PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Luigi Atzori

Luigi Atzori is a professor of telecommunications at the University of Cagliari who studies the Internet of Things and the quality of experience of multimedia services, with recent papers on machine learning for video-streaming quality prediction and on artificial social intelligence. After a PhD at Cagliari in 2000 and a Fulbright period at the University of Arizona in 2003–2004, he co-wrote the 2010 survey "The Internet of Things: A survey" with Antonio Iera and Giacomo Morabito. He coordinated the QoE-Net training network from 2015 to 2018, and his work on the Social IoT paradigm designs algorithms for social networks among connected devices. Elsevier's 2025 list of the top 2% most-cited scientists includes him. He is Director of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Cagliari and leads the Net4U laboratory.

Now at
University of Cagliari and CTE Cagliari Digital Lab
Badges

Timeline

  1. 2000–2004

    PhD at Cagliari, Fulbright in Arizona

    He earns a PhD in electronic engineering and computer science at the University of Cagliari in 2000. From November 2003 to May 2004, he is a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Arizona.

  2. 2010

    The Internet of Things survey

    In 2010, he publishes "The Internet of Things: A survey" in Computer Networks, with Antonio Iera and Giacomo Morabito. The survey reports different visions of the Internet of Things paradigm and reviews its enabling technologies.

  3. 2015–2018

    Coordinating the QoE-Net network

    From 2015 to 2018, he coordinates QoE-Net, a Marie Curie Initial Training Network on quality of experience for multimedia services that involves ten European institutions and one in South Korea. The project, funded under H2020-MSCA-ITN-2014, addresses video streaming, IPTV, social networking and mobile gaming.

  4. 2018–2024

    GreenShare and a master's program

    From 2018 to 2024, he coordinates the master's degree program in Internet Technology Engineering at Cagliari. By 2019, he is also a founding partner and CIO of GreenShare, a spinoff that provides IoT services in the sustainable mobility sector.

  5. 2021–2025

    Machine learning for IoT and quality

    In 2021, he coauthors "IoT-Enabled Social Relationships Meet Artificial Social Intelligence" with Sahraoui Dhelim, Huansheng Ning and others; it reviews social-oriented machine-learning and deep-learning techniques for IoT. In 2022, he coauthors a tutorial on supervised-learning prediction of video-streaming quality of experience with Arslan Ahmad and others. In 2025, he coauthors with MohammadAli Hamidi, Hadi Amirpour and Christian Timmerer a face image quality assessment method built on an ensemble of two compact convolutional neural networks.

  6. By 2022

    Net4U and the Social IoT

    By 2022, he leads the Net4U (Network for Humans) laboratory at Cagliari, with around 20 affiliated researchers. His work on the Social IoT paradigm designs algorithms for social networks among connected devices, and his IoT and Social IoT works have received more than 20K citations.

  7. 2025

    Elsevier's top 2% list

    The August 2025 update of Elsevier's science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators places him among the top 2% most-cited scientists worldwide, for both career-long impact and single-year impact in 2024.

  8. Since 2025

    Department director at Cagliari

    A full professor of telecommunications, he is Director of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Cagliari and Scientific Director of CTE Cagliari Digital Lab. He leads the Net4U (Networks for Humans) laboratory. His research interests include Edge Intelligence, the Internet of Things, smart mobility, quality of experience, and immersive multimedia and the metaverse.

Career

  1. Since 2025CTE Cagliari Digital LabScientific Director
  2. Since 2018University of CagliariCoordinator of the master's degree program in Internet Technology Engineering, Director
  3. From 2019GreenShareFounding partner and CIO
  4. 2003–2004University of ArizonaFulbright Visiting Scholar

Education

  1. 2000University of CagliariPhD

From the biography.

  1. 11% of AI doctorate holders from 2010 to 2016 founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduationIncludes Luigi Atzori. We estimate how often AI doctorate holders founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduation, how waiting times compare between founders and top jobs, and which universities trained the most.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Cagliari. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Cagliari. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Arizona. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Luigi Atzori yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Séminaire R3S – Exposé par M. Luigi ATZORI – SAMOVAR samovar.telecom-sudparis.eu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. The Internet of Things: A survey - 2010 | slogix slogix.in. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Luigi Atzori – Lab director – Net4U sites.unica.it. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. QoE-Net – Net4U sites.unica.it. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Luigi Atzori – 5G Italy 2019 5gitaly.eu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Prof. Luigi Atzori appointed Director of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Cagliari – Net4U sites.unica.it. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. [2103.01776] IoT-Enabled Social Relationships Meet Artificial Social Intelligence arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. [2202.02454] Supervised Learning based QoE Prediction of Video Streaming in Future Networks: A Tutorial with Comparative Study arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. [2509.10114] A Lightweight Ensemble-Based Face Image Quality Assessment Method with Correlation-Aware Loss arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. Luigi Atzori – 5G Italy 2022 5gitaly.eu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  11. Excellence in Research: Net4U Scientists Among the World’s Most-Cited – Net4U sites.unica.it. Checked 21 October 2026.