At RomeCup, SMEs design the hospitality of the future with artificial intelligence
Yesterday afternoon, Wednesday 7 May, the final event of the Small businesses, big opportunities programme took place at the RomeCup 2025, part of the Itali.IA Lab programme promoted by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale ETS with the support of Microsoft and its partners. An exciting challenge workshop dedicated to 50 Italian small and medium-sized enterprises selected from among those that participated in the training. The goal: to transform business ideas and needs into automation projects and intelligent agents, ready to improve processes and customer relationship models.
The context
The challenge took place within the RomeCup, the major annual event on robotics and artificial intelligence that brought together over 4,000 young visitors with competitions, talks, international guests, workshops and an expo area showcasing the excellence of schools, universities, research centres and companies. Partners included Microsoft, Avanade, Google.org, ING, SAP, Intesa Sanpaolo, Johnson & Johnson and other players in the digital transformation in Italy.
The challenge
The teams, made up of entrepreneurs, professionals and innovators, had two hours to come up with an AI-based solution for Villa Tuscolana, a historic 16th-century residence converted into a hotel and event venue. The task was to develop a concrete project to enhance the guest experience before, during and after their stay, focusing on generative artificial intelligence, integrated communication and sustainability. Microsoft trainers and experts also followed the work.
Evaluation criteria
- feasibility
- consistency with the task request
- proficiency in the use of artificial intelligence tools and techniques
- clarity of presentation
The winning team
Team 4 stood out with its project Villa Tuscolana AI: an intelligent personal assistant to build a tailor-made experience for each guest. The system offers personalised video teasers before the stay, real-time suggestions during the stay and an ‘AI diary’ as an emotional souvenir after departure. A scalable project, free of technological barriers, with clear objectives: +30% loyalty, +45% engagement, +25% upselling and +50% sharing.
The members of the winning team, supported by Elisa Pirrone
- Pierre Cristian, e@sy.it
- Carmela Colozza, CSA Molise srl
- Paco Manes, Keplero Polytechnic Institute
- Caterina Muzio, Portalupi Carlo Impresa Spa
- Vincenzo Filetti and Giulia Minuzzo, Theorema Srl
- Valeria Puca, APF Valtellina [watch the Rai News interview]
Microsoft and Avanade volunteers in the role of ‘facilitators’
- Felipe Diniz, Technical Lead, Avanade
- Daniele De Bruyn, Technical Specialist, Microsoft
- Bruno Umiliaco, Technical Specialist, Microsoft
- Elisa Pirrone, Cloud Solution Architect Security, Microsoft
- Elena Cerbara, SR Analyst DBA, Avanade
- Luca Vannicelli, SR Analyst, Data Protection, Avanade
- Alessandro Alla, Cloud Solution Architect Copilot, Microsoft
The jury
Federica Rossi from Microsoft, Mirta Michilli from FMD and Giovanni Manigrasso from Dintec, as well as eight ‘expert volunteers’ who obviously did not vote for the teams they had mentored.
A practical, business-oriented workshop
Through this challenge, Itali.IA Lab confirms its educational and transformative approach, which helps SMEs to approach artificial intelligence in a practical way and translate technology into operational opportunities. The goal is not just to learn, but to immediately design change.
