Project in Niscemi to supercharge the “Made in Italy High School”

Around 300 students, along with representatives from institutions, the education sector, business, and innovation, gathered in Niscemi (Sicily) for the launch of a project to supercharge the “Made in Italy High School” in Sicily, the only such initiative in the province of Caltanissetta. The scheme aims to boost awareness and appeal, while offering new career guidance opportunities to students in the area.

Student-focused programme

The Niscemi event launched a programme involving around 50 students aged 13 to 17 from “Made in Italy High School IIS Eschilo” in Gela and “IIS Leonardo Da Vinci” in Niscemi, as well as lower secondary schools in the area. Through business education and activities designed to boost personal empowerment, the selected students will gain skills to face their future with greater awareness, spanning proactivity, managing uncertainty, the ability to learn from mistakes, innovation, and building soft skills such as teamwork, problem-solving and communication.

The initiative is delivered by Eni through the Joule School of Entrepreneurship, in collaboration with the education system and the Sicilian entrepreneurial ecosystem, with the involvement of EniScuola and Eni Corporate University.

The project was launched at the initiative of the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (MIMIT) and in collaboration with the Foundation for Enterprises and Skills for Made in Italy, and forms part of the series of initiatives developed in the Gela area over the years by Eni, through Joule, in the fields of entrepreneurial education and innovation.

The programme is designed not only to bring young people closer to business culture but also to provide them with practical tools to understand their aptitudes, explore professional and entrepreneurial opportunities, and guide them in choosing their educational path.

“The future is not built merely by transferring knowledge, but by creating the conditions for girls and boys to experiment, challenge themselves, learn from mistakes, and turn ideas into projects of value for the local area,” said Mattia Voltaggio, Head of Joule, Eni’s School of Entrepreneurship.

The presentation event, titled "Design. Create. Develop" saw students take centre stage in a day of first-hand reports and discussion. Proceedings were opened by a video message from the Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso. Particular focus was given to dialogue between high school students on the theme of Made in Italy and the presentation of "Mission: Made in Italy Enterprises", the contest that will accompany the project and enable students to engage directly with generating and developing business ideas.

The day also explored the connection between Made in Italy, Made in Sicily and innovation, through testimonies from the local business community and research sector, with contributions from European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano and Chiara Cocchiara, Senior Innovation Officer at the ESA.

The event concluded with a discussion with local institutions, featuring the Mayors of Niscemi and Gela, Massimiliano Valentino Conti and Giuseppe Terenziano Di Stefano, and the Regional School Office, with a view to building a shared pathway capable of networking the area, schools, businesses and institutions.

“Bringing a project like this to Niscemi means investing in young people’s ability to imagine their own future and, at the same time, in the future of a region,” said Giovanni Brugnoli, Chairman of the Foundation for Enterprises and Skills for Made in Italy. “The Made in Italy High School can be a tangible opportunity to connect education, a culture of proactivity, innovation and the identity of local areas.”