Stem24: beyond the rhetoric of escape, to grow more informed and 'global'

Our GDP has doubled in the last 20 years and is usually growing by more than 3 per cent each year. This allows for an increase in employment, wages, the number of companies, and projects that can be realised. That's right, because statistics on 'our GDP' do not necessarily refer to the vituperated Italian 'zero point', but can relate to the GDP of our entire world. Accustomed physiologically to a certain localism, the global point of view may be a less than immediate idea, but once one takes the international dimension as a reference, the economy appears in a much richer form with opportunities. Which can be seized in the contemporary technological and social context, with a good balance between personal costs and professional income: provided one finds a way to inform oneself well.

Because it must be understood: to access the international dimension of opportunities, it is not necessary to indulge in emigration. One can do better and more. In today's world, one can seek abroad the resources - financial, experiential and cognitive - that one needs to improve one's life prospects without necessarily having to lose one's cultural roots, without traumatically severing contact with one's society of origin, without cutting bridges and indeed planning a return in the medium term. This, perhaps, breaks down the psychological barriers to accessing the international dimension: but for this too, information is needed to define objectives, facilitate choices, and clarify the steps to be taken.

Certainly, the narrative of the flight of young Italians abroad is motivated and significant, but it signals a perhaps outdated interpretative habit. Two major recent studies have quantified the phenomenon. The Fondazione Nord-Est and Istat showed how in the decade after 2011, 352 thousand young Italians between the ages of 25 and 34 went to live abroad. And of these 132 thousand were university graduates. Is this emigration or a sort of planned period of international experience? For at least some of these young people, in fact, the second hypothesis seems to apply, judging by the fact that the repatriations of young people in the same age bracket amounted to around 104 thousand, of which over 45 thousand were graduates, and that there are probably also repatriations of people over 34.

Moreover, the motivations of those who have made this choice are not exactly those that can be explained by a 'flight'. It is true that the reasons for 'running away' are not lacking: the salaries offered to young Italians, especially graduates, are woefully lower than those to be found in any other European country or in North America. But - perhaps surprisingly - this is not what young people are thinking about, judging by the Fondazione Nord-Est study for which only 10% of young people who choose to live abroad do so in search of better pay. Rather, they say they are looking for educational experiences, opportunities for professional growth, quality of life. In short, they are attracted to countries - such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Brazil, the United States, the Netherlands, Belgium and Australia - that pay attention to attracting young people, for the scientific research, the management style, the resources offered to entrepreneurship, and the vital spirit they are able to cultivate.

In short, they are looking for resources that Italy does not offer. Very pragmatically. On enquiring, they may in fact discover that in some universities abroad they can study in such a way as to develop not only knowledge but also projects with companies, doing early research, and accessing very effective alumni networks: Italian universities are stepping up their efforts to meet these needs as well, but according to the most widely consulted statistics they still have some way to go. Or they may find, indeed without any particular difficulty, that the finance needed to support the early years of start-ups is much more available internationally than in Italy, despite recent improvements. To find out more, LeadTheFuture is an organisation that offers news and mentorship. And with Il Sole 24 Ore it launched this information service Stem24 dedicated to those who look to the international dimension to learn, realise projects and maybe even contribute to the progress of Italian society.