The Fondazione Mondo Digitale and Google have united their forces to increase digital skills, fight school dropouts, develop educational and professional training activities for young individuals who are on the sidelines of Italian education and work and improve innovation in Italian craftsmanship. The initiative has been organized in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) , the Regione Lazio and Roma Capitale .
Starting in 2015, young men and women will be able to participate in dozens of courses and hundreds of activities developed by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale and Google, in partnership with local and national Italian institutions.
Entrepreneurs, coaches, makers, management experts and professors will hold labs and workshops to retrain young men and women with digital skills and knowledge. Thousands of young individuals will be able to enjoy a true immersive experience and discover the opportunities provided by the digital economy for employment and the chance to interact directly with companies and professionals.
Moreover, the project will also strive to match young individuals with traditional enterprises to develop new work styles and help the “Made in Italy” production system to integrate digital tools into their productive processes.
The “Call for Youth” will begin registering interested young men and women on the FMD Portal:
www.mondodigitale.org . All educational activities will be held in Rome.
“We have been introducing traditional craftsmen to digital tools for a while now and we are hedging our bets on young men and women to act as digital evangelizers for the Italian economy,” explains Giorgia Abeltino, Institutional Relations and Regulatory Affairs Manager for Google in Italy. “Today, together with the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, we are launching a new pilot project that uses technology to promote social innovation and web skills in Italian enterprises. This initiative aims to provide youth with training to increase their employability, as well as provide ideas and experiences for innovation in schools.”
“It can be defined as the first gravitational programme for work,” adds Alfonso Molina, Professor of Technology Strategy, University of Edinburgh and Scientific Director, Fondazione Mondo Digitale. “We want to involve, no, attract thousands of young men and women that are orbiting outside of the Italian system - for any number of reasons from students repeating school years to dropouts, from short-term contract workers to unemployed individuals – and provide them with a concrete environment for personal growth and professional requalification.”
“Fighting school dropouts is one of the priorities that makes it necessary to experiment with new strategies,” explains Italian Education, University and Research Minister Stefania Giannini. “We must reach a result as quickly as possible and with the greatest efficacy because we are not close enough to the objectives set by the European Union. It would also be useful to renew all the projects that provide answers to the needs of “lost” youth and orient them towards the digital professions. This is what we are trying to do with the “La Buona Scuola” Plan that aims to strengthen laboratory and work-school alternance experiences.”
“This initiative to digitally train young men and women,” points our Regione Lazio President Nicola Zingaretti “is completely in line with our commitment to increase employment and our measures for youth implemented through the European “Garanzia Giovani” Programme. The many young men and women participating in the project are a fantastic resource to improve innovation in Lazio enterprises and promote local development. The future of employment depends on quality education and matching work supply and demand. Investing in new digital professions is fundamental to produce innovation and make our productive system as competitive as possible.”
The calls developed by the FMD,” explains Mayor of Rome Ignazio Marino, “provide answers to the fundamental need of our era: connecting youth with the working world by exploiting their best resource, their propensity to innovate. This project, which develops professional digital skills, will serve as a reference point for work. It is perfect for the young men and women, students and citizens of Rome and in the long run for all of Italy. We must find our place in the world of digital networks, both as users and workers, and every initiative that contributes to this objective will be supported by the City of Rome.”
