Innovation CoLab is launched: an intergenerational workshop for the changing world of work

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping the world of work and accelerating the evolution of the skills required of individuals and organisations. In this context, the ability to bring together different experiences, perspectives and approaches becomes a key factor in driving innovation. This is how Innovation CoLab came into being: WINDTRE’s laboratory dedicated to the under-35s and developed in partnership with H-FARM, which brings together young talent and senior mentors to transform ideas and insights into potential business projects.

The first wave, launched on a pilot basis, involved 39 candidate teams, comprising a total of 231 WINDTRE staff members. Innovation CoLab is a physical and digital space for training, discussion and experimentation, where diverse skills and experiences can come together and be translated into concrete proposals.
“Artificial Intelligence is changing the skills required and the ways in which we collaborate, but technology alone is not enough: we need to foster curiosity, an openness to experimentation and the ability to transform tools into tangible value,” says Elisa Fumagalli, Learning & Development Director at WINDTRE. “With our in-house Faculties, we have already pioneered this approach, sharing skills and experience gained in the field. Today, with Innovation CoLab, we are taking it a step further: we want to create new opportunities for dialogue between different generations and professional backgrounds, because innovation arises from the meeting of complementary perspectives. Younger staff bring an awareness of new trends and emerging models; senior mentors contribute their experience, business acumen and knowledge of the company. It is the same principle that guides our AI Adoption programmes: moving from knowledge to application and transforming shared learning into innovation for the company.”

“Innovation CoLab stems from the shared vision of WINDTRE and H-FARM: in the face of a changing world of work, innovation cannot be improvised – it must be practised. That is why we have created a programme open to everyone, rather than simply a competition for ideas: four masterclasses open to participants under 35 to learn how to analyse problems and turn them into opportunities, with teams forming organically amongst colleagues, each supported by a senior WINDTRE mentor across nine key challenge areas. What struck us is that, when you give people a method and a safe space to experiment, entrepreneurial energy needs neither to be sought nor created: it is already there and emerges of its own accord. Now comes the hard part. The best ideas will spend a whole week on the H-FARM campus before being presented to senior management, with the aim of bringing at least one of them to fruition. “It is there that the fresh perspectives of the under-35s meet the experience of the company’s leaders: transforming skills and learning into concrete business projects is precisely what H-FARM Business School does,” adds Francesco Mosella, head of the Innovation CoLab programme at H-FARM.