The team from Lucania has won the Sicilian interregional round of the Digital Championship, an innovation contest promoted by Telecom Italia and the Digital Champions Association to support the best digital talents in Italy. The winners are Francesco Piero Paolicelli (from Matera) and Ida Leone (from Pignola - PZ). Their project, entitled "The Silent Revolution of the Lucanians" - which built an online community for social development based on grass-roots digital culture - was the most voted out of five competing proposals from Sicily, Calabria and Basilicata.
Potential, purpose and repeatability of the project were the main criteria that guided the choice of the jury that included Marcella Logli, Head of Corporate Shared Value at Telecom Italia, Giuseppe Tilia (Jury Chairman), Manager of the Telecom Italia Digital Agenda Project, Alessandro Albanese, Chairman of Confindustria Palermo and Giovanna Marano, Councillor for Production Activities, Development, Business, Markets and Labour of the Municipality of Palermo.
The Digital Championship is an initiative created by both Telecom Italia (#ilfuturoèditutti), as part of its Corporate Shared Value programme, and by the Digital Champions Association. Its objective is to identify the best projects in Italy focusing on digital culture and social innovation, as well as being useful for collectivity, thereby promoting activities that support innovation and development of the nation.
Telecom Italia is a founding partner of the Digital Champions Association, which started up in November 2014 with the objective of finding a “Digital Champion” in each city in Italy. That will amount to more than 8,000 people, who will be promoting both the opportunities offered by the Internet and digital literacy in Italy.
Digital Champions will work alongside public administrators on digital themes, will defend citizens who have no digital rights (e.g. access to broadband, Wi-Fi and digital government and education) and will promote local digital literacy projects, also through crowdfunding.
After Turin, Cagliari, Ancona and Palermo, the Digital Championship will continue throughout the year, looking for more digital talents in the cities of Padua, Naples and Rome.
“Innovating is our main mission - emphasised Marcella Logli, Head of Corporate Shared Value at Telecom Italia and General Director of the Fondazione Telecom Italia – and we do so not only thanks to our new generation network infrastructure, which we are rolling out across Italy, but also through the creation and sharing of a culture that encourages Italians to use new technologies even more and even better. Initiatives such as this confirm the role of Telecom Italia as a system company with a major commitment to the creation of social value that is shared through the spread of digital culture, which we consider to be an essential element for the growth and development of the nation.
The Digital Championship is available in live streaming and on demand at telecomitalia.com/digitalchampionship, where people can also watch previous events, interviews and in-depth reports on demand. During the live broadcast, people can participate in the social conversation at #ilfuturoèditutti and #digitalchampions.
The on demand broadcast of the Sicilian round will soon be available at telecomitalia.com/digitalchampionship, where people can also watch other events, interviews and in-depth reports.
Palermo, 9 july 2015
