The first hackathon for young people from the local area will be held on November 26, 2021 at Lionello Bonfanti Business Center. The main theme will be active digital citizenship.
But what is a “hackathon”? The term, coined in 1999, and it refers to non-stop events which can last from one day to an entire week, involving experts from the Information Technology (IT) world and its different fields of operation: work, education and social media. Hackathons have also been called digital marathons.
A hackathon will be held at Polo Lionello Bonfanti on November 26, 2021. The theme will be on active digital citizenship and will involve a group of 120 students from six secondary schools in the Italian municipalities of Figline and Incisa Valdarno, Montevarchi, San Giovanni and Pontassieve. The goal is to help improve, local services and to experience the digital revolution in a way that is wholesome, ethical and sustainable.
“Two weeks prior to the event,” explains Rebeca Gómez Tafalla, CEO of the Economy of Communion (EOC), SpA, which adminsters the Lionello Bonfanti Center, “students will be given training on the methodologies that will be used on that day. The young people will work together to identify the needs and problems of the local region, formulate ideas and develop proposals that represent creative solutions with digital technology. It seems like an unmissable opportunity to let your voice be heard and to help improve the real life of our fellow citizens.”
Besides the Lionello Bongfanti Center, the project will also involve the Digital Ethical Movement,, which has a long experience in educating young people about the digital world, the Ethid Solution Business Incubator, and ARTES (Tuscany Research and Study Association), which contributes to the updating and to the promotion of the human person in the context of relationships between culture and work Ethic Solution.
For the Lionello Bonfanti Center, this project is part of a path begun about a year go, setting up a hub, that is, a multifunctional digital and social innovation center at the service of the local region.
Rebeca Gómez recounts: “We have the main offices of the International Economy of Communion (EOC) Incubating Network here at Bonfanti Center, that is, the network of incubators from the Economy of Communion (EOC) Business. We’ve had occasional experiences accompanying young and aspiring business people who are drawn by the values of the EOC. Now, we’d like to do it on a more ongoing basis, identifying the needs of both the businesses and the young people. We’ve already involved several public and private entities from the region of Valdarno and Florence”.
Shortly, there will be a page on the Bonfanti Center website, which will be dedicated to this project which is being built together with public and private partners.
“There’s competence here. There is the School of Civil Economy, which is the seat of The Economy of Francesco and where we carry ahead the Economy of Communion Project and talk to the young people about an inclusive economy,” as the Bonfanti ad concludes. “Now, we want them to become protagonists, starting from here in Florentine and Arezzo Valdarno”.
