"If we have three million Neet, i.e., young people who do not study and do not work, a school dropout rate permanently in double figures, with dramatic peaks in the South, a youth unemployment rate among the worst internationally, it means that there is a problem in Italy: governments and politics have lost sight of young people in recent years. But our country, which is the second manufacturing power in Europe and the seventh largest economy in the world, cannot afford such a waste of talent. In short no more boys on the bench". Thus Giovanni Brugnoli, Vice President for Human Capital, in an interview to Sole24Ore called for a focus on young people to avoid wasting talent in view of the General Orientation Stagesthe educational entertainment event that will take place on 17 May at the Stadio Benito Stirpe in Frosinone in which the study paths closest to the industrial system will be discussed.

'We have to reverse course immediately,' said Brugnoli, putting the skills that businesses need back at the centre and launching medium- to long-term interventions on education, as some of our competitors, the United States, India, China, have done. Industry jump-started the country in 2021, coming out of the most acute phase of the health emergency, and today our GDP is growing more than France and Germany. However we have over 45% of difficult hires, a demographic crisis that causes more than 100,000 students a year to disappear, an 8-10% of graduates, especially Stem students, who go abroad every yearThese are all numbers that need to be reversed as soon as possible, we cannot waste any more time.

This is why Confindustria has called together almost 4,000 students from all over Italy to gather and talk about orientation in Frosinone on 17 May at the Stadi Generali dell'Orientamento with an educational entertainment event which for the first time in Italy will take place within a stadium, as a symbol of teamwork: 'Business, and Confindustria, with all its articulations, has long played its part in foster the employability of our talents', emphasised Brugnoli, taking as an example 'the Its Academywhich now have a national law, touch on the 90% of placements, and see companies and the world of education firmly integrated" and projects "such as "Eureka! It works!" of Federmeccanica that brings primary school children closer to doing, fostering their creativity. In Frosinone we will show the children all this, and it will be an important day for the country. I believe that good guidance is crucial to enable our children to establish themselves as people and find quality employment'.

The Vice President then referred to the fact that families, teachers and children themselves often do not know about factories and the profound transformations they are experiencing, starting with 4.0: "Find employment, and moreover consistent with what you study, in one of our SMEs, which I would like to remind you represent over 90% of the country's productive fabric, must be a source of pride. Where there is enterprise there is development, innovation, wealth is created, social welfare. That is why all this must be made known to the world of education. And that is also why we entrepreneurs are clamouring for adequately trained human capital to cope with change together'.

Brugnoli then reaffirmed how the technical and vocational education reform can be an opportunity not to be missed: 'we see that Minister Giuseppe Valditara intends to continue in this direction. Technical and vocational institutes must be relaunched, and focus on new, laboratory-based teaching, with a quota of teachers coming directly from companies to contaminate traditional lessons in an innovative way. The Its Academy model can also be extended to the entire secondary technical and vocational education chain. In other words, Italy must get that second professionalising leg that has made the fortune of half of Europe off the ground. Pnrr d provides an unprecedented injection of resources, more than 30 billion, of which more than eleven billion is to link training and companies. Let us not waste this opportunity".

Therefore, on a new public-private axis, Brugnoli said: 'The public-private link is crucial. Only businesses and we entrepreneurs, who experience transformations every day and must be competitive to stay in the market, can help schools and universities create those skills that are the key to success for young people and the country, not just industry. From innovative doctorates, which must be made more accessible, to SMEs, to the scientific-technological disciplines (Stem), which must be relaunched by recovering that gender gap to the detriment of women that is now more intolerable than ever. In short, it is time to give content to that great alliance between the world of production and education that our country needs. These are the principles that have inspired me during the seven years of my vice-presidency. Principles,' he concluded, 'that have been, to a large extent, shared by the ministers who have succeeded one another in recent years and that I hope to see soon implemented in the reality of the Italian school'.