INTESA SANPAOLO: INTRODUCING CENTAI,
ADVANCED RESEARCH CENTRE FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE BASED IN TURIN

• CENTAI, the brainchild of the partnership between the Bank and a team of AI researchers, is opening its doors at the Intesa Sanpaolo Skyscraper in Turin. The new lab will be tasked with developing new methodologies for data analysis and advanced solutions in the field of artificial intelligence.
• Carlo Messina, CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo: "The Group's digital and technological transformation will have Turin as its capital, and our Skyscraper is thus confirmed as the beating heart of innovation. A concrete contribution to the community, an ongoing commitment to training and the growth of new professionalism and skills – a further step towards making our Group a leader in technology as well."
• Mario Rasetti, Chair of the CENTAI Scientific Committee, commented, "Knowledge today is based on data and knowing how to process it intelligently, quickly and efficiently. It is a true revolution, already in full swing. Paraphrasing architect Thomas Cubitt, tireless godfather of modern London: "To become data, land, technical skills, knowledge had to be brought back to a common arithmetic form: land as a map, technique as accounting, knowledge as a database."

Milan, 14 June 2022 – Intesa Sanpaolo announces the establishment of CENTAI, a laboratory for advanced research in the field of artificial intelligence.

CENTAI aims to be a driving force for innovation in research on machine intelligence and complex systems – a new reality, equipped with cutting-edge AI and big data tools, capable of exploring the structural properties of all those aspects of society that bind together this planet's many variables.

CENTAI was established as a joint-stock company, 49% owned by Intesa Sanpaolo and 51% controlled by its scientific membership, headed by a high-profile international Scientific Advisory Board, and employs about fifty globally recognised researchers and scientists.

CENTAI's BoD will be composed as follows: Marco Ciurcina (Chairman), Paolo Benanti, Francesco Bonchi, Filippo Raiteri and, representing Intesa Sanpaolo, Paolo Maria Vittorio Grandi (Chief Governance Officer), Stefano Barrese (Head of Banca dei Territori Division) and Massimo Proverbio (Chief IT Digital Innovation Officer), demonstrating CENTAI's key role in the development of Intesa Sanpaolo's digital bank.

Among the qualifying points of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group's new 2022-2025 Business Plan is a strong push toward digital innovation, including through the development and enhancement of artificial intelligence methodologies.

In fact, the Lab is dedicated to the development of new data analysis methodologies and advanced solutions in artificial intelligence, for the benefit of both the Intesa Sanpaolo Group, with particular reference to the development strategies of the new Isybank, the Group's digital bank, and external companies and firms. CENTAI's mission is at once simple and complex: to help the governing class make rational decisions based on the best possible information; to always be powered by the best data; and to adopt the most effective methodologies, the most advanced computational tools and the brightest minds.

Carlo Messina, CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo: "Through this ambitious initiative in collaboration with leading international scientists, Intesa Sanpaolo seeks to break new ground in the field of artificial intelligence. The Group's digital and technological transformation will have Turin as its capital, and our Skyscraper is thus confirmed as the beating heart of innovation. With the new Business Plan, we intend to anticipate major changes related to technological innovation by investing in digital development and focusing on the best skills. By making use of the study and contribution of its scientists, the new Centai laboratory will be able to attract new talent. A concrete contribution to the community, an ongoing commitment to training and the growth of new professionalism and skills – a further step towards making our Group a leader in technology as well."

 

Mario Rasetti, Chair of the CENTAI Scientific Committee, commented: "Knowledge today is based on data and knowing how to process it intelligently, quickly and efficiently. It is a true revolution, already in full swing. What CENTAI aims to achieve is to become the proactive support for this intelligence, through AI: through basic research into the foundations of AI and the identification of the determinants of causal processes, for a deeper understanding of the structural role of 'behaviour'; by making use of tools such as natural language theory, cognitive science, and neuroscience; and by aiming 'beyond machine learning.'" Paraphrasing architect Thomas Cubitt, the indefatigable godfather of modern London: "In order to become data, land, technical skills, knowledge had to be brought back to a common arithmetic form: land as a map, technology as accounting, knowledge as a database".

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Media Relations

Intesa Sanpaolo

Corporate & Investment Banking and Governance Areas

stampa@intesasanpaolo.com