The Dalle Molle Institute is a leader in pioneering advances in AI applied to logistics, healthcare and sustainability

The “ has just endedSwiss Innovation Tour”, a journey through the main innovation hubs of the Swiss Confederation aimed at presenting the technological, academic and entrepreneurial excellence of the country. The event organized by “Presenza Svizzera” – and held from 2 to 4 October – brought together representatives of the academic world, experts from various sectors, journalists and institutional figures, creating a unique opportunity to explore the nerve centers of research and technological innovation.

The tour started in Lugano then move to Bellinzona, Altdorf e Lucerne, thus offering participants an insight into the innovative dynamics that animate the different Cantons. Each stage highlighted local peculiarities, with a focus on sectors such as machine learning, robotics and artificial intelligence.

In this regard, among the protagonists of the event stands out theDalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence Studies (IDSIA), affiliated with both the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI) and the University of Italian Switzerland (USI). The institute opened its doors to those present to show the most recent results of its research activity on AI, thanks to a visit and presentation conducted by Andrea Emilio Rizzoli, director of the institute and author of over 150 scientific publications.

History of the Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence Studies

The Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence Studies was founded in 1988 in Lugano thanks to the support of the Italian philanthropist Angel From The Springs (1908-2002), evolving to become a point of reference in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Angelo Dalle Molle, known for having launched the Cynar liqueur, at the end of the 1950s began to deal with social issues, creating the magazine “La via aperta al benessere di tutti” where, among other contributions, we also find the publications of Luigi Einaudi, Ludwig Erhard, Don Luigi Sturzo, Robert Schuman e Wilhelm Röpke.

As time went by, the entrepreneur got closer and closer to issues related to computational linguistics and artificial intelligence, opening the doors in 1971 to Dalle Molle Foundation for Linguistic Studies. All this until, in 1988, he founded the “Dalle Molle” Institute in Lugano for studies on artificial intelligence that we know today.

Subsequently – to be precise, in 1991 – theIDIAP Research Institute, with the aim of exploring topics such as speech and vision recognition, machine learning, human-machine interaction and robotics.

Currently, there are three strategic application areas of AI at the Dalle Molle Institute: for health and science and for energy and sustainability. Six, instead, the main research areas: Algorithms and Theory, Autonomous Robotics, Geometric Computing And Vision, Machine Learning And Artificial Neural Networks, Intelligent Control Of Networked Systems and Information Retrieval And Natural Language Processing.

To date, IDSIA, which stands out for its ability to integrate theoretical research with high-impact practical applications, has 18 professors and over 50 researchers and doctoral students, with more than 70 ongoing research projects, for a total value of 20 million Swiss francs.

In Lugano there is a totally avant-garde vision of AI

Over the years, the institute has made prestigious strides in the development of innovative technologies ranging from the optimization of freight transportation, inspired by the behavior of ants (Ant Colony Optimization) to classification and learning based on recurrent neural networks inspired by the structure of our brain (Deep Learning LSTM), used for speech recognition, machine translation and image interpretation. These technologies, implemented by giants such as Google, ecosystem e Baidu, have made IDSIA a true center of excellence for machine learning.

It is no coincidence that in 2016 the “Dalle Molle” Institute received the Swiss ICT Award during a ceremony that brought together 800 personalities from the scientific, political and business worlds. This recognition celebrated IDSIA as one of the best research institutes in the world in the field of bio-inspired artificial intelligence.

Furthermore, the Lugano research centre was among the first to develop applications in the field of intelligent energy, such as the GridSense system, created in collaboration with ALPIQ to optimize the use of domestic electricity. Other projects include partnerships with Ticino companies in the context of Industry 4.0, where industrial machines learn how to autonomously improve their performance.

In financial sector, IDSIA has instead created a machine learning system capable of making predictions on portfolios of credits in dispute. Or again, in collaboration with theCantonal Hospital Authority, the Institute has developed advanced algorithms to identify prognostic patterns in lymphoma patients.

As a testament to its internationally recognized expertise, it is no surprise that IDSIA was cited among the 10 most important institutions in the world (a list that also includes MIT, Berkeley, NYU, Stanford, Toronto, CMU, University of Montreal, Oxford and Hong Kong) on ​​the occasion of the NVIDIA Award for Pioneers in Artificial Intelligence Research.

A journey through the technological excellence of the Confederation

On the occasion of the “Swiss Innovation Tour” 2024, Dr. Matthew Salani and Dr. Jerome Guzzi They presented an overview of basic research, starting from ongoing collaborations with local and international companies, the most innovative projects and some of the most recent problems on which the same center has worked, including PathWyse. The latter is a software library, conceived as easy to use, that implements and collects advanced algorithms with the best performances for many RCSPP variants. Below, the words of Andrea Emilio Rizzoli:

"It was a pleasure to welcome the delegation led by Swiss Business Hub Italy yesterday, visiting IDSIA USI-SUPSI. Matteo Salani and Jerome Guzzi showed some examples of projects where artificial intelligence, robotics and operational research are put at the service of logistics. The questions and comments received were great, a stimulus to continue the exchange of ideas. Thanks to Luca Nonella and Annalisa Ziliani for the organization and to all the participants”.

IDSIA's participation in the “Swiss Innovation Tour” 2024 has strengthened its position as a promoter of innovation in Switzerland (and beyond), highlighting excellence in technology and research.

The event has in fact highlighted the importance of combining academic research and industrial applications, confirming Switzerland's reputation as European hub for the development of artificial intelligence and also demonstrating how the Swiss territory – thanks to high-level research institutes and a dynamic entrepreneurial fabric – is ready to face future challenges with advanced solutions and a far-sighted vision.

This is also demonstrated by the bilateral relationship between the Institute's commitment to education and its interest in the subject. With the start of the 2024-2025 academic year, in fact, 6031 students at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI). The positive trend of recent years is thus confirmed, with enrollments for the professionalizing academic training offered in Ticino increasing by 8 percent.

The inventions of the “Dalle Molle” Institute and the ways of collaborating with companies

The new SUPSI campuses in Lugano Viganello and Mendrisio Stazione

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