the Italian pavilion during a session of presentations introduced by Alessandra Rainaldi, Trade Commissioner at the Italian Trade Agency Los Angeles Office – which organized the Italian expedition in Austin.

“The evening – Rainaldi said ­– celebrated Italy’s first structured participation in the South by Southwest Creative Industries Expo; an “event within the event” that brings together innovative companies from all over the world to offer a perspective on how creativity will change society through technology in the coming years. Italy brought “a taste” of its creativity with a delegation of 11 young talents in innovation, music and entertainment, all representing a part of our creative industry, on which ITA is strategically investing in terms of international market positioning”.

 

The companies selected by ITA were 7 innovative startups and 4 companies in the audiovisual industry. Among the startups, the many solutions that stand out are based on artificial intelligence optimizing business-related data or creating adaptive marketing campaigns with generative AI, but there are also those for creating interactive three-dimensional virtual worlds, and an innovative smart device that uses LEDs to learn how to play guitar by showing finger placement. Among the four audiovisual companies, on the other hand, we find film production companies and a platform that optimizes the retrieval of high quality music for soundtracks.

 

Finally, the live performances by three of the numerous Italian artists participating in South by Southwest: two singer-songwriters, Prim and Her Skin, both from Modena, and the Bolognese-Californian duo Baseball Gregg.

 

 

ITA

The Italian Trade Agency is the government body that supports the development of the country’s companies on global markets, by promoting attracting foreign investments to Italy. The Agency is present all over the world with a vast network of offices, providing consultancy and training to Italian SMEs, and implementing modern marketing and communication strategies to promote Made in Italy excellence around the world.

 

The Los Angeles office coordinates the mission at SXSW with a team dedicated to the audiovisual and innovation industries.

 

The IT Innovation Desk supports young talents and startups on the US market with various services and programs to facilitate fundraising and market validation.

 

Among these is the Global Startup Program, now at its third edition, an acceleration-incubation initiative offering 100 Italian startups every year a chance to expand in 9 foreign markets – the US (New York, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco), France, UK, Germany, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Japan, China, and Singapore – with an 8-week program.

 

The audiovisual and music team promotes Italy as a destination for film productions and the synergy between Italian and American industry players, also thanks to the dedicated italymeetshollywood.com, platform, as well as initiatives such as American Film Market, Game Developers Conference, Kidscreen Summit, Billboard Latin Week, and Audiovisual Producers Summit.

 

One of the most interesting opportunities offered by ITA in the US is Innov.it, the world’s first Italian Innovation and Culture Hub, a project by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, inaugurated last year in San Francisco. An outpost for Italian innovation in the heart of Silicon Valley, where ITA, the Italian Cultural Institute, and the innovation services managers Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and Entopan Innovation work together coordinated by the Italian Consulate General in San Francisco.

 

 

The startups

 

AR Market | www.armarket.it | Rome

AR Market creates three-dimensional and interactive virtual spaces, usable in augmented or virtual reality. The virtual spaces are created starting from videos, images, or a scan of real indoor or outdoor environments, and can be used for events, museum or commercial experiences.

 

Contents | www.contents.com | Milan |

Contents is a tech company that develops SaaS solutions for the creation and implementation of creative content through a Generative AI platform. The content can also be created for adaptive and targeted advertising distribution on the web.

 

Dataprodigy | www.itsprodigy.com | Milan |

Dataprodigy is a start-up that offers digital transformation services. Its platform allows you to produce reports automatically by exploiting artificial intelligence and interpreting requests formulated linguistically. The system can be integrated with main company management systems.

 

Dispell Magic | www.competitoor.com | Modena |

Dispell Magic supports brands and retailers with Competitoor, a Price Market Intelligence platform which, thanks to artificial intelligence, monitors the price fluctuations of products in its catalog that are also sold by competitor companies, making it possible to implement automatic dynamic pricing solutions.

 

EOS Data | www.ovum.ai/eos | Milan

EOS is an AI-based platform that helps companies and creators make data-driven business decisions, automatically performing sentiment and emotion analysis and topic detection with real-time feedback through an intuitive interface operable with natural language.

 

Tensive | www.tensivemed.com | Milan |

Tensive is a biomedical company that develops biomaterials for regenerative medicine. It has developed resorbable breast implants useful for regenerating part of the tissue removed with a lumpectomy, which is used to remove a tumor. The prosthesis degrades over time, making room for new tissue.

 

Visual Note | www.visual-note.com | Milan

Visual Note has created a tool to facilitate learning to play guitar: it is a “tape” of LEDs that are applied to the fretboard of the guitar, and which light up under the keys to be pressed, as the piece is played. The device connects and is controlled via app.

 

 

Audiovisual

 

Rome and Lazio Film Commission Foundation | www.romalaziofilmcommission.it/ | Rome

The Rome and Lazio Film Commission Foundation supports the audiovisual industry by assisting regional, national and international productions in various stages of project development, from scouting locations around the area to post-production.

 

Revolver & NinaFilm | www.revolverfilm.it | Rome

Revolver and NinaFilm are twin companies that produce and co-produce documentaries screened at the most important film festivals in the world. They also offer services, including post-production and soundtrack work, as well as being distributors for the television market.

 

Sounzone | www.souzone.com | Turin

Sounzone provides a library of selected music tracks that can be used as a soundtracks for games and videos, within which it is possible to search and automatically sync music to games or videos in natural language, thanks to AI, without having to search by categories such as genre or mood.

 

Vari Productions | www.vari.productions | Turin

Vari Productions creates music and creative solutions for artists and businesses. Services range from songwriting and production to audio and visual branding.

Vic

Editor / Writer / Producer For Drop the Spotlight