Maker Faire Rome 2018

Maker Faire Rome – on from October 12th until the 14th - has just ended in the Italian capital. Maker Faire is the most important faire on innovation. It is a family-friendly event that celebrates the "Do It Yourself (DIY) culture" in the technology field as applied by the "makers" in their creations. Maker Faire is therefore the perfect venue where makers and fans meet to present innovative projects and where to share knowledge.

Maker Faire Rome is organized by the Chamber of Commerce of the Italian capital city and aims to put Rome at the centre of the debate on innovation. It is an event that includes science, science-fiction, fun and business and which counted more than 100.000 visitors last year.

Among the innovative projects presented in the current edition, visitors admired Alex Braga's invention "Artificial Musical Intelligence" (A-MINT). Conceived in collaboration with two university professors - Francesco Riganti and Antonio Laudani – and carried on with the talented Belgian musician Francesco Tristano, it is based on an algorithm that allows to improvise playing with an endless number of musical instruments, tracks and virtual orchestra all following melody, harmony and precise timing.

Besides the musical innovation, Maker Faire Rome also hosted a specific area devoted to "Space", conceived by the British Interplanetary Society and the Aerospace Engineering School of the University La Sapienza (Rome). Among the main attractions there are the Apollo Guidance Computer, Saturn rocket in scale 1:10 and Saint Mark Satellite with a piece of the Scout rocket that led it into the orbit. There are also space simulators visitors can interact with.

Finally, Maker Faire Rome 2018 offered a series of courses on digital manufacturing for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and for craftsmanship. The aim of these training activities was to show the bigger public the opportunities offered by the 4th industrial revolution and to encourage companies, SMEs, craftsmen, startuppers and makers to undertake innovation paths through new digital technologies.