Sixth edition of the national award organised by Anitec-Assinform
Once again this year, the director of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, Mirta Michilli, served on the judging panel for the National Digital Innovation Award organised by Anitec-Assinform in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Merit (MIM). Now in its sixth edition, the award supports a programme in Italian upper secondary schools to introduce pupils to STEM subjects, in collaboration with the National Youth Council, Save the Children, ScuolaZoo, Steamiamoci and, of course, the Fondazione Mondo Digitale. Each project submitted was carried out in collaboration with one or more companies in the technology sector, fostering a virtuous ecosystem between education and the business world.
The awards ceremony took place last Friday, 22 May, at the Zest Hub in Rome (Via Marsala 29H), with Marta Pietrelli representing the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, who presented one of the awards. Up for grabs were grants of €2,500 for each of the four winning projects, to be used to cover, even partially, the costs of implementing the project or to purchase digital technologies for the winning school, as well as involvement in Anitec-Assinform initiatives.
The competition categories reflected the key challenges of the digital transition:
- Sustainability: digital innovation for a greener and more responsible future: won by the IISS Galileo Ferraris in Molfetta, Bari, with GreenDrop
- Digital Education and Online Safety: won by the ITA Giuseppe Vivarelli in Fabriano, Ancona, with Marche School Network
- ICT for Inclusion and Accessibility: won by the ‘Antonio Monaco’ Technical Industrial Institute in Cosenza with UrbanAI
- Digital & Data Science, Data Economics: won by the ITIS Giuseppe Armellini in Rome with StudIA, with a joint second place for the IIS Euclide in Bova Marina (RC) with Smart Shelf.
Teacher Luana Milani from the Fermi Sacconi CPIA in Ascoli Piceno was also awarded for the Apiamoci project. A special mention went to teachers Tiziana Condemi and Adriana Guagliardi from the Galileo Ferraris in Molfetta.
“This year, schools’ interest in the award has grown even further: we received 51 entries from upper secondary schools and the participation of 43 schools spread across 14 regions of Italy,” began Ludovica Busnach, Vice-President of Anitec-Assinform with responsibility for Digital Skills for business growth and inclusion, “this day is designed for you young people. In analysing the projects submitted, we found them to be highly consistent with the proposed themes. We believe that it will be typically human skills that make the difference in the professions of the future, and that simply training and updating one’s skills will not be enough. Only in this way can the skills mismatch that characterises the IT market be bridged: today, over 200,000 job vacancies are not being filled by the right candidates! These are great opportunities that must be seized, which is why we consider a project that builds a bridge between schools and the world of work to be essential. We are enthusiastic about your proposals and are particularly pleased that the number of female participants is growing year on year.”
Riccardo Di Stefano, Chair of the Evaluation Committee and Vice-Chair for Education and Open Innovation at Confindustria, urged the young people present to always push their limits, dedicating a thought to the innovative teachers who were awarded a special recognition this year: “Behind every project, there has been a strong commitment from the teachers. Practical training has turned the student-teacher relationship on its head. This time, the teacher is a team-mate and no longer an assessor. Today, our companies use collaborative robots and can be considered fast movers in the economy and society; our mission is therefore to support innovation in the country. But for Italian industry, it is you young people who are the only truly essential fuel.”
In her closing remarks, Letizia Pizzi, General Manager of Anitec-Assinform, urged schools to apply for the next edition of the award, starting in October.
The project awarded by Marta Pietrelli, Marche School Network of the ITA Giuseppe Vivarelli in Fabriano, in collaboration with the companies Aruba Spa and Meg Software Srl, was conceived during the drafting of a book dedicated to online scams and the risks of the internet, in which each threat is contextualised through an original narrative story. “The work includes transcripts of exclusive interviews with the head of the Ancona Postal Police. Our vision is to expand this project by involving other schools to enrich the text with new testimonies and content, and then to print and distribute it. Building on the experience gained with our school newspaper (Il Cappuccino), we would like to develop the project into an inter-school collaborative platform dedicated to content creation and the organisation of initiatives on digital education and the responsible use of the web,” explained the students on stage, Margherita Paggi and Fabio Pittori, from class 5B at Vivarelli.
The evaluation committee
- Riccardo Di Stefano, Confindustria, Delegate for Education and Open Innovation), Chair
- Anna Brancaccio, Ministry of Education and Merit
- Ludovica Busnach, Anitec-Assinform, Vice-Chair with responsibility for Digital Skills for business growth and inclusion
- Edoardo Italia, National Youth Council, Chair
- Mirta Michilli, Fondazione Mondo Digitale, Director General)
- Daniele Timarco, Save the Children Italia, Director of National Programmes
