Wired Next Fest turns 10

The Wired Next Festthe largest free-to-attend event in Italy dedicated to innovation and the impact of digital technologies, celebrates its tenth anniversary. Born in 2013 with the aim of being a public and free event, a gift to the Wired Italia community, it immediately became the reference point for innovation in Italy.

This year the Wired Next Fest will be dedicated to Italy and the story of how our country is building its future, focusing on territories and their ability to connect with the world. Hosting the first event of the 2023 edition will be Roveretoa reality that is located in the center of a territory, that of Trentinoexpression of a very high rate of innovation, home to important universities and research centers of international value.

In partnership with the Autonomous Province of Trento and Trentino Marketing and in collaboration with the Municipality of Rovereto and the University of Trento, on 6 and 7 May the city will host a widespread festival made up of meetings, exhibitions, live performances, workshops and much more. A large audience of Italian and international guests will discuss the role of innovation as a tool for growth and well-being for our country. Scientists, technologists, large companies, SMEs, start-ups, artists and intellectuals will discuss how – even in a globalized world – local cultures and policies are able to influence innovation processes and the birth of new trends.

In these ten years, the Wired Next Fest has hosted some of the protagonists of our time. From the second man to set foot on the moon, Buzz Aldrinto the woman who exposed the atrocities of the US military in the Iraq war, Chelsea Manningby a pioneer of knowledge entrepreneurship like the founder of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales, from the inventor of the Internet Vin Cerf to scientists of international standing such as Elena Catteneo And James Rizzolattiup to the big names in entertainment such as i Måneskin, Mika or Pierfrancesco Favino.

«The Wired Next Fest is our main event in the area, the most important for meeting our community. Thus, in the year of the tenth anniversary we have decided to dedicate the festival to Italy, to its excellence in innovation and to the relationship between technical-scientific progress and, precisely, the territories. And, precisely to celebrate this union, we are bringing the Wired Next Fest to a new place for us at the forefront of both research and business. Rovereto and Trentino are in fact a natural landing place for the festival, hosting some of the best Italian and international companies in the various fields of innovation», he says Federico Ferrazza, director of Wired Italy.

“Today we give concreteness – said theProvincial councilor for economic development, research and work Achille Spinelli, – to an idea launched in 2019 on the occasion of the Research Forum which took place in Rovereto. And we do it with an event aimed at raising awareness of the research and innovation system in Trentino, its many realities, often still little known by the citizens. And to build a new relationship especially with young people who, speaking of research, are perhaps more inclined to look abroad. Here in Rovereto, a city crossed by innovation and where research is at home, we will have this important showcase open to the realities of research and therefore to the future. We do this by working alongside an important editorial and scientific partner capable of giving added value to our commitment”.

«We are in an emblematic place that well represents the historical vocation of this city – the words of Mayor of Rovereto Francesco Valduga, – doing business, culture, tourism. The whole of Trentino has been capable of creating innovation and the city of Rovereto has made an important contribution to economic growth thanks to the widespread skills expressed in this reality. Also thanks to the relationship with the University of Trento. Today we are therefore renewing our availability by also making available the physical spaces of the city that we would like to be crossed by this event that we would like to be accompanied by the participation and enthusiasm of the population”.

“We have a goal,” he says Maurizio Rossini CEO of Trentino Marketing – which is to tell a plural Trentino, open to the world and to the challenges that this entails. In a world where technologies are revolutionizing people’s lives in many aspects, we want to be a place for discussion, debate, reflection and meeting on these aspects, aware of their importance also for the competitiveness and attractiveness of Trentino as a place to work , do business, study, invest. Major events light up this beacon and on the subject of technology and innovation we do so with a truly international reference partner, Wired, with whom we want to build a project in Rovereto that can and must grow over time».

«Research and innovation – says the Rector of the University of Trento Flavio Deflorian, – are the heart of university activity, research that is transformed into training through the transfer of skills. Innovation is the impact that research has around us and which produces changes. And therefore a central theme for the academic world. Talking about innovation in Rovereto is doubly relevant, it is a university city, it hosts initiatives that aim to be an interface between the city and the world of research, but above all it is the city that for the University represents a hinge point between the academia and the economic and business world. It is therefore a happy choice for this new initiative, as is the involvement of the University and other Trentino research entities that have a history deeply connected with the community. This new festival will be a precious opportunity to strengthen our ability to make our activities known».