Speck&Tech 84 "Short track for the win!"

Ciao!

Over the past 10 years, Speck&Tech has organized 100+ free events across Trentino, open to everyone, and built on a simple, winning format: two talks on the same theme, tackled from different perspectives.

After the successful collaborations of 2023, 2024 (twice!), and 2025, this year we are once again partnering with the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science (DISI) of the University of Trento, to celebrate the 18th edition of the ICT Days. Being this year's topic "The Future of Sport & Wellbeing", we will have the pleasure of hosting two great speakers on this very topic.

From computer vision to competition, we will explore sport between data, technology, and human performance: welcome to "Short track for the win!".

This event will be partly in English 🇬🇧 and partly in Italian 🇮🇹 Access to the venue is reserved for those with a valid ticket, which will be scanned at the entrance of the Auditorium of the Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia. If you can’t join us in person, follow the live stream here.

Please find below our amazing speakers:

1. ANTHONY CIOPPA
🇬🇧 SoccerNet: building the largest and most comprehensive open-source dataset and benchmark for sports video analysis

ABSTRACT: Artificial intelligence is transforming sports analysis. Since 2018, SoccerNet has established itself as the largest and most comprehensive open dataset, resulting from a collaboration initiated by KAUST (Saudi Arabia) and the University of Liège (Belgium), and now strengthened by many academic partners (Aalborg University, UCLouvain, EPFL, etc.) and industrial partners (EVS, Sportradar, Spiideo, Footovision, etc.). With more than 850 hours of manually annotated videos and over 15 million annotations (actions, players, cameras), SoccerNet provides a unique resource for developing and comparing computer vision methods, covering tasks such as action spotting, camera calibration, and player tracking. Beyond the data itself, SoccerNet fosters a dynamic international community: more than 1,800 researchers on its Discord server, annual challenges that have attracted over 1,500 submissions from 300 teams, and more than 30 publications. The success of SoccerNet illustrates the importance of open data and shared benchmarks in driving scientific innovation. The talk will finally focus on the concrete applications that directly emerged from these innovations, from enhanced broadcasting for the viewers to improved well-being of the athletes.

BIO: Anthony Cioppa is an Assistant Professor at the University of Liège (ULiège) in Belgium. He earned his Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering in 2017 and later completed his PhD in 2020 in computer vision and artificial intelligence at ULiège, supported by the FNRS. Following his PhD, he was awarded a three-year postdoctoral grant by the FNRS, during which he spent a year in 2023 as a visiting postdoctoral researcher at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), working under the supervision of Prof. Marc Van Droogenbroeck and Prof. Bernard Ghanem. His research focuses on computer vision, video analysis using AI, real-time processing, and video understanding. He is also actively involved in organizing international AI challenges. Finally, he also co-organizes the yearly CVsports workshop at the CVPR conference.

2. CHIARA BETTI
🇮🇹 Short track: decisioni sul filo del ghiaccio

ABSTRACT: Una conversazione con Chiara Betti, atleta olimpica di short track, per entrare nel dietro le quinte dello sport ad altissimo livello. Dagli inizi in Trentino fino alle competizioni internazionali, esploreremo cosa significa oggi essere un’atleta professionista: allenamento, preparazione mentale, gestione degli errori e delle aspettative, dentro e fuori dalla pista.
Nel corso della chiacchierata, uno sguardo particolare sarà dedicato al ruolo della tecnologia nello sport: dagli strumenti utilizzati ogni giorno in allenamento all’evoluzione dell’attrezzatura, fino all’uso di dati e analisi per migliorare le performance. Un racconto diretto e concreto, tra esperienza personale e innovazione, per capire cosa succede davvero quando performance umana e tecnologia si incontrano.

BIO: Chiara Betti (Trento, 2002) è un’atleta italiana di short track. Cresciuta a Pergine Valsugana, si avvicina al pattinaggio su ghiaccio fin da giovane, intraprendendo presto un percorso agonistico che la porta a distinguersi a livello internazionale.
Dopo gli studi al Liceo Classico “Prati” di Trento, ottiene i primi risultati di rilievo ai Campionati Mondiali Junior, conquistando due medaglie di bronzo nella staffetta femminile (Canada 2019 e Bormio 2020). Nonostante un grave infortunio alla colonna vertebrale, superato con determinazione, nel 2021 entra nella squadra senior, e nel 2023 conquista la sua prima medaglia ai Campionati Mondiali, avviando una presenza costante ai massimi livelli internazionali.
Nel corso della sua carriera ha partecipato alle principali competizioni internazionali, ottenendo medaglie in Coppa del Mondo, Campionati Europei e Mondiali. Ai recenti Giochi Olimpici Invernali di Milano-Cortina ha vinto la medaglia d’oro nella staffetta mista e la medaglia d’argento nella staffetta femminile.
Dal 2022 fa parte del Gruppo Sportivo della Guardia di Finanza ed è iscritta al corso di laurea in Scienze e tecniche di Psicologia Cognitiva presso l’Università di Trento.

This initiative is part of the ICT Days 2026 events:

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