Microsoft Elevate brings AI to Italian schools with Fondazione Mondo Digitale
Today, at the 51st Cernobbio Forum (5-7 September), Microsoft presented Microsoft Elevate, the global programme dedicated to spreading skills and tools to tackle the new AI economy. In Italy, the initiative aims to train over 400,000 people in two years, with a strategic investment in education, the third sector and the workforce.
‘Teachers are key to preparing the next generation,’ explains the press release. ‘In collaboration with Fondazione Mondo Digitale, Microsoft is launching training courses for teachers, with a particular focus on disadvantaged contexts, to integrate AI into teaching and everyday work through a network of over 30 training hubs in schools across the country.’
This has led to the creation of Ital.IA Lab for School, an evolution of the Ital.IA Lab project carried out in the previous two years. The new project was created in response to a clear gap: according to data compiled by GoStudent, 81% of Italian students use AI-based tools, but only 28% develop skills for using them in the classroom. Furthermore, two-thirds of teachers say they do not have adequate training and only 34% feel ready to tackle these issues.
Ital.IA Lab for School is a widespread laboratory for the ethical and inclusive adoption of artificial intelligence in schools. Thanks to short and flexible modules, which can also be accessed online, teachers can acquire practical skills to transfer to teaching and work organisation. A central role is entrusted to teacher ambassadors, who spread the skills they have acquired among colleagues and students, generating a multiplier effect on the entire school community.
A distinctive feature of the project is the micro-certification system: each course, lasting a minimum of 45 minutes, allows teachers to obtain recognised digital credentials, aligned with the main national and European frameworks. In this way, Ital.IA Lab for School contributes to strengthening the integrated training ecosystem promoted by Fondazione Mondo Digitale, which anticipates the update of the European DigComp 3.0 framework and accompanies the extension of the Digital Licence, an Agcom initiative created for students and which the Foundation is gradually extending to teachers and parents.
In the two-year period 2025-2027, Ital.IA Lab for School aims to involve 50,000 teachers and students and issue 28,000 micro-certifications, strengthening the role of schools as a strategic lever for innovation in the country and for building informed digital citizenship.
