Partner profile

Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (SSSA) is an autonomous, special statute public university operating in the field of applied sciences with the aims of promoting the development of culture, scientific and technological research, and innovation.

SSSA participates to iSteelExpert mainly through the centre of ICT for Complex Industrial Systems and Processes (ICT-COISP) of the Telecommunications, Computer Engineering, and Photonics Institute (TeCIP). Since its origin, this team, coordinated by Dr. Eng. Valentina Colla, assistant professor in Metallurgy, focuses its activity in the steel sector, by investigating the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced modelling system for the monitoring, management, optimization, and control of processes for steel production as well as steel products quality monitoring, enhancement, and optimization across the whole process chain. Since 2000 the ICT-COISP team participated to 76 RFCS projects. ICT-COISP holds relevant skills and expertise related to development of data processing tools (e.g. data filtering, outlier detection, data classification and clustering, variable selection and features extraction, image processing), design and software implementation of Machine Learning (ML)-based models and algorithms and decision support tools for industrial applications, application of Deep Learning (DL) techniques to image processing. ICT-COISP also holds a consistent experience in the development of Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI) to make AI fruitful and easily usable for technicians and plant operators in working environments. This expertise meets the main technical role of SSSA within the project. SSSA leads WP3 with a particular focus on advanced logics for event detection, implementation/suggestion of corrective actions and further incorporation of personnel know-how.

Moreover, a contribution to the final assessment of the degree of acceptance of iSteel-Expert among the technical personnel of the steelworks (WP5) is provided by the DIRPOLIS Institute (Institute of Law, Politics and Development) of SSSA. DIRPOLIS is a research center devoted to interdisciplinary studies in the fields of law, economics and political sciences, whose core mission is to offer a comprehensive and multi-faceted representation of legal, social, economic, and political phenomena. Among other members of DIRPOLIS, Prof. Anna Loretoni, Full Professor in Political Philosophy, lead the activities connected to iSteel-Expert by exploiting Her consolidated experience in ethical aspects of research, human rights, and gender perspective in professional environments.

As an academic institution, SSSA is deeply committed to dissemination activities, by organizing and participating to workshops, conferences and lectures related to the project topics as well as through the publication of scientific papers. Therefore, within iSteel-Expert SSSA also leads WP6 that is devoted to exploitation, dissemination and communication.