The University of Trento is about to open a school of innovation, an interdepartmental institute whose purpose is to stimulate creativity to solve problems and issues in a variety of discipline areas.
The school will adopt a new approach, based on academic teaching, to provide University students with management and business skills that they will need to adapt to the demands of the world of work. But it will also serve as a driver to inspire and develop social innovation initiatives at the local level: these are important to design new products, services and business models in collaboration with local entities, business associations, cooperative organisations and not-for-profit organisations.
The new School of Innovation of the University of Trento – one of the projects included in the University’s strategic plan – will be presented to the public on Thursday 27 September at 6 pm at the Contamination Lab in Trento (CLab, Piazza Fiera 4), the creativity and entrepreneurship training centre founded a few years ago.
After the welcome address from Rector Paolo Collini and the scientific coordinator Sandro Trento, the inauguration ceremony will continue with speeches from Rudi Kimmie (Kwazulu-Natal University of Durban, South Africa), Ronald Jonash (IXL Center, Usa) and Marco Bicocchi Pichi (former president of Italia Startup in the area of innovation 4.0).
The school will offer courses, workshops, interdisciplinary seminars and other multidisciplinary training initiatives that will form part of the programmes already in place at the various departments. But it will also organise tailored training with mentors, experts and professionals both from the academic world and other sectors.
In its first year of operation, the school will welcome master’s students from the Centre for Integrative Biology (CIBIO) and the departments of Economics and Management, Industrial Engineering, Information Engineering and Computer Science and Sociology and Social Research. It will then extend its offer to the other programmes of the University.
Students who earn a minimum number of university credits in at least two discipline areas will be awarded a certificate of attendance which is not a qualification per se but will give added value to their professional profile on the labour market.
From its second year of operation, the School of Innovation will start to train people who are already working or have completed their studies and wish to improve or update their skills outside of the university setting. It will also organize summer schools. As a medium-term objective, the School aims to promote the establishment of new interdisciplinary master’s programmes offering specific and technical knowledge and management skills, and to promote interdepartmental cooperation including in the area of doctoral programmes.
The press release includes comments from Sandro Trento, the School’s scientific coordinator.