The stories of the female entrepreneurs involved in the “Female Intelligence in AI” project
Patrizia Toselliis an entrepreneur from Bentivoglio, in the province of Bologna, who has made change and innovation the guiding principle of her entrepreneurial career. Today, her company, TGR Srl (Tecnologie Generali Riabilitative), designs and manufactures mobile stairlifts to help people with mobility problems live full and safe lives everywhere, even when travelling. She invented the first three-wheeled stairlift, “Scoiattolo”. 'In 1978, my family business presented an electric moped capable of travelling 90 kilometres independently, which was perhaps 30 years ahead of its time. We started with motorcycle frames and then invented and advertised our vehicle at trade fairs, where it caused a sensation. However, sales did not meet expectations, there was still a lot of mistrust, and we had to supplement production with other products." Then came the three-wheeled electric goods trolley, which allowed one person to carry 160 kilos up stairs: 'Once again, at my father's behest, we used electricity for transport and once again we received a lot of interest, and sales were good. Then, we started getting requests to extend the use of the trolley to people with mobility difficulties. In 1981, there was another turning point: we decided to offer a trolley for people with disabilities to help them walk."
It was all new: Patrizia had to take care of the commercial side of the business, as well as relations with the Ministry of Health, authorisations and safety checks. "At a certain point, I decided to slow down and focus on the foreign market. However, when my mother passed away a few years ago, I took over the leadership and overall management of the company. I became the owner of TGR Srl, which today manufactures and sells stairlifts for transporting people (90%) and goods transport machines (10%). We have a strong international focus: 40% of our sales are on the domestic market and the rest abroad."
Patrizia learned about the “Intelligenze al femminile nell'IA” (Female Intelligence in AI) programme from an email from the Bologna Chamber of Commerce. As a tireless explorer of new developments and trends, she was fascinated by the possibility of personalised training that could open up new opportunities for her thanks to artificial intelligence. ‘In my work, I often face the problem of how to open up new market frontiers, given the sensitivity of personal data related to solutions for disability. I wanted to understand how to use AI tools to find ways forward. I succeeded!’
First of all, the format of the meetings was interesting because of the interactivity and flexibility with which the trainers interact with the participants: ‘We were asked to be an active part of the course, to present our requests during the lessons, to talk about our needs. In addition, we have exercises to do, which means we can continue working independently, experimenting on our own.’
There have been many discoveries. "I wasn't so interested in solutions for online business, such as chatbots, but preferred to focus on applications for communication and marketing. The proposals for social media content were very interesting, as were those for market research and studying the competition. However, it is essential to double-check the data, use the right prompts and stay focused. For example, I did some local research on retailers and in some cases the information was false. On the other hand, the data on the competition, which was useful for creating comparison tables, was correct. I was also amazed by the depth that AI can reach when it comes to philosophical interactions about life and illness, even when faced with provocations. I finally understood that there are many types of intelligence and each one should be used for a different purpose."
