On Thursday 12 February 2026, an application for funding for the SEMANTICA project (SeMantic Architecture for CogNiTIve Ceramic Automation) was submitted to the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, under the Innovation Agreements (Ministerial Decree of 4 September 2025). The initiative forms part of the public schemes designed to support investment in industrial research and development by businesses.

The Innovation Agreements represent one of the main mechanisms through which the Ministry supports industrial research and experimental development projects. The aim is to encourage the creation of new products, processes or services, or the significant improvement of existing solutions, thereby strengthening the innovative capacity of the national production system.

The scheme is aimed in particular at companies intending to undertake structured innovation programmes, characterised by high technological content, significant investment, medium- to long-term implementation times and multidisciplinary expertise. SEMANTICA fully meets this profile: a three-year research programme aimed at developing a cognitive system for ceramic production, based on the Cognitive Process Mirror and the integration of semantic modelling, multiphysics simulation and artificial intelligence.

The application was submitted jointly by five proposing organisations: Gruppo Ceramiche Gresmalt, as lead partner, DEF, the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, the University of Brescia and Sapienza University of Rome. The application is accompanied by the project’s technical data sheet and development plan, documents which describe in detail the objectives, planned activities and implementation methods for the initiative.

As this is a joint project, the Partnership Agreement has also been attached to the documentation; this sets out the roles, responsibilities and arrangements for collaboration between the parties involved. This is a central element in collaborative projects, as it ensures a clear division of tasks and coordinated management of the research and development phases.

The submission of the application is an essential formal step within the process set out in the Innovation Agreements. By assessing the technical and project documentation, the Ministry verifies the initiative’s alignment with the instrument’s objectives, the level of innovation proposed and the overall soundness of the project.

For businesses, access to this type of funding represents an opportunity to reduce the risk associated with investment in research and development and to accelerate the market launch of innovative solutions. The partnership-based model also allows complementary expertise to be harnessed: in the case of SEMANTICA, this includes the expertise of manufacturers, materials formulators and those who develop scientific and computational models.

In a context characterised by rapid technological change, the energy transition and growing international competition, instruments such as Innovation Agreements play a strategic role, supporting businesses’ capacity to innovate and strengthening the productive fabric. For an energy-intensive sector such as ceramics, the opportunity to invest in research into efficiency, traceability and process intelligence is a direct driver of competitiveness.

The application submitted on 12 February 2026 therefore marks the official start of the project assessment process. The next steps will involve the Ministry and the Managing Body reviewing the documentation, followed by the subsequent stages set out in the funding procedure, in accordance with the relevant regulatory framework.