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This was demonstrated by the large participation in the meeting "Youth and the Challenge of Training", organized on August 26 at the Rimini Meeting.

On the stage, discussing the topic were the Minister of Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, alongside Luca Bergantini, Business Unit Manager of Scm Group, Paolo Maino, President of Di.S.A.L., Andrea Siciliano from the Don Gnocchi Hotel Institute, and Guido Torrielli, President of the ITS Italy Network. The discussion wove together concrete experiences from schools, universities, ITS (Higher Technical Institutes), and businesses, offering a glimpse into how the educational and productive worlds can collaborate to put young people and their talents at the center.

Representing the business world and Scm Group, Luca Bergantini highlighted how the Group constantly collaborates with schools and universities in the regions where it operates. Numerous partnerships are active, especially in the wood and furniture sector, where SCM provides technology, services, and expertise to help train and integrate qualified professional resources.

Bergantini brought three key gaps to Minister Valditara's attention for the government's agenda:

Training content that isn't always aligned with the needs of companies.

The low representation of women in technical sectors.

The difficulty in making vocational paths like CFP (Vocational Training Centers) and ITS attractive.

Based on these issues, he made specific requests to the Minister: introduce regulations and resources to streamline relationships between schools and businesses and launch a cultural campaign to make families and young people understand that technical and vocational paths are not "second-class."

Valditara responded by saying, "It's time for a cultural revolution: we must convince families that technical institutes, vocational schools, and ITS are paths of excellence. Enough with the old hierarchy that places high schools at the top. There are many types of intelligence, all with equal dignity. And our task is to enhance them."

The dialogue concluded with a shared appeal: to make school a place that puts the individual and their talents at the center, that educates for work as a form of culture, and that unites families, teachers, businesses, and institutions.

The conference is available on the Meeting's website: