HumanTech Day 2: Reframing Processes, Organizations, and Systems in the More-than-Human Society

The second edition of HumanTech Day was a defining moment for the HumanTech Program, promoted by the Department of Management, Economics, and Industrial Engineering (DIG) of Politecnico di Milano, as part of the ministerial initiative “Departments of Excellence 2023-27".

This annual event provided a valuable opportunity for the DIG Community to reflect on progress, share insights, and discuss the next steps in advancing cutting-edge research. With presentations from international thought leaders, discussions around research findings, and the unveiling of state-of-the-art research laboratories, the event highlighted how human-centered innovation and digital technologies are reshaping industries and organizational systems.

The event opened with a welcome from Prof. Raffaella Cagliano, Director of the Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, and Prof. Federico Caniato, Program Manager of the HumanTech Program who presented the progress of the activities planned and shared the departmental development vision alongside the ongoing research.

The morning session featured a keynote by Peter Skillman, Global Head of Design at Philips. Skillman’s talk delved into the transformative role of AI in humanity-centered design, and its importance in healthcare. His insights offered a thought-provoking perspective on how AI is a fabulous tool to support designers in their ongoing efforts to work backwards from customer needs, but it offers no shortcuts in doing so. It is necessary to create the right conditions to truly understand the core customer needs through actual conversations and observations as well as user data insights.

Following the keynote, the event split into three parallel poster sessions that allowed researchers and Faculty members to engage directly with ongoing research in the HumanTech three Research Lines: Human-Centered Digital Technology Development Models and Processes; Resilient and Sustainable Production, Logistics, and Supply Chain Processes; Digital-Enabled, Human-Centered Organizational Models and Work Systems.

These sessions provided a context to present the ongoing researches, share ideas, favorite collaboration between different area of expertise and findings to think about the potential practical evolution of this project and the impact to industry, policy makers and society.

After a networking lunch, the afternoon session featured a keynote by Francesca Borgonovi, Head of Skills Analysis at the OECD Centre for Skills focused on the role of the skills development in relation to AI in the context of a sustainable digital transition.

The event also featured visits of the research Laboratories established by the project to understand what are the real possibilities of using the Labs and experiments for all the researches the Department is conducting, since these Labs are designed to facilitate groundbreaking research and foster collaboration across disciplines. Attendees had the chance to see demonstrations of the biometric equipment of the Garetti CORE Lab at MADE Competence Center I4.0, where they explored human-centric paradigms in operations management research analysis. Additionally, the BRIEL Lab at PoliHub showcased the latest advancements in immersive technologies and their applications across multiple domains, including marketing, healthcare and education. The DataHub at MADE also provided insights into how data science is shaping research, with seminars on harnessing cluster computing for cutting-edge social science and a well-attended hands-on session with DataCloud experts from DEIB, Politecnico di Milano.

These Lab sessions were an excellent opportunity for participants to engage with advanced technologies and gain hands-on experience in emerging fields of the departmental ongoing research activities.

The day concluded with a closing plenary session, where the rapporteurs from the parallel sessions shared their key findings. Prof. Paolo Trucco, Deputy Director of the Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, led the session, offering a synthesis of the discussions and reflecting on the collaborative spirit of the day.

As the second edition of HumanTech Day drew to a close, it was clear that the HumanTech Program continues to make significant strides in exploring the intersection of digital technologies, human-centered processes, and sustainable practices. With ongoing research and new developments in cutting-edge laboratories, the Department of Management, Economics, and Industrial Engineering of Politecnico di Milano is well-positioned to lead the charge in creating solutions for a more-than-human society.