The University of Pisa is one of the top 10 Italian universities and also one of the best in the world for its research results and the quality of its educational services and post-graduate programmes according to the QS World University Rankings 2020. One of the university’s priorities is instilling knowledge and capacity building both in terms of core theoretical concepts and “practical real-work scenarios” with hands-on training. To achieve this goal, the university has recently started a new initiative with 9 organisations in Tuscany, with an agreement to deliver lectures to its master degree students starting in October 2020, Trust-IT has been selected as one of these 9 companies that have demonstrated an international breadth in its Research and innovation activity.
Key differentiators in selecting Trust-IT Services include its international reach and clientele, its vast work experience in IT and digital marketing it can give master students to increase their practical knowledge, highlighting the challenges and methodologies required to succeed in the complex European Research sector. Most importantly, Trust-IT Services will increase career opportunities through the acquisition of specific skills and practical know-how, turning them into valuable assets required by organisations hiring post-graduated and young professionals.
Trust-IT operates in the sector of EU Research and Innovation, which has the following 3 main policy goals for:
Despite the excellent research community in Europe, Research & Innovation projects typically struggle not only with reaching their target stakeholders but also conveying their innovations in a way that arouses interest and helps drive uptake in the marketplace.
Projects need to go that extra mile when it comes to recruiting stakeholders to their communities, using effective tools and formats to engage with them. They also need to spend extra effort in communicating their main technical results, their contribution to the policy priorities, economic and societal impacts. Results are all too often hidden away in technical reports. The key challenge lies in translating results into compelling results with clear benefits for the end-users targeted, as well as creating synergies with complementary initiatives nationally, across Europe and globally with a view to maximising impacts with the resources available.
This is where Trust-IT makes a real difference, and where it will bring tangible benefits in its collaboration with the University of Pisa, guiding its students towards measurable impacts in terms of:
Trust-IT kicks off its collaboration with the University of Pisa with a lecture to the Marketing and Market Research master’s degree students at the Department of Economics and Management, where Silvana Muscella, CEO & founder of Trust-IT will provide a deep dive into the main challenges and effective marketing strategies to apply to European research initiatives, and what flexible approaches it has introduced with different marketing methods during the time of COVID.
The second initiative Trust-It has been invited to assist to is a seminar on the “Economics of cybersecurity”, covering practical and financial aspects from a business-centric and SME perspective in a highly complex and dynamic cybersecurity landscape. Key insights will come from Paolo Lombardi, Director and Shareholder at Trust-IT Services and founder of COMMpla. The seminar is for cybersecurity master students at the Department of Computer Science Engineering.
Figure 1 - Economics of Cybersecurity Poster
Trust-IT’s contribution to both initiatives aim to train students on core skills, concepts, perspectives and methodologies they need to succeed in today’s complex and fast-changing digital economy, with a special focus on European research. Trust-IT’s inputs will zoom in on specific real-world examples of how student skill sets need to become valuable assets for the marketplace, today and in the years to come.
At the end of the initiative with all the selected companies, master degree students will produce a thesis on “Marketing and Covid-19”.
To support their efforts, Trust-IT Services will share its experiences and lessons learned in managing and adapting its activities during the pandemic.
In the past few months, Trust-IT Services has turned all physical conferences into virtual events, including a physical event with 600 attendees already registered. This is just one example of how the outbreak of COVID-19 is calling for new ways and tools to engage audiences, such as Mentimeter, Sli.do and podcasts.
Trust-IT Services will stress how important it is in today’s rapidly evolving business environment to become extremely flexible and creative in maintaining high standards and driving excellence in the day-to-day running of any organisation.
Trust-IT is thrilled to be working with the University of Pisa and helping to create real and tangible opportunities for its graduate and post-graduate students.
The collaboration with the university will be a launchpad for Trust-IT Services to welcome ambitious students wishing to do an internship and pursue a career in an international environment.