A dedicated instance of AIRAS processes technical documents from Emilia-Romagna’s Regional Agency for Prevention, Environment, and Energy (ARPAE). Every response links directly back to its source document.
Those who manage weather and hydrogeological risk hold years of valuable documents: post-event reports, hydrological annals containing river data, and annual climate reports. These are extensive, varied technical texts that are currently searched only manually. In an emergency, no one has the time to do that.
Where It Started
The first institutional application of AIRAS (Artificial Intelligence Response on Alert System)—the AI-based decision-support system developed by Ex Machina—grew out of a collaboration with CAE S.p.A., a company based in San Lazzaro di Savena near Bologna that designs, manufactures, and maintains multi-hazard monitoring and early warning systems for public entities in Italy and abroad. Building on this foundation, testing officially began with ARPAE Emilia-Romagna, the Regional Agency for Prevention, Environment, and Energy.
What It Contains
The dedicated instance is operational on infrastructure provided by CINECA, the inter-university supercomputing consortium. It has been populated with a knowledge base built in collaboration with regional technical leads: post-event reports from 2023 through July 2026, hydrological annals, and annual weather-climate reports. This is precisely the type of material on which the system excels.
