Speaker
Speaker Info
- Name
- Elio Salvadori
- Organization
- Fondazione Bruno Kessler
- Country
- Italy
- Biography
- Elio Salvadori (PEng, PhD, EMBA) is a Principal Research Fellow at Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), working within the Digital Health & Wellbeing research center. He holds a MSc in Electrical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, a PhD in Information and Communication Technologies from the University of Trento, and an Executive MBA from the same Milan-based institution. He began his career at Nokia Networks before joining CREATE-NET research center in 2005, where he has been acting as Managing Director since 2015 until its incorporation into FBK. He recently co-founded MEEVA, an FBK spin-off focused on XR-based serious games for autistic teens. Over his career, he has coordinated and contributed to numerous European research projects. With more than 120 scientific publications, his research has evolved from computer networking technologies to immersive digital tools for mental health in recent years.
- www.linkedin.com/in/esalvadori
Photo
- Photo
Presentation Info
- Title
- GAMEON: Bridging Digital Gaming and Real-World Skills for Autistic Individuals
- Summary
- Autistic individuals frequently face significant challenges in social interactions, communication, and executive functioning, alongside high rates of anxiety. While early psycho-educational support is vital, access is often difficult, and conventional interventions are limited by low patient motivation and challenges in generalizing learned skills to daily routines. Digital games are emerging as a promising, complementary strategy due to their inherent engaging nature, which boosts adherence and cognitive function. However, a critical gap exists: serious games developed specifically for autism often lack the robust gameplay experience of entertainment games, making them less user-friendly. Despite evidence that entertainment games can also foster skill improvement, their integration into formal support remains limited, and stakeholders often lack awareness of their benefits. The GAMEON Erasmus+ project addresses these limitations by innovating support through a novel digital approach. Instead of developing another ad-hoc serious game, GAMEON uses video game modding of established entertainment titles. This strategy significantly enhances sustainability and accessibility via popular marketplaces. GAMEON pioneers a blended learning experience designed to overcome skill generalization issues. This approach links digital game progress with real-life, gamified missions. By blending the virtual experience with gradual exposure to real-life challenging activities, GAMEON aims to demonstrate if skill acquisition can be transferred between the two domains. A preliminary 6-month results will be presented, including a comprehensive guide providing a framework for assessing and selecting suitable games, alongside a preliminary cross-country report summarizing the findings and common patterns that emerged from needs analysis workshops performed with the autistic community.
- Keynote
- Presentation
- GFHEU Year
- 2026
Info
- Info