A bracelet that in the morning tells the quality of our sleep and, through a mobile app, suggests what to do to sleep better; a tool to control the baby and rock him when he threatens to wake up, in the hope that he will also let mum and dad rest. Soon these products, designed by Emilia-Romagna teenagers, could arrive on the market thanks to the Giardino delle Imprese, a nursery for very young industrialists from the Golinelli Foundation.
The Foundation is the creature of the entrepreneur Marino Golinelli, born in 1988 for the intellectual growth of the boys, modeled on the style of American philanthropic realities and soon to move with all its activities, on October 3, to the Opificio, a company abandoned in Bologna which has become a center of knowledge and know-how after an investment of 12 million euros for the renovation. Il Giardino is the section that nurtures budding entrepreneurs. The mechanism is obvious: the Foundation, with its partners (of which there are many) proposes a theme and the candidates, secondary school students, after an accelerated business course, develop the proposals. The first edition asked over 60 participants to try their hand at sleep monitoring “a theme – he explains Antonio Danieli, director general of the Foundation – in line with our scientific vocation and which unites many fields, from nanotechnologies, to neurosciences, to genetics”.
The Zyron group of Imola prevailed, with the bracelet and the Day Dreamers of Forlì, with the application for children up to 18 months. The landing, however, goes beyond the fact of putting a trophy on the showcase. In fact, the winning ideas become prototypes and patents with the funds, around eight thousand euros, made available by the Eureka Trust. “It is a crystal safe also designed by Golinelli – explains Danieli – which to date has raised 670 thousand euros from a large group of lenders ”. In this garden, therefore, dreams come true, projects so concrete that the teams sign a confidentiality agreement, of which the Foundation is the guarantor. Along the way, we go from saying to doing, accompanied first by the hand by the Foundation and then by a network of partners, such as the Aster company of the Emilia-Romagna Region, which takes care of meeting potential investors. The Foundation instead stops on this threshold, at least for now: "We still don't do venture capital", comments Danieli. If things go wrong, the championship will remain, or rather the certification of skills and the attribution of an e-badge to be shared on social networks and to be included in the future e-portfolio. And while the first projects march towards the future, others are coming to fruition. The second edition of the Garden, dedicated to small and medium-sized enterprises in the fruit chain in Emilia-Romagna, has already started, with the aim for children (always from high school) to create innovative packaging, marketing, distribution and sales that enhance Made in Italy.
Food is very topical, but "apart from the themes, which today may be these and others tomorrow - observes the director - it is important that young people learn a method, understand that doing business is a commitment for themselves and for others ”. One hundred applications, for a course as structured as follows: three-week summer camp from 29 June to 10 July and from 24 to 28 August, 70 hours of lessons on corporate culture, technological innovation, project work and research. In the autumn there will be the development of the projects, with weekly meetings. Between November and December the competition of ideas and the choice of the winners, maximum three, for a loan between 6 thousand and ten thousand euros. And the wheel will start to turn again: “What matters to us – concludes Danieli – is that young people above all overcome their fears, put their ideas to the test, because courage, in professional life, is more important than making a mistake.
In the Anglo-Saxon world, even a mistake makes a resume. Today in Italy youth unemployment is close to 44% and the average age of those starting up in business is 34 years old. We need to shorten the stages, help young people to measure themselves with life and take advantage of their intellectual vivacity, while providing them with the tools to avoid getting hurt”. In this forge of doing well and thinking well, they are also studying a para-university course and further lowering the age of the participants, because it is never too early to forge minds and help them face the future, because it is never too early late to implement industrial policy and keep alive the great Italian manufacturing tradition.
