PUZZLE X puts on stage frontier technologies and audacious ideas for the future of humanity

by Virginia Greco

This lively and exiting event, this year at its second edition, was held in Barcelona from 15 to 17 November 2022. The ICN2 participated with a booth and brought along some of its spin-off companies.

The second edition of PUZZLE X, a vibrant event dedicated to advanced materials and frontier technologies for a new world, concluded today after three days filled with flash presentations, demonstrations, and roundtable discussions. Held on November 15-17 together with the Smart City Expo World Congress (in Barcelona), this gathering, halfway between an exhibition and a conference, attracted entrepreneurs, researchers, investors and deep tech professionals interested in designing the world to come.

This year’s edition was dedicated to exploring how bold ideas and frontier technologies –spanning quantum computing, printed atoms and materials, sentient cities, molecular food, synthetic bio intelligence, and much more— will actually impact humanity and shape the future of people, cities, industries, societies and, ultimately, of our planet. The thread linking all these perspectives and developments is the need for creating a more sustainable and prosperous future.

The ICN2 took part in the event with contributions in talks and roundtables by few researchers, participation in a poster session dedicated to young scientists, and a booth in the exhibition area, where visitors could learn about research developed at our institute. Special relevance was given to the transfer of technology to the industry: indeed, three of the ICN2 spin-off companies that are currently active, i.e., Cooling Photonics, GraphenicaLab, and FutureChrome, showcased their products at the booth. In addition, the CEOs of these companies had the possibility to share their experience and gain more visibility in a roundtable discussion, opened to questions from the public, chaired by Dr Pablo Pomposiello, Head of the ICN2 Business and Innovation Area.

PUZZLE X, an event conceived by Dr Zina Jarrahi Cinker, was organized by MATTER Inc. (previously, AMPT) and Fira Barcelona and supported by the Government of Spain, Generalitat de Catalunya and Ajuntament de Barcelona. With about 3000 attendees, the event proved successful again. To learn more about the topics and the programme, check the website of PUZZLE X.