DIA Event 29.09.2025

Abstract
The presentation will offer a brief overview of CNR-ISTI, the largest institute within the Italian National Research Council dedicated to Computer Science. Renowned for its expertise in Artificial Intelligence (AI) methodologies, CNR-ISTI is involved in several ongoing projects. The talk will highlight these projects and share significant results, particularly in application areas such as medicine (support in diagnoses from medical imaging) and visual media (similarity search, image understanding).
A key area of research at CNR-ISTI is the integration of AI with next-generation networking. This work follows two directions. The first, centered on technology, investigates the design of network architectures and paradigms enabling AI-driven operations. In this scope,researchers are developing in-band telemetry procedures for real-time collection of network state information and the seamless integration of AI algorithms into network infrastructures. This approach aims to achieve fully automated network management. The second direction addresses the theoretical foundations of distributed learning in networked environments. Here, the focus is on understanding the convergence properties of learning algorithms when they operate across distributed networks. Additionally, the research explores strategies for selecting contributors to build distributed models, with an emphasis on leveraging transfer learning to boost both efficiency and resiliency.
Bio
Roberto Scopigno is a computer scientist, Research Director with CNR-ISTI, founder of the Visual Computing Lab, and, since 2019,appointed Director of CNR-ISTI.
He is engaged in research projects concerned with 3D graphics and visual technologies, with the main application to Cultural Heritage. He published more than 250 papers in international journals or conferences, with Google Scholar h-index 65. He participated to many EC projects on ICT technologies and served as Editor in Chief for ACM J. on Computing and Cultural Heritage and Computer Graphics Forum. He has been the recipient of the “Distinguished Career Award” issued by Eurographics Association in 2014.

Abstract
Increasing life expectancy leads to more intensive use of national and private healthcare systems. These systems are already overwhelmed by high demand and a lack of medical professionals and healthcare centres. Another reality of increasing life expectancy is that we will all, sooner or later, have some chronic disability. The only way to provide quality and sustainable healthcare services to all citizens, and ensure independent living for people with disabilities, is through intelligent digitalization that will help healthcare professionals in their daily work and at the same time helps patients to gain greater control over their health, health data, healthy habits, and get access to a full stack of digital solutions.
Bio
Francisco Hortigüela Martos is President of AMETIC, the National Trade Association for the Digital Industry in Spain. AMETIC represents more than 10,000 companies in the digital industry. Member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of CEOE (Spanish Confederation of National Trade Associations). Member of the Advisory Board of the College of Telecommunications Engineers and the Association of Human Capital Managers (DCH). Founder and CEO of INBUSINESS 5.0. Strategic consulting firm specializing in technology and communications. Telecommunications Engineer. Business administration training at IESE, ESADE, ESSEC, and San Telmo. Over 35 years of experience in the digital industry, with management positions in marketing, communications, and institutional relations at leading companies such as SAMSUNG and PHILIPS. Before founding INBUSINESS 5.0, he was General Manager of AMETIC, the digital sector’s trade association. He has international experience, working in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain.

Pierre Tane is Head of Digital Applications at UIC, notably coordinating UIC efforts on the development of digital models, digital twins and tools for the railway domain with a focus on semantic technology. He is also actively involved in UIC’s Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) and railways spectrum regulation. Before joining UIC, he held various positions spanning standards, customer solutions and architecture in Nortel Networks, Kapsch CarrierCom and Kontron working on wireless technologies and their applications to public and private networks including railways. Pierre graduated as an engineer in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics.

Abstract
The rail industry has undergone a profound transformation driven by digitalization. From signaling and control systems to passenger services and freight operations, increasing connectivity and reliance on digital technologies have enabled greater efficiency, automation, and innovation. However, this digital evolution has also expanded the threat landscape, exposing critical rail infrastructure to cyber risks. This presentation explores the journey of rail digitalization, the challenges it introduced, and how these challenges led to the rise and evolution of rail cybersecurity.
Bio
Omar Benjumea is Field CISO at Cylus, a global leader in rail cybersecurity. With more than 20 years of experience in cybersecurity, he has spent the past 7+ years focused on protecting critical railway systems, bridging the gap between cybersecurity and rail operations. In addition to advising infrastructure operators and industry stakeholders worldwide, Omar teaches cybersecurity and rail cybersecurity at Spanish universities such as UOC and UPC. He also contributes to the cybersecurity working groups of UNIFE and UITP and is part of the group of experts drafting the future IEC 63452 standard on rail cybersecurity.

Abstract
Satellite communications have been historically treated as “another” transmission means to deliver data in all scenarios where the terrestrial infrastructure was either missing or not offering the necessary capacity. The advent of non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) as part of the 3GPP 5Gstandardization initiative has changed the landscape in that convergence between terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks is pursued with the intent to eventually have NTN being 6G native from Day 1. This radical paradigm shift has important consequences at market level and at the way NTN and satellite communications should be regarded. In particular, the evolution of Internet and overall communication infrastructures towards a more data-centric ecosystem is expected to influence the way future satellite and NTN systems will be designed and the functionalities that they should natively embark with respect to data distribution, processing, and overall secure access. In this view, this talk addresses some of the ongoing trends and tries to provide some insights on achieving data-centric NTN and satellite systems as well as raising some questions about the feasibility from cost and complexity standpoint.
Bio
Tomaso de Cola received the ”Laurea” degree (with honors) in telecommunication engineering, in 2001, the Qualification degree as a Professional Engineer in 2002, and the Ph. D. degree in Electronic and Computer Engineering, Robotics, and Telecommunications in 2010 from the University of Genoa, Italy. Since 2008, he has been with the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), where he is leading the Integrated Satellite Systems group in the Institute of Communications and Navigation. He has been involved in different European Projects focusing on various aspects of DVB standards, CCSDS protocols, and testbed design and he is a co-author of more than 100 papers, including international conferences and journals. He was the chair of the Satellite and Space Communications (SSC) technical committee within ComSoc and of the SatCom working group within the ETP NetworldEurope platform. Currently he serves as area director of the Space-Internetworking Services (SIS) within the CCSDS standardization body. He has been involved in many editorial initiatives in IEEE journals and magazine as guest and associate editor.