Upskill Piemonte: 4 companies launch digital “challenges” for Secondary Technical School students
Fondazione Sviluppo e Crescita CRT, Upskill 4.0 and UniCredit launch the Upskill Piemonte project to promote the region and develop young people’s technical and professional skills.
Four companies from the agri-food and tourism sectors are are launching digital challenges to the students of the Istituti Tecnici Superiori (ITS): the aim is to enhance region’s excellent food, wine and landscape, promote innovation in leading sectors and improve young people’s skills to reduce the gap between training supply and business demand.
The “Upskill Piemonte” project, created by Fondazione Sviluppo e Crescita CRT with Upskill 4.0, a spin-off of Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, in partnership with UniCredit, is now up and running.
The companies involved are “AV GROUP SRL” and “Sapori d’Italia srl” for the tourism and hospitality sector; “Gallesio Sandro azienda agricola” and “Rete Agricola Biellese” for the agri-food sector.
The four project tasks range from enhancing the Alta Langa area and the Piedmont PGI hazelnut and promoting agricultural networks in the Biella region, to encouraging cycle-tourism on Lake Maggiore, creating a 2.0 brand identity in the Novara region. These projects aim at new forms of experiential marketing and digital communication to promote places, knowledge and responsible consumption with full respect for the environment and labour.
The four selected companies will work with students for four months (from October 2022 to the end of January 2023), from four different schools (ITS) through the platform developed by Upskill 4.0, following Design Thinking, a method for managing innovation processes that combines people’s needs with the possibilities of technology. The schools and the companies will be supported up to the creation of prototypes by “Upskill 4.0” project managers in the different steps.
4 companies for 4 project challenges
Agri-food sector
GALLESIO SANDRO AZIENDA AGRICOLA
The Gallesio Sandro farm in Benevello (Cuneo) processes the Piedmont PGI hazelnut. It is a family business that sells the products made with the raw material from its own hazelnut cultivation, online and offline.
The challenge of the project is to enhance the Alta Langa area and the conscious consumption of Piedmont IGP hazelnut by promoting innovative experiences on digital communication channels. The aim is to create a brand positioning that best reflects the organoleptic qualities of the “Tonda Gentile” (or “Trilobata”) hazelnut and the uniqueness of its cultivation in the area.
BIELLA AGRICULTURAL NETWORK
“Teritori” is the first organic farming network in the Biella region, established in 2017 from the union of five companies to promote products made from local raw materials and production systems that respect the land, the environment and people’s work, guaranteeing traceability of the entire supply chain. The network produces goat and cow cheese, milk and yoghurt, meat and cold cuts, flours, bread and bakery products, vegetables and fruit, wines, as well as shelves, packaging, furniture and houses made from Piedmontese wood.
The project challenge is based on new offline formats and online communication, to encourage consumers to visit the production sites of the agricultural network, to learn about the traceability of the products and the raw materials used.
Tourism and hospitality sector
SAPORI D’ITALIA SRL
“Sapori d’Italia” is a travel agency in Stresa (Verbano-Cusio-Ossola) that specialises in organising activities on the shores of Lake Maggiore, from trekking to sailing and cycling tours. The agency provides its clients with guides who are familiar with the area to ensure an authentic experience of the places.
The project aims to promote cycling tourism in the Stresa area and to promote the region as a destination for sustainable tourism by helping tourists to find the most suitable cycling routes for their needs (duration, difficulty, interests, attention to children, type of bike).
AV GROUP SRL
“AV GROUP” is a family business in Orta San Giulio (Novara) consisting of a restaurant and a hotel offering traditional cuisine in a family atmosphere.
The project aims to use digital communication tools to create a brand identity for the region.