C.Next proposes two challenges, the students of Insubria respond On Thursday 18 April 2024, twenty-five students from the Department of Economics of the Economics and Management of Innovation and Sustainability (CLEMIS) course of the University of Insubria went to the headquarters of ComoNext Innovation Hub, partner of Spoke 3, to participate in two challenges that will see them engaged for about two months.
Prof. Alfredo Biffi of the Department of Economics of Insubria explains that: "it is a very interesting project that allows children to be confronted with the completeness of the problems that companies and institutions encounter on a daily basis in their business journey , or in any case development. During the day, the first meeting was held directly at ComoNext with some of the tutors who follow the students; furthermore, tasks were assigned to the students who will work on two thematic lines starting from a survey activity ".
Specifically, the challenges in which students will participate are:
CHALLENGE 1 - SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING
CNext worked on its first social report in 2022 together with one of its partners, Andersen. The approach followed is the traditional one which responds to the indicators required by law, in particular related to the environment, governance and social dimension. These indicators, however, do not reflect the nature of CNext which has an action, through its territorial hubs, linked to the regeneration of the territory. In effect, it involves building innovation centers in abandoned or disused industrial spaces. All this leads to the creation of an armature around the poles which would be interesting to measure. In the case of ComoNext, for example, the area around the park has become populated with commercial activities, the apartments have increased their economic value. But which ad hoc indicators should we build? And where to find authoritative sources? Students are asked to make proposals for customized indicators for CNext's sustainability reporting.
CHALLENGE 2 - SKILLS
CNext has a peculiar model, it aims to create a network of innovation hubs on Italian territory that work according to a common technology transfer model and respond to common governance. The professional figures necessary to support innovation projects are various and, thanks to the history of the first innovation hub, namely ComoNext, it has experimented with some of them (opportunity managers, innovation managers, innovation and project financing experts). They are often "hybrid" figures that require technical skills spanning multiple disciplines, and above all soft skills. It is important to know how to work in a system of subjects, including the more traditional ones (such as business associations), and to make innovation ecosystems communicate at all levels of the economic system. To make this more evident, a challenge was launched which, through the analysis of skills, provides a picture of the professionalism that CNext will need to hire between now and the next five years to have new points of view and see if and how much they distance themselves from current estimates. From this challenge CNext expects a hypothesis of ideal profiles with indicators for the evaluation of soft skills.
In addition to visiting the ComoNExT science and technology park, the kids had the opportunity to visit the Next Marketing LAB; project resulting from funding from the Lombardy Region which combines the skills of 11 companies located within the park. This laboratory is a place where companies, institutions, trainers, and students can see first-hand the technologies related to digital marketing and where they can understand how these have impacts on processes and organizations. It is a laboratory, physical and digital, where innovation and technology meet at the service of the company, a place of discovery, sharing and comparison. In light of all this, they had the opportunity to participate in a Q&A with their tutors - Elisabetta Giromini and Giulia Bizzotto.
