Eleonora: Hello Niccolò, welcome! Can you explain to us how Trento Health Data was born and who is behind this entrepreneurial project?

Niccolò: Hello Eleonora, thank you for inviting me! Trento Health Data was born a couple of years ago when its four founders, myself included, crossed their paths. We had different work experiences, but we all shared a similar vision: making health measurable and trainable by leveraging data and technology. Different experiences and a common vision led us to identify an innovative entrepreneurial project where each of us plays a fundamental role.

As I said, we are four founders: our President, Marco Morotti, has been an entrepreneur in the fitness sector for a long-time as well as Business Designer and Honorary Member of ANIF Eurowellness. Our research and development director is Riccardo Guerrini; he has always been a sports entrepreneur and an Honorary Member of ANIF Eurowellness.

Massimo Cicognani, Vice President of ANIF Eurowellness, is responsible for managing the relationships with regional and national institutions in the sports and health sector.

Finally, I cover the CEO role at Trento Health Data, even though I have been working in the real estate sector for years.

Data is today a wealth of knowledge that underlies many types of businesses and activities. What led you to start your project?

You are absolutely right!

Every day, without even realising it, everyone generates and collects a huge amount of data, sometimes without a real or apparent purpose for us. I want to clarify this statement because, on the contrary, the data we generate is indeed collected, saved and, upon explicit consent, used and sold by manufacturers to other companies. But what about the user? What benefit can they make from it? That data often turns out to be useless.

Think, for example, of the great amount of health-related data we generate through our “smart devices” - smartphones, watches, fitness trackers, just to name a few. We automatically store it on our phones, but we don’t use it.

Our project stems from this consideration, from the question “How can we make this data useful to those who generate it?" and its respective answer: by satisfying the ever-increasing need of our clients to access highly personalised training plans.

Personalization looks like it is the secret behind many businesses’ success. How important do you consider personalization in the sports and fitness industry, and how do you think technology can help you in this sense?

Personalization is key to our entire project, while technology is the enabling factor that allows us to ensure a high personalization level.

I believe that this aspect has always failed to be included in similar apps which were launched on the market before ours. It is time to change paths and get into more details; today, customers’ needs and preferences are much more demanding, and technology can help us respond in a more punctual way.

Overall, we believe that enabling technologies have reached such a high maturity level that, by combining our expertise and our partners’ skills, we can turn data into real value to deliver to our clients.

How does your platform work, and why did you choose U-Hopper as a partner?

Our platform, DataFIT, considers sports and training as a medicine; and, as for any medicine, we have to adjust frequency and dosage according to personal needs, if we want to get the right benefits and achieve desired results.

Having said this, our idea is to develop an Artificial Intelligence algorithm capable of calibrating the amount of training and exercise in a cyclical manner, based on data that is collected daily from the user’s devices.

To obtain this result, we believed it was essential to identify a technology partner that could ensure competence, innovation and flexibility… and at this point our collaboration with U-Hopper was born!

Your project now focuses on managing gym memberships and the possibility to customise training schedules based on the type of user and their goals. Do you have some additional developments in mind?

Our research project also involves a Sea Consulenze Srl, a consulting company based in Trento which helps companies organise, manage, and implement corporate wellness programs.

We both share the desire to provide employers with a tool that could support and innovate workplace wellbeing strategies - that is to improve employee’s productivity and retention, reduce stress and improve their physical and mental health.

So what goals would you like to achieve with DataFIT in the next 3 years?

We have a two-fold goal, which eventually refers to our two types of customers.

On the one hand, we want to support users to become aware of their health, adjust their physical exercise according to their health status, and help them identify the correct lifestyles to achieve their personal goals.

On the other hand, we want to help companies and their employees to build structured corporate wellness programs. Such programs would allow employers to rely on an INDEX of corporate wellbeing that can be leveraged to promote a healthy lifestyle, improve work practices and increase employee engagement.

How do you evaluate the collaboration with U-Hopper so far? Which aspects do you appreciate the most?

U-Hopper supports us in the analysis and development of customised predictive and prescriptive models, based on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning; however, we believe we have found something more than a mere supplier company; indeed, U-Hopper looks like a real “partner”!

Apart from their undoubtful technical competence, we appreciate the fact that we share and exchange feedback on a regular basis, their availability and flexibility in interpreting our needs, their innovative mindset and strategic vision.

Thank you Niccolò for your time! I wish you good luck with your project!

Thank you, Eleonora!