News

Datathon AI & Open Data

Written by: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche

We are thrilled to announce two days dedicated to digital innovation, exploring data policies, artificial intelligence, and new application frontiers. The event, taking place on June 13th and 14th, 2025 in Palermo, will be a unique opportunity to delve into the relationship between Open Data and AI through concrete use cases and active participation.

The Datathon is organized by ITD-CNR in collaboration with OpenData Sicilia as part of the European project SMERALD (SMEs – Raising Awareness and Learning on Digital data, data analysis and artificial intelligence), funded by the Erasmus+ program.

📅 Event Program

Friday, June 13th – From 3:00 PM

The afternoon will focus on national policies and technical regulations:

  • Antonio Rotundo and Leonardo Donnaloia (AgID): Introduction to Open Data, the Data Governance Act, and geographic data.

  • Giorgia Lodi (CNR-ISTC): "The Opportunity of (Open) Data Not to Be Missed in the Age of Artificial Intelligence."

  • Dennis Angemi (Open Data Sicilia): Application of Large Language Models (LLMs) for data extraction from unstructured documents related to the Sicilian water emergency.

  • Andrea Borruso (onData) and Andrea Nelson Mauro: Practical session on working with LLMs directly from the command line, with the idea that "it's all text" and that text holds one of the greatest informational riches.

Saturday, June 14th – From 9:00 AM

The morning will be dedicated to design and action:

  • Opening: Introduction to the Datathon by Davide Taibi (SMERALD Coordinator - CNR) and Antonella Longo(UniSalento).

  • Case Study: Presentation of LidoLink, a project that uses AI to improve the real-time tourist experience, with Showbik Showmma.

  • Open Datathon: Collaborative session on topics such as: improving data quality in open data portals, augmenting data, Linked Open Data & LLMs, and other proposals arising from discussions.

  • Closing: Collective feedback on the work and ideas generated.

💻 Online Participation

For participants affiliated with SMERALD consortium partners, the event will also be available online in asynchronous mode.

Why Participate? Whether you're a programmer, a data expert, or an active citizen, this event is the right place to contribute to building more open, useful, and intelligent digital ecosystems.

We look forward to seeing you in Palermo!