I am co-founder and COO of a company operating in the promotion, construction and development of innovative companies in the areas of robotics, artificial intelligence and mobility. An ecosystem born from the desire to enhance the intellectual properties developed together with universities, research institutes and international companies.

Reflecting on this last year, I think the evolution of the market has offered to design and technology many opportunities to develop new integrated business models of “social” value, capable of supporting local business owners and interacting with the urban environment.

In the aftermath of the outbreak of the pandemic, an already widespread diffusion of connecting services has allowed people to maintain and cultivate their relationships. Digital tracking technologies have ensured the performance of essential activities such as online banking or the management of medical prescriptions. The existence of digital platforms has also allowed some companies to transfer almost all their offer to online channels.

Yet, during the different lock-down periods, companies and small businesses – restaurants, grocery shops, markets – have encountered various difficulties not only in managing existing loyal customers – acquired through a relationship built over time – but also in the proposition of their commercial offer. on digital media and in the acquisition of a new online clientele.

Delivery – through customer proximity and intimacy – has been the true crucial point of contact with customers achieving in 2020 an exceptional growth. Although 92% of transactions in 2020 were for the purchase of fast-food and consumer products, this sector appears to have the potential for even further growth in the future.

In fact, in a period of severe limitations in terms of movements and contact between people, delivery has assumed – and continues to assume – a decisive role in the subsistence and the development of company-customer relationships. Relationships that, however, are not to be understood as a mere physical approach, but which develop on a deep emotional side, identity, value level. An excellent reason for developing platforms and vehicles that favour the redevelopment of existing social and commercial structures.

Today, a responsible innovation enabled by deep technologies cant be detached from the consideration of a broader horizon: that of the inter-connectivity between people, communities, objects and environments in the context of Smart City and more in general, the Smart Landscape, an intelligent scenario within which specialized environments belonging to different domains such as finance, economics and of course, mobility work in an interconnected way.

Interpreting the small trade of proximity in this context – even beyond the pandemic – the only way to compete and survive the large-scale retail trade and large delivery platforms is to unite small traders in a single network. By providing them with the skills and knowledge that they have not yet had the opportunity to develop internally, and to do so quickly.

This integrated approach to communities and proximity offers also to operators such as us unparalleled learning opportunities. It allows us to introduce specific realities – food chains, markets, restaurants – visions of design and advanced technologies. Not only commercial platforms, but also means of transport, services, collaborations.

Means and services enabling the small traders of an area of the city – from the greengrocer to the gastronomy – to deliver their products to your doorstep within their neighborhood, for example by means of ultralight electric bicycles driven by professional riders. Enabling customers to order from home their groceries from the market, from shopkeepers and professionals that know them and are already accustomed to their preferences, all of this from the safety of their own home.

A multidisciplinary network able to recover, protect and enhance the existing fabric, while preserving neighborhoods and communities that are important to the city.

I believe that the changes seen in recent years have highlighted a wide-ranging reality, in turn expression of aspiration and needs are equally diversified. New challenges – different demographic groups animated by specific needs, e-commerce acquisition costs, marketing competition – require the development of new projects.
Hybrid formulas – ‘phygital’ business models assisted by a targeted technology- transfer – that evolve in response to the evolution of the world.

This is very clear in the food sector – already the glue and animator of the trade proximity and depository of experiences and knowledge to be safeguarded – which asks us to be open to new comparisons and to the evolution of Society.