With “Eskills4Change” Microsoft and the Fondazione Mondo Digitale will provide over 10,000 young men and women with opportunities for digital education, especially for women and young people in Southern Italy.
Students from 30 schools in 10 Italian Regions will compete to develop innovative and universally accessible technological solutions to simplify the lives of people and provide answers to the social emergences existing in their local contexts.
Fully exploiting the potential of technology to transform it into universally accessible tools that will promote diversity, active participation in society and help young men and women to acquire the fundamental technological skills to access the job market. This is the challenge launched by Eskills4Change, the project developed by Microsoft and the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, that involves over 10,000 young men and women aged 15-24 in aggregative events – both inside and outside of school – to help them experiment and rapidly experientially acquire a mental attitude for change and the fundamental competences necessary to solve problems creatively and innovatively.
The protagonists are 30 schools in 10 Italian Regions, from North to South. Following a training session with Microsoft Experts and Coaches from the FMD Phyrtual Innovation Gym, the students will begin a self-enterprise course to conceive, design and develop highly accessible smart prototypes and services ranging from apps to web sites that will increase business potential, as well as immersive reality artistic experiences and workshops in schools to develop jewellery and clothing with digital manufacturing tools and custom-tailored aides for individuals with special needs. Production labs, hackathons and creativity marathons will be organised to spur student creativity and drive them to devise innovative solutions for citizens, developing a new open and change-oriented mindset focusing on social innovation principles.
“This project is particularly addressed to women and young people living in southern Italian regions. In fact, we are convinced that new technologies represent an accelerator for our country’s social development, a powerful tool to reduce gender differences, provide an answer to social needs and act in difficult areas where the digital divide and youth unemployment remain a problem,” explains
Mirta Michilli, Director General of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale.
“According to a Microsoft research, 65% of students will work in professions that still do not exist. Therefore, to promote change, it is essential that young men and women acquire the competences that will increasingly become fundamental for the job market. Eskills4change was conceived with the objective of promote the opportunities provided by digital tools and new technology amongst young Italians and provide them with concrete benefits that will drive social inclusion and new services for citizens,” explains Silvia Candiani, CEO, Microsoft Italy.
