The Bocconi Alumnus Who Has Digitized the Time Capsule

A BOX TO BE FILLED WITH PICTURES, VIDEOS AND TEXTS, AND TO BE OPENED UP TO 50 YEARS LATER. IT'S FRIIIS, THE STARTUP THAT CHALLENGES THE EXCESS OF DATA CHARACTERIZING THE MODERN ERA AND CREATED BY ENRICO TRICARICO AND THREE FRIENDS AND ENTREPRENEURS

To freeze and store a memory in order to re-experience it at some future date right when it may seemed blurred by time passing; that’s the purpose of Friiis, the startup designed and founded by Enrico Tricarico -who graduated in Economics from Bocconi in 1996 - and by three of his friends and entrepreneurs, Roberto Merlini, Massimiliano Negrini and Luca Mastrangelo. Friiis, Italianization of the word 'freeze', is based on a web platform that can contain images, videos, music, voices, texts and everything that can be digitized. "It’s a sort of Anglo-Saxon style time capsule, but digital, aimed at freezing memories that we do not want to lose", says Enrico.

The first step is choosing the elements with which to "keep alive" a memory, for example of a wedding, a graduation or any special day; second step is deciding the return date of the time capsule, which can range from 5 to 50 years, and before which no one can open it. It is also possible to share the time capsule with one or more other participants. “In this way, at a time when we tend to accumulate huge amounts of files and photos that we often lose in the electronic memories of our devices, with Friiis we can let our son relive his first day of school 20 years later", he continues. One of the first people who tested this technology is a friend of the four founders; she offered an empty Friiis to each of the 60 guests during her wedding, “in this way she will be able to re-experience that day through the eyes of each of the guests”.

The idea of Friiis came out when, sorting out the attic of his grandparents’ house, Enrico found a tin box with black and white photos, two postcards, a train ticket, some military insignia and some coins. "I thought that it would have been nice to find out which memory my grandparents wanted to preserve through those objects”.
 

by Benedetta Ciotto