Coding Girls Heads to University

03/04/2026

3 min.

Business ideas, social impact, and intergenerational dialogue

From training to action. The new Coding Girls & Women program has launched at Sapienza University of Rome in partnership with Job Digital Lab, transforming learning into a hands-on workshop in digital entrepreneurship. The project, developed by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale with ING Italia and in collaboration with the Department of Computer, Automation, and Management Engineering, stems from a joint initiative with Professor Andrea Vitaletti within the university course on Digital Entrepreneurship. This marks an important milestone: Coding Girls & Women is now fully integrated into university curriculum and becomes an integral part of the course requirements.

From idea to prototype: learning by doing

At the heart of the program is the application of the Lean method to design and validate a startup idea. Students do not merely imagine solutions but work on developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), engaging with real users from the very start. An approach that reinforces learning by doing and encourages students to tackle complexity: gathering feedback, adapting ideas, and continuously improving. Making the program even more meaningful is the introduction of the Impact Check, a tool that integrates technical evaluation with social evaluation, asking teams to reflect on inclusion, equity, and the responsible use of technology.

Universities and schools: a learning ecosystem

One of the distinctive features of the 2026 edition is the structured dialogue between universities and schools. University students (37 participants) develop the digital solutions, while approximately 30 high school students join the process in a dual role:

early adopters, testing the prototypes and contributing to validation;
key players in the AI Communication Lab, dedicated to creating content and launch strategies.

This intergenerational exchange transforms Coding Girls into a true learning ecosystem, where digital technology becomes a tool for understanding reality and taking action on it.

From collaboration to the final pitch

The program has already entered its operational phase. Following an initial introduction to the Lean method with Professor Vitaletti, the activities organized by the Foundation began on March 31 with a Lego® Serious Play® workshop, led by facilitator Cecilia Stajano for team building. In the days that followed, the students presented a first draft of their project ideas. The program will culminate on May 20 with Pitch Day at Sapienza:

the university teams will present their MVPs;
each group will be paired with a team of high school students to develop the launch content;
a jury of experts, including representatives from ING, will evaluate the projects.

Mentors, role models, and hybrid skills

Supporting the teams is a group of mentors with complementary skills: Mohamed Fadiga, Massimiliano Di Bitonto, and Luca Magarò, along with ING role models Federico Gorini and Giulia Dalla Piazza. This work integrates technology, entrepreneurship, and communication, also involving students from various academic disciplines to develop more comprehensive and realistic solutions.

A laboratory for responsible innovation

Coding Girls & Women thus proves to be much more than a training program: it is a space where a new concept of innovation is explored. An innovation that is not measured solely in terms of technical effectiveness or economic sustainability, but also in its ability to generate social value. Because designing the future means, first and foremost, learning to view problems through people’s eyes.

Lean Venture Challenge. Inclusive Design Edition

Building on the Digital Entrepreneurship course taught by Prof. Andrea Vitaletti at Sapienza University of Rome, Coding Girls & Women offers an experimental format that combines a practical workshop on the ideation, validation, and prototyping of a startup with an inclusive perspective as an observable variable of the entrepreneurial process. This approach takes shape in the Impact Check, a structured moment of reflection in which teams evaluate the social dimension of the problem addressed, the potential for inclusion and equity in the proposed solutions, and the ethical and responsible use of technology. The Impact Check broadens the evaluation of projects, inviting students to consider not only technical and economic effectiveness but also the value that digital innovation can generate for people and communities. This approach reinforces the shared mission of training a new generation of innovators capable of using digital technology as a lever for positive change, with a focus on equity, sustainability, and the centrality of the human being.

Brick by brick

"The LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP) methodology was integrated into the program to guide students, organized into teams, through a crucial initial phase of team building. Through practical and collaborative activities, participants were able to get to know each other better, recognize individual skills and aptitudes, and begin to define roles and ways of collaborating," explains Cecilia Stajano, community manager for the Fondazione Mondo Digitale and certified facilitator of the LEGO® Serious Play® method. The “brick-by-brick” approach made the value of the design process tangible: a process consisting of progressive, interdependent steps, in which every contribution finds its place and meaning. In this context, the students also began to outline the scope of their final project work, building a shared framework. “The experience clearly demonstrated how structured brainstorming and active listening are not merely methodological tools, but decisive levers for the quality of group work and for effectively responding to a design challenge.”.

Coding Girls Heads to University