Sparkle, the leading international service operator in Italy and among the leading in the world,University of Genoa, one of the oldest Italian universities and among the best in the world in studies on the sea and maritime issues, and the SubOptic Foundation, a philanthropic organization committed to promoting knowledge of the digital infrastructure sector among international stakeholders, launch the First edition of the second-level master's degree in Digital Subsea Infrastructure (DSI), the first academic program in the world entirely dedicated to submarine cables.
Le underwater digital and energy infrastructures Today, they represent a strategic component for economic development, security, and global connectivity. The new course was created to train professionals capable of operating in the authorization, design, construction, maintenance, and monitoring processes of underwater digital networks.
Sparkle, University of Genoa, and SubOptic Foundation launch master's program
The educational activities, coordinated by the Department of Naval, Electrical, Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering – Diten of the University of Genoa, will benefit from the contribution of Sparkle expert professionals, a leading operator in the submarine cable sector, which manages a proprietary fiber optic network of over 600.000 km across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, and Asia. The program will also have a strong international dimension thanks to the contribution of SubOptic, which brings together the sector's leading global operators—companies active in the design, production, installation, management, and maintenance of submarine infrastructure—with the aim of promoting training and attracting new talent to this sector. The program also benefits from the academic collaboration of the University of California, Berkeley (USA) as part of the Erasmus+ KA171 – Learning Mobility of Individuals Program.
The higher education path at the university, lasting one year, from November 2026 to October 2027, has a strongly interdisciplinary nature and integrates engineering, environmental, economic, legal and geopolitical skills, preparing highly qualified professionals to face the challenges of a constantly evolving sector, both nationally and internationally.
Federico Delfino, Rector of the University of Genoa, comments: "With this master's program, the University of Genoa expands its educational offerings in a sector set to play an increasingly strategic role in global telecommunications and the maritime economy. The collaboration with Sparkle and the SubOptic Foundation represents a concrete example of how universities, research, and businesses can work together to develop highly specialized skills and meet the challenges of innovation. This new program enhances our University's interdisciplinary vocation and strengthens Genoa's role as an international hub for education and research in marine and maritime technologies."
“With the BlueMed cable and the Genoa Landing Platform we have contributed to making Genoa one of the main digital hubs in the Mediterranean and a hub for new global communications routes,” he says. Enrico Bagnasco, CEO of Sparkle. “Today, alongside infrastructure development, we are honored to collaborate with UniGe and pleased to contribute to the training of a new generation of professionals, essential to supporting the growth of an increasingly strategic sector for the digital economy and the country's competitiveness.”
“Education and research are central to the SubOptic Foundation's mission,” he notes. Jayne Stowell, Chair of the Board of Trustees of SubOptic Foundation UK. “Our Foundation exists to foster global cooperation, share technical knowledge, and build dialogue between industry and academia, and this program embodies exactly that spirit. Collaborating with Sparkle and the University of Genoa on this program allows us to transform our mission into a concrete path to enable the next generation to build solid careers in the submarine cable industry.”
For information on the program, admission requirements, financial aid, and application procedures, please consult the dedicated section: Registration: Digital Subsea Infrastructure.
Sparkle's presence in Genoa
Sparkle's presence and commitment in Genoa are increasingly strategic. Thanks to its geographical location, The Ligurian capital is establishing itself as a new digital gateway for the Mediterranean and a privileged landing point for submarine cables seeking diversified access beyond Marseille, strengthening its role as a hub for data traffic between Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
The heart of this ecosystem is the Genoa Landing Platform, an open, neutral, and scalable infrastructure designed to provide a turnkey landing for submarine cable systems. Thanks to the innovative multi-conduit Bore Pipe system, the cables land safely and with minimal impact on the marine environment and the urban context. They then reach the Genova Digital Hub in Lagaccio through a network of underground tunnels, where they can interconnect with the main European terrestrial networks and Internet Exchange Points (IXPs). The platform is designed to host additional cable systems, supporting the growth of the city's digital ecosystem.
The ship lands at the Genoa Landing Platform BlueMedSparkle's proprietary system connecting Italy with France, Greece, Israel, and Jordan, forms the Mediterranean component of the Blue & Raman Submarine Cable Systems project, designed to create a new digital route between Europe and India. The infrastructure also hosts the Unitirreno cable and will receive Barracuda, the first direct fiber optic link between Italy and Spain, which will connect Genoa and Valencia by 2028, further consolidating the city's role as a European digital communications hub.
