FoReLab - Future-Oriented REsearch LABoratory
The FoReLab (Future-Oriented REsearch LABoratory) is a project of the Department of Information Engineering of the University of Pisa.
The Industry 5.0 paradigm shift requires visionary, long-term fundamental research on enabling technologies, which will gradually mature to become industrial research.
The FoReLab project addresses the challenges expected to shape research and industry in the next decade(s), such as digital sovereignty, human-centric technology, resilience and environmental sustainability by focusing towards new methodologies, paradigms, and enabling technologies for Industry 5.0.
The new competencies created can be transferred to large enterprises and SMEs – either directly, or by forming a new generation of highly skilled employable innovators.
FoReLab combines research activities, staff and infrastructure through a holistic approach that leverages the contribution of all the ICT disciplines and develops four research lines that are expected to have a high impact in the future I5.0 paradigm: Trustworthy Artificial and Embodied Intelligence, with the objective of making AI and collaborative robotic systems dependable and usable for critical applications; Human-Centric Systems, to develop ICT systems that combine human strengths and peculiarities with those of machines; Future Networks, to engineer networks that can support new industrial processes and emerging applications; Smart Materials Devices, to design new-generation reconfigurable, adaptive and eco-compatible devices.
The activities of FoReLab integrate perfectly with the research carried on in CrossLab laboratories, which instead make immediately applicable solutions available to companies and SMEs, to support innovation processes towards digital transformation.
CrossLabs are five interdisciplinary, integrated laboratories that host research on all the key areas of Industry 4.0. CrossLabs are open to enterprises and SMEs, to support their innovation processes by utilizing cutting-edge research instrumentation and acquiring knowledge for the digital transition.
The FoReLab and the CrossLabs jointly address the demand for frontier and industry-oriented research and innovation, thus providing a key contribution to build new industrial processes, which are sustainable, resilient, and centered on people needs.