Nicola Palmarini is the Director of UK's National Innovation Centre for Ageing (NICA) – a world leading organisation supported by an initial investment from UK Government and Newcastle University – to help co-develop and bring to market products and services which enhance and improve all aspects of life for our ageing societies. The Centre aims to bring together cross-competence professionals and researchers, commercialization experts, scientists, innovators and technologists working closely together with the public in a seamless way, exchanging their intelligence and backgrounds. Before, he was research manager at the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, a $250 million academic-industry partnership for the responsible advancement of artificial intelligence. Trained in social studies and business communication, he developed a deep expertise in leading heterogeneous teams and connecting dots across disciplines to bridge academic and industrial research with real-world applications to deliver return-on-community and return-on-business with a specific focus on longevity and the coming effects and opportunities of the demographic revolution. He holds a decade of experience in research on supporting older adults’ autonomy and independence, leading a global team to develop Human Activity Recognition techniques dedicated to older adults based on AI applied to IoT data. He is an author, teacher, applied research scientist and his main areas of research are: Loneliness as accelerator of physical and cognitive diseases, Ageism, Aging & economic factors, Aging women and workplace, Ethics and AI. The work of his teams has twice been awarded the Computer Honors Award, at the United Nations for Aging Initiative and received the Disability Matters - Market Place Award.
He is the author of five books and member of several boards included the Scientific Advisory Committee at McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA), GIMI (Global Management Innovation Institute) and the Scientific Board of Political Sciences and International Relations at Universita' Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan.