MyZubster and Zorgax From Open Source AI to LIFE Pilots for the Circular Economy
Artificial intelligence is often presented as a tool for automating processes, generating content, or improving business efficiency. Its most interesting potential, however, emerges when it is connected to concrete challenges: water management, environmental data traceability, cooperation between institutions and companies, citizen participation, and the ability to turn an experimental project into a solution that can be replicated.
This is the space in which MyZubster is being developed: an open-source ecosystem combining artificial intelligence, collaborative tools, IoT, digital identity, immersive environments, and evidence-collection systems. At the centre of the ecosystem is Zorgax, an assistance and knowledge layer designed to help people and organisations understand procedures, data, responsibilities, and measurable results.
The project is not intended to replace researchers, engineers, or public institutions. Its purpose is to provide a digital infrastructure that makes collaboration easier, environmental impacts more measurable, and project results more transparent and replicable.
From a Digital Prototype to a Real-World Challenge
Many technology projects remain at the demonstration stage. A product, interface, or artificial intelligence model is presented, but it is not always clear how the tool can be used by a laboratory, organisation, or local community.
MyZubster is taking a different approach: starting from a concrete application context and identifying which digital tools can genuinely support a real-world project.
The first area being explored is water and the circular economy, potentially combining a territorial and agri-food pilot. The proposal is still exploratory, and no coordinator or partner has been formally confirmed. However, the work is already helping define a clearer structure:
- a demonstration site where real data can be collected;
- scientific expertise to validate processes and indicators;
- an organisation with experience managing European projects;
- a digital layer for collecting, organising, and explaining evidence;
- a communication and participation model for operators and citizens.
This distinction is essential. A LIFE project cannot be based only on a promising technological idea. It must demonstrate environmental impact, process quality, replicability, and organisational sustainability.
The Role of Zorgax
Zorgax is conceived as an interface between people, data, and procedures. In complex projects, information is often distributed across documents, spreadsheets, sensors, technical reports, emails, and different management systems. This fragmentation makes it difficult to understand who is responsible for each activity, which data is available, and which results can actually be verified.
Zorgax could support five main functions.
1. Guided Data Collection
Operators, researchers, and participants could use simple interfaces to record measurements, observations, completed activities, and anomalies. Each piece of information could be associated with a date, a responsible person, and, where possible, its source.
The goal is not to collect information indiscriminately, but to improve the quality and traceability of the information that is genuinely needed.
2. Connecting Baselines and Indicators
Every environmental project needs a baseline and a set of indicators capable of measuring change. Zorgax could help connect the starting conditions with pilot activities, showing which data is needed for a specific indicator and which information is still missing.
The validation of indicators would remain the responsibility of scientific experts and competent authorities.
3. Supporting Operators
Technical and administrative procedures can be difficult to follow, especially when several organisations are involved. An AI assistant could provide contextual instructions, explain terminology, remind users of operational deadlines, and direct requests to the appropriate contact person.
In this model, AI would not make autonomous decisions on scientific or regulatory matters. It would instead identify when human review is required.
4. Engaging Partners and Citizens
A European project must also be understandable to people outside the technical team. Zorgax could provide different user journeys: a researcher might need data and methodologies; an operator might need practical instructions; a citizen might need clear information about the purpose and results of the pilot.
Participation should not be measured only by the number of visits or logins. It should also include feedback, completed activities, information requests, and documented contributions.
5. Supporting Replication
The value of a LIFE pilot is not limited to what happens in one location. It is also necessary to understand whether the solution can be transferred to other territories, under which conditions, at what cost, and with which limitations.
A digital infrastructure can help document responsibilities, procedures, data, requirements, and outcomes, creating a replication package for other contexts.
A LIFE Proposal Still in Development
MyZubster is exploring a possible LIFE 2027 proposal, but it is important to distinguish between candidates being contacted and partners that have actually confirmed their participation.
This is not merely a communication precaution. It is a requirement for building a credible consortium. A European proposal must clearly show which organisations have expressed concrete interest, which are still being evaluated, and which may only be involved at a later stage.
The possible consortium architecture includes:
- a coordinator with technical and administrative LIFE experience;
- an organisation able to host or support the demonstration pilot;
- scientific expertise for process and data validation;
- an LCA/LCSA partner responsible for baselines and KPIs;
- an industrial or water-utility partner able to provide infrastructure and real data;
- MyZubster as the digital, monitoring, communication, and participation layer;
- local organisations to be involved only after technical and safety conditions have been defined.
Potential candidates include organisations active in water management, circular economy, applied research, and European project coordination. The objective is not to collect as many names as possible, but to identify a small number of organisations with verifiable responsibilities.
The Hearing on the Italian AI Strategy
MyZubster has been invited to participate in an institutional hearing connected to the update of the Italian National Artificial Intelligence Strategy for 2026–2028. The hearing will take place on 22 September 2026 and provides an opportunity to present the project not only as a digital platform, but as a potential use case for AI applied to a concrete environmental initiative.
The purpose is not to ask the Committee to become a LIFE partner or to act as project coordinator. That would be premature and would not reflect the nature of the hearing.
The most useful request concerns orientation and introductions:
- the Italian LIFE National Contact Point;
- public bodies with environmental expertise;
- Italian organisations that have already coordinated European projects;
- institutions able to assess the methodological quality of the pilot;
- networks and programmes aligned with circular water management.
In this way, the AI hearing can also contribute indirectly to the construction of the LIFE consortium.
Why an Experienced Coordinator Matters
Technological quality alone is not enough to coordinate a European proposal. A coordinator must be able to manage budgets, reporting, responsibilities, partner relationships, deadlines, indicators, and communication with the European Commission.
For this reason, MyZubster is evaluating Italian organisations that have already participated in or coordinated LIFE and other European projects related to water, waste, circular economy, and sustainability.
One candidate is Agrosistemi, which coordinated LIFE FREEDOM, a project focused on wastewater sludge treatment and the recovery of higher-value materials. Another potential interlocutor is Gruppo CAP, which manages integrated water services and works on circular-economy initiatives. ISPRA could provide environmental and methodological expertise, while CNR ISPA Milano could contribute to microbiology, food safety, fermentation, and the transition from laboratory to pilot scale.
None of these roles should be presented as confirmed. The current phase is specifically intended to verify expertise, availability, and compatibility with the project.
Human-in-the-Loop AI
One of the central principles of the proposal is human-in-the-loop AI. Artificial intelligence can help organise information, explain procedures, identify anomalies, and facilitate collaboration, but it should not be presented as an autonomous authority.
In an environmental project, this means:
- making data provenance explicit;
- identifying when an answer is generated or suggested by AI;
- requiring human review for technical and regulatory decisions;
- keeping a record of changes and approvals;
- distinguishing observed data from estimates and interpretations;
- protecting personal and sensitive information.
These principles matter not only for safety but also for trust. A system that claims to know everything can be less useful than one that clearly communicates its limits.
From Vision to Measurable Results
The next objective for MyZubster is not to keep adding features without a clear direction. It is to turn what has already been developed into measurable results.
This requires an organised process:
- select one priority pilot scenario;
- identify a potential coordinator;
- define the demonstration site and available data;
- establish the baseline, KPIs, and responsibilities;
- verify regulatory and safety requirements;
- involve the relevant scientific partners;
- design the minimum digital system required;
- test the workflow with real operators;
- collect evidence;
- assess replication and sustainability.
The MyZubster platform, the metaverse, digital characters, videos, and public interfaces can support communication and participation. However, the project’s value will depend on connecting these components to a concrete and measurable pilot.
An Open Infrastructure for Real Projects
MyZubster is based on the idea that open source should not be limited to publishing code. An open ecosystem can also include documentation, data, procedures, responsibilities, decisions, results, and opportunities for participation.
Zorgax represents an attempt to build an AI layer that makes this infrastructure more accessible, especially for people without advanced technical expertise.
The challenge is ambitious, but the process must remain concrete: fewer generic claims, more clearly defined responsibilities; fewer premature promises, more evidence; less hidden complexity, more traceability.
If the project succeeds in turning an initial pilot into a replicable methodology, MyZubster could demonstrate how AI, open source, and local collaboration can support European initiatives with real environmental impact.
The work is still ongoing. The consortium has to be completed, a coordinator has to be identified, and the pilot has to be precisely defined. But the direction is clear: to build a digital infrastructure that helps people, organisations, and territories collaborate more effectively on challenges that require science, technology, and shared responsibility.
