Job Digital Lab: the goal is to train 7,000 people and reach 200,000
In an age where answers are everywhere, quick, fluid, well written, true competence lies elsewhere: knowing how to ask the right questions that can guide machines in creating valuable content. Because generative AI systems are not designed to produce truth, but linguistic plausibility. If we do not learn to manage them, we risk what Walter Quattrociocchi, director of the Centre for Data Science and Complexity for Society at Sapienza University of Rome, calls epistemia: the illusion of knowledge, simply because the words are correct and convincing.
It is in this scenario that Job Digital Lab, the free digital training programme created by ING Italia and Fondazione Mondo Digitale, inaugurates its sixth edition with a powerful message: Digital awareness, aware in the digital world. On the one hand, the responsibility of those who design and disseminate technologies; on the other, the awareness of those who use them every day to work, learn and communicate.
The context: from automation to awareness
In Italy, only 45.8% of the population has basic digital skills, compared to a European average of 55.6% (European Commission, Digital Decade Country Report 2024. Italy). On the business front, the adoption of artificial intelligence is growing but still limited: in 2024, only 8.2% of Italian companies with at least 10 employees use AI technologies, compared to 13.5% of the EU27 average (Istat, Businesses and ICT. Year 2024). It is not just a technological gap. It is a gap in awareness.
As the MIT Technology Review writes, we live in an age where knowledge has become a commodity. It is everywhere, from Wikipedia to ChatGPT. But the answers to our questions are increasingly less useful because they are quick, generic and superficial. The real distinctive skill today is what philosopher Luciano Floridi calls semantic capital: the combination of experience, culture, context and memory that allows human beings to give meaning to their choices and prevent technology from flattening them.
Job Digital Lab was created to reduce a skills gap. But today, in the midst of the explosion of artificial intelligence, this is no longer enough. The risk is not just falling behind: it is moving forward in the wrong direction. Adopting powerful tools without clarifying why, to do what, and at what cost in terms of identity, time and meaning. That is why Job Digital Lab has decided to broaden its scope: not only technical training, but also critical training. Because in a fast-paced world, true competence is knowing where to go.
The numbers behind a growing project
Since 2020, Job Digital Lab has trained over 31,000 people in more than 170 training sessions. Ninety per cent of participants say they have improved their digital skills thanks to the programme; the same percentage say they have gained greater confidence in the world of work.
The 2026 edition aims to train 7,000 people and reach 200,000. This ambitious goal is supported by a renewed training programme divided into three thematic areas: women's empowerment, digital inclusion and disability, and digital awareness and education.
What's new in the sixth edition
- Webinars dedicated to the development of digital skills, soft skills and awareness in the use of technology;
- Microlearning content for continuous, flexible learning that is accessible to all;
- Local events for small and medium-sized enterprises, organised with chambers of commerce and local networks, with women in innovation as protagonists;
- Courses on entrepreneurship and female empowerment, in collaboration with the Coding Girls community;
- Contest dedicated to inclusive innovation and accessibility, to promote and bring out young talent;
- Role modelling and mentorship activities with ING professionals and employees, to inspire and accompany participants on their path to growth.
And then? The story of JDL in 25 stories
Job Digital Lab will tell 25 stories this year. The number 25 coincides with a special anniversary for Fondazione Mondo Digitale, which was founded 25 years ago, and for ING Italia in digital banking. Not just stories about people: events, moments, cities visited, ING colleagues, associations met.
A journey through the voices and faces of those who have turned a course into an opportunity, a skill into a job, an idea into a project. From the girls who brought STEM ideas to the company, to the entrepreneurs who innovated their businesses, to those who found a new job or broke down a barrier. Each story answers the question: Is responsible digital possible? The answer is yes.
The launch: first webinar on 29 January
The sixth edition kicks off with the first online training session on 29 January on From data to strategy: transforming information into concrete choices, followed by a tour of local events. The first stop is in Turin in February with a meeting dedicated to SMEs, in collaboration with CNA Torino, entitled: SMEs, artificial intelligence and the need to ask the right questions. Starting from the daily activities of businesses - administration, communication, internal management - we will explore the “before and after” of using AI, to understand how it can support business continuity by making processes clearer, more efficient and transferable to new generations.
At the end of the event, businesses will be able to continue with a series of three webinars: Artificial intelligence for SMEs: from the basics to application in business processes, up to the creation of their first AI agent.
Job Digital Lab training is free and open to everyone without access restrictions
Anyone can participate, because JDL training is designed for a wide and diverse audience: citizens, university and secondary school students, women, entrepreneurs and workers in small and medium-sized enterprises, and job seekers.
To find out more and stay up to date on available courses, bookmark the project page.
You can also follow the Job Digital Lab blog, which is like a logbook, where you can find success stories and digital transformation stories, updates on events and training products, as well as articles and analyses by industry experts.
