Trento Festival 2025: students and young people as speakers for an inclusive and participatory event

Opportunities for students and young people to participate as authors and speakers at the Trento 2025 Festival

25 February 2025

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Key points

Two ways to participate in the Festival of Economics
How to participate in the FuoriFestival of Economics
Applications for speaker at the Trento Festival 2025

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An inclusive, participative and involving Economy Festival of Trento. This is the aim of the organisers - Il Sole 24 Ore and Trentino marketing, with the promotion of the Autonomous Province with the Municipality of Trento and the University of Trento - for the 20th edition of the Festival, which will take place from 22 to 25 May. A goal to be achieved also with an initiative that is making its debut this year: the possibility for young people to participate in the events as authors or speakers in the panels and conferences of the Festival and the FuoriFestival.

From today until 15 April, university students and young people aged between 16 and 26 can apply to be authors or speakers at the Festival and FuoriFestival. The "Voices of Tomorrow" initiative, promoted by the Scientific Committee of the Festival of Economics and the FuoriFestival to give voice to the new generations within the 2025 programme, is a Call for Ideas open to contributions from university students for the Festival and young people aged between 16 and 26 for the FuoriFestival.

Two ways to participate in the Festival of Economics

To participate in the Festival of Economics, university students can choose between two ways. One can become an author by proposing a topic for a panel consistent with the theme of the 20th edition, "Risks and Fatal Choices. Europe at the crossroads'.

Festival di Trento 2025: "Rischi e scelte fatali. L’Europa al bivio"

Or apply as a speaker by indicating the topics of your interest and your motivations in order to be included, if selected, in one of the round tables dedicated to the topic indicated. The initiative is aimed at university students and applications will be assessed by the Festival's Scientific Committee chaired by Sole 24 Ore editor Fabio Tamburini and composed of University of Trento professors Ericka Costa and Luigi Bonatti and economic historian Adriana Castagnoli, former professor at the University of Turin.

How to Participate in the FuoriFestival of Economics

To take part in the FuoriFestival, the programme designed four years ago by Il Sole 24 Ore to bring the broader and more transversal audience of young people and families closer to the economy and the major current topics, the organisers are proposing a Call for ideas dedicated to young people aged between 16 and 26. Applicants can propose themselves as speakers for the events to be held in the new lounge in Trento's Piazza Fiera, indicating topics of interest to them, not necessarily economic, to be addressed in the debates.

It will be possible to participate in both calls until 15 April 2025 by accessing ilsole24ore.com/vocideldomani and sending an audio or video contribution of a maximum duration of two minutes presenting the topic of interest and explaining the reasons for applying.

Dove va il mondo

The theme of the Festival is set to occupy the debate in Italy and beyond: 'Risks and Fatal Choices. Europe at the crossroads'. Around this thread, young people and university students will have to propose their candidatures as authors or speakers. What will be Europe's role in the global geopolitical scenario? What will be its relations with Trump's United States, China and Russia? What will be the relations with the new protagonists appearing on the international scene? What role will Europe play in the Middle East?

When the Festival starts in Trento, some pieces of the puzzle will be in place. The elections in Germany suggest the formation of a Grand Coalition, but what will be the role of populists and neo-Nazis? The programmatic lines of Ursula von der Leyen's EU Commission, busy with the first measures of the new course, from the energy transition to the car crisis, will be more evident.

But above all, the picture of Donald Trump's actions will be clearer after his first weeks in government. It will be clearer how the peace negotiations for Ukraine will unfold. Will Europe, squeezed between Trump and Putin, with China a third wheel, be able to take an active role?

Another front that is more open than ever is the Middle East. The Riviera project for Gaza, the war between Israel and Hamas, the role of the countries involved, from Egypt to Lebanon, from Syria to Jordan. On these and other topics, with the role of Europe at the centre, university students and young people aged between 16 and 26 can send in their contributions to apply as authors or speakers until 15 April in the manner described below.

Applications to become a speaker at the Trento Festival 2025

University students and young people between the ages of 16 and 26 can be protagonists of the Trento Festival. University students can apply to become authors or speakers at the Festival. Young people aged between 16 and 26 can apply for the FuoriFestival events. To participate, a two-minute video or audio must be sent by 15 April to the ilsole24ore.com/vocideldomani website. The selections will be made by the Festival's Scientific Committee.