About

HOC-LAB is a multidisciplinary research laboratory on multimedia communication and innovative education founded in 1997 at the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering of Politecnico di Milano (the largest technical university in Italy).

The lab’s current focus is on the meaningful infusion of technology into the classroom.

We develop tools and services that we bring into real schools, like for example an authoring tool for digital storytelling (1001stories), a video-annotation tools for the flipped classroom (Evoli) or a chatbot to support learner of online courses (TalkyTutor).

In the past, other areas were involved, like cultural heritage and society. In the field of cultural heritage, HOC has cooperated with a number of museums and cultural institutions across Europe, putting into place a “storytelling” approach to cultural heritage communication. In the field of societal issues, HOC was coordinator of a Horizon 2020 project on the prevention, via a “persuasive” tech-based communication, of the cognitive decay of the elderly population, with 6 pilot cities in Europe and Singapore.

School

Cultural heritage

Society

Over the years we have had the privilege of working with and for numerous distinguished centers, institutes, museums. Here are the main ones:

Intel, Microsoft, Epson, Accenture International Foundation, Fondazione Italiana Accenture , the Israel Museum (Jerusalem), the Ministry of Tourism and Culture of Syria, the ministries for Tourism and Culture of Algeria, Cyprus, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Tunisia, Morocco, Syria, the Staatliche Museen in Berlin (Germany), the Lugano Cultural Center (Switzerland), the Cantonal Museum, the Art Museum, the Ethnographic Museum, the Hermann Hesse Museum in Lugano, the General Management for the Antiquities of the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, the Civic Archaeological Museum of Milan, the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana of Milan, the Treasury and Museum of the Cathedral of Monza, the Museums of the Sforzesco Castle in Milan, Arizona State University; University of Georgia at Athens; Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia; University College of London; University of Bologna; University of Lecce; University of Pavia