Today sees the launch of the first Italy’s Digital High School: knowledge in the sciences and humanities, working together for the future

Rome  30 September 2022 12:54

This initiative, originating from a proposal by Leonardo-Civiltà delle Macchine Foundation, was brought to fruition in synergy with Leonardo, the Italian Ministry of Education and Istituto Matteucci in Rome. The aim is to promote a dialogue between scientific, technical and humanistic subjects, all fundamental in ensuring a sustainable future. Thirty students will make up the first class of this course of study, which will have a five-year duration

 

Istituto Matteucci in Rome is set to trial Italy’s first scholastic course of studies entitled “Digital High School” (“Liceo Digitale”). Originating from a proposal by Leonardo-Civiltà delle Macchine Foundation, this initiative is born of a synergy between the foundation, Leonardo and the Italian Ministry of Education. It was presented today during a ceremony in which, via a video message, the Minister of Education Patrizio Bianchi defined the project as “a true, great innovation for Italian schools”.

The new course will respond to two needs: on the one hand the implementation of the National Digital School Plan - to which teaching practice must make reference - which expressly requires schools and colleges to develop digital skills in a way that integrates with curriculum subjects; on the other, a collaboration between Leonardo, Leonardo Foundation and Istituto Matteucci promoting dialogue between scientific, technical and humanistic subjects, all of which are fundamental in ensuring a sustainable future. Thirty students will make up the first class of this digital high school - a five-year course of study - which aims to give students solid skills in the scientific-technological sphere without neglecting their philosophical-humanistic education.

The digital high school is an important innovation in the education system,” said Luciano Violante, President of the Leonardo Foundation, during the ceremony, “which aims to train young people in the skills needed for the digital world. The digital high school, conceived and designed by Leonardo-Civiltà delle Macchine Foundation, has been tenaciously and generously supported by Minister Bianchi, by senior figures in the Ministry, by the senior management and technicians at Leonardo, and by the teachers and head teacher of Istituto Matteucci. We trust that the new government will continue on this path in order to close our gap in digital skills, with a current shortfall of more than one million experts”.

The task today for a company like Leonardo, which has strongly focused on the convergence between manufacturing and the digital world, is to support shared innovation with the business world, research centres, schools and universities”, said Leonardo Chairman Luciano Carta. “It’s for this reason that, in 2021, our company launched 776 training pathways including internships, apprenticeship programmes, traineeships and school-work alternation initiatives. For the same reason, many Leonardo employees have provided over 1,400 hours of teaching at four Italian technical high schools. Here at Istituto Matteucci, we are proud to see the launch today of our first digital high school.  We will do our utmost to ensure that this project also inspires many other Italian schools and colleges”.

To be able to support the digital transition and develop the technologies of the future”, commented Leonardo CEO Alessandro Profumo, “we need to invest in skills and enhanced educational training. This is a task to which Leonardo has always contributed by spreading a culture of innovation that, in this course, takes the form of teaching activities and an internship in our company that will have Artificial Intelligence and mathematical language as their common thread, with the further enrichment of humanistic skills. Attracting young people to the so-called STEAM disciplines, namely Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics, constitutes a valuable investment in increasing the competitiveness of the nation’s industrial system”.


Leonardo
Leonardo, a global high-technology company, is among the top world players in Aerospace, Defense and Security and Italy’s main industrial company. Organized into five business divisions, Leonardo has a significant industrial presence in Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland and the USA, where it also operates through subsidiaries that include Leonardo DRS (defense electronics), and joint ventures and partnerships: ATR, MBDA, Telespazio, Thales Alenia Space and Avio. Leonardo competes in the most important international markets by leveraging its areas of technological and product leadership (Helicopters, Aircraft, Aerostructures, Electronics, Cyber & Security Solutions and Space). Listed on the Milan Stock Exchange (LDO), in 2021 Leonardo recorded consolidated revenues of €14.1 billion and invested €1.8 billion in Research and Development. The company has been part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) since 2010 and has been confirmed among the global sustainability leaders in 2021. Leonardo is also included in the MIB ESG index.

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Fondazione Leonardo-Civiltà delle Macchine
The Leonardo - Civiltà delle Macchine Foundation was born in November 2018 on the initiative of the Leonardo Company with the aim of promoting dialogue with civil society, enhancing the industrial and archival-museum heritage, promoting business culture by spreading knowledge on the value of new technologies in the perspective of a new digital humanism. Among the design areas of the Leonardo Foundation is included the quarterly publication of the magazine Civiltà delle Macchine, to foster dialogue between the arts and scientific knowledge.

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press.office@fondazioneleonardo-cdm.com