Augusto Innovation Hub

R. Rockefeller S.C. Europe is developing this programme with Augusto Innovation Hub SRL. The strategic partnership and its operating framework are being structured around the proposed laboratory in Milazzo.

The objective is to establish a dedicated strategic European laboratory within the Augusto campus in Milazzo, Sicily. It is conceived as a place where software engineers, Super Intelligence specialists and cybersecurity teams can develop, test and demonstrate systems for enterprises and institutions, connecting research with practical project delivery.

The campus setting is intended to bring technical work, meetings with project partners, demonstrations and specialist training into one programme. R. Rockefeller S.C. Europe’s engineering network would work with Augusto’s planned spaces and infrastructure as the partnership and facilities take shape.

Augusto Innovation Hub is a planned innovation campus in Milazzo, Sicily. It brings Super Intelligence, cybersecurity, virtual production and advanced geothermal energy into one development programme.

The project envisages the regeneration of the former Montecatini industrial site, covering approximately 47,000 square metres, with an architectural masterplan by Giancarlo Zema Design Group.

R. Rockefeller S.C. participates as technology and engineering partner for Augusto Innovation Hub, led by President and Founder Fabrizio Crimi. The programme connects applied research and engineering with practical uses for institutions, industry and digital production.

The programme combines research laboratories, digital infrastructure and virtual production with technical training, workshops and scientific collaboration. Its intended applications span public institutions, critical infrastructure and industrial clients, connecting Europe with the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

According to the project promoters’ update, €100 million has been secured for the initial phase, within a funding framework involving the European Union and the Italian government, with the support of the Sicily Region. The announced plan envisages a structured expansion to €200 million by 2028, with additional private investment expected alongside that programme.

The campus is in development. Its expansion, employment figures and full capacity configuration are programme targets. Implementation proceeds through the relevant approvals, public and project owner funding arrangements, and defined project orders. RRSC’s engineering and technology activities are commissioned and paid for in stages by the project client.

The Milazzo collaboration includes the first Italian pilot within RRSC’s AGS geothermal programme, developed for Augusto Innovation Hub with RePG as the industrial and technological partner.

The pilot is intended to demonstrate how geothermal energy can support the campus’s laboratories, research activities and other continuous energy requirements. Its capacity and performance depend on the site investigation, engineering design and the operating conditions validated for the project.

The campus energy concept combines AGS geothermal and solar energy, with energy autonomy as a development objective. The work connects Milazzo with the Main Global Engineering Center and Green Energy research centre in Bursa, Türkiye, and with RRSC’s wider international engineering network.

Virtual production is a distinct part of the planned campus programme. It brings immersive audiovisual environments and digital production into the same ecosystem as research, engineering and technical training, creating a setting for collaboration between creative teams and technology specialists.

A central focus of the planned laboratory is the engineering of multiagent Super Intelligence: systems in which specialised agents carry out defined tasks and cooperate through an orchestration layer. Each agent would have a specific purpose, access permissions and operating limits, with an explicit handover to a person when approval or professional judgement is required.

The development programme envisages agents that retrieve authorised information, prepare documents, check a process against defined rules and produce analysis supported by its sources. Their coordination is intended to support complete workflows, from an initial request to a reviewed result, while keeping decisions and responsibility with the organisation using the system.

• Records agents to retrieve and organise authorised information
• Document agents to prepare drafts and structured working material
• Process and compliance agents to check defined requirements
• Analysis agents to connect evidence and support human decisions

The proposed work follows the Department’s private and sovereign Super Intelligence programme. The intended architecture separates identity and access, orchestration and model inference, with a security gateway controlling the information and actions available to each agent. Data access, retention, deployment and approval rules would be defined for each project and its operating environment.

Development would include protection of sensitive information, permission boundaries, activity records and controlled connections to the client’s existing software. Systems would be designed to require human approval for consequential actions such as issuing a document, changing a record or communicating a decision wherever the organisation’s rules require it.

The laboratory is intended to support the full software development process: requirements analysis, system architecture, development, integration, testing and technical documentation. The programme would combine Super Intelligence models and agents with the applications, interfaces and data connections needed to make them useful in a real organisation.

Prototypes would be evaluated against agreed tasks, representative data and measurable acceptance criteria before any operational deployment. Work would cover the quality of answers, traceability of sources, access restrictions, failure handling, performance and the ability of a person to review or interrupt an automated process. Demonstrations, operator training and ongoing technical support would form part of project delivery.

Cybersecurity is planned as an integral part of the laboratory’s work, covering the application, its infrastructure, connected tools and the agents themselves. The technical programme would include secure architecture, controlled security testing, protection against malicious instructions, prevention of unauthorised information disclosure and monitoring of system behaviour.

Prospective applications include institutional document workflows, enterprise knowledge systems, industrial analysis and support for energy and infrastructure projects. Each application would be developed around its own requirements and validation process. Research and demonstrations at Augusto are intended to help move these ideas towards dependable, maintainable software for specific client needs.

The planned laboratory is intended to connect work in Sicily with R. Rockefeller S.C.’s engineering, institutional and commercial relationships across Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Milazzo would provide a European base for technical collaboration, demonstrations and specialist training, linking local campus activity with the Group’s wider engineering capabilities. The regional connection is a development objective, intended to support future research, technology partnerships and project delivery as the laboratory takes shape.

The strategic partnership and the laboratory’s operating structure are being defined. The proposed model envisages R. Rockefeller S.C. Europe coordinating technical direction, specialist expertise and software development, with Augusto providing the local spaces and infrastructure for the programme.

The European Super Intelligence laboratory described here is a project in development. Its facilities, technical programme and implementation will be established through the partnership process, with activities introduced as the necessary spaces, infrastructure and project arrangements become available.

The campus artwork presents the architectural vision for Augusto Innovation Hub. The dedicated Augusto project page provides the broader campus context, including its technology, research and energy programme.