The Italian glasses manufacturer EssilorLuxottica and the Politecnico di Milano University want to develop the next generation of data glasses together. On Tuesday, in the presence of leading Italian politicians, the two partners announced the creation of the EssilorLuxottica Smart Eyewear Lab. The facility is to be located in the newly developed “innovation district” Parco dei Gasometri of the Lombard metropolis, initially receive an investment of 50 million euros and ultimately offer jobs for more than 100 researchers.
“The main challenge of the project is the development of hardware, software and application technologies that enable humans to interact with the digital world,” the project partners explained in a joint statement. The aim of the five-year collaboration is the research and experimental development of the basic technical components for “a new generation of wearables that are able to create autonomous network connections,” according to the statement.
“Innovation is at the heart of EssilorLuxottica’s business model,” said Francesco Milleri, the eyewear group’s Chairman and CEO. “The boundaries between the physical and the virtual world are becoming increasingly blurred, which opens up completely new horizons and represents a unique challenge that will catapult us into the future.” These developments are “the key to unlocking an enormous development potential for the labor market and the to open up the entire economic system,” says Milleri.