Training excellence

The Its Tech&food super pole cuts the ribbons in Parma and 'expands' to the Via Emilia

The new workshops kick off. Central as in all Its Academies are the entrepreneurial partners.

by Rosanna Magnano

25 September 2025

3' min read

Key points

An experiential gymnasium
Who can register
Hunting for new partners
Guy 'ready now' for food businesses
Digitalisation pervading the supply chain
International chances

3' min read

To train young super-specialised technicians who are 'ready immediately' to work in the food industries, which over the years have never stopped hiring and looking for new profiles in step with the changes in the supply chain. This is the mission of the Its Tech&Food Academy, the Higher Technological Institute of Emilia-Romagna, which for 15 years has been training figures tailor-made for the agri-food sector and which yesterday inaugurated its new headquarters in Parma, created thanks to Pnrrr funds.

A pole that expands not only the spaces and tools available to students but also the range of partner companies in the initiative. With the aim of going beyond Parma and involving other players in the food valley along the Via Emilia.

An experiential gymnasium

The new 1,500 square metre facility houses eight new science and technology laboratories. "Here, students can practise experiential education," explains director Francesca Caiulo, "in six digital labs with cutting-edge technology, from robotics to programming to a food factory simulator, where students can experience all the main functions: administration, production, sales, logistics. We also have two science labs, one for chemical, physical and microbiological food analysis and one for sensory analysis".

Who can register

The school is aimed at young people coming out of technical or professional institutes, but also from high schools, who wish to undertake a very practical course of study, functional to the acquisition of a professionalism and a quick entry into the world of work. To enrol - the course is entirely free of charge, financed by the Emilia Romagna Region and the Ministry of Education and Merit - there is time until 17 October and there are 200 places. There are entrance tests to be taken to test the level of preparation and motivation.

Hunting for new partners

Central as in all Its Academies are the entrepreneurial partners. "We have over 40 members,' Caiulo continues, 'from artisan companies such as the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese consortium to industrial realities and brands of excellence in Italy and around the world such as Mutti and Barilla. Now we have started a path of expansion along the entire Via Emilia and so the foundation's members are growing, no longer only from the Parma area but also from Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna and Cesena'.

A way of bringing supply and demand together, and not only that. "The Its," continued director Caiulo, "are also an observatory on the evolution of skills, and with the laboratories we have inaugurated, we are also able to practise another pillar of our mission, which is technology transfer to small and medium-sized enterprises."

Girls 'ready now' for food businesses

The agro-industrial system needs a multiplicity of figures. "Companies are now working with digital management systems, they have traceability requirements," explains Massimo Ambanelli, president of the Its Tech & Food Academy foundation, "they are using new technologies, they are starting to use artificial intelligence, and many times they are not even prepared to accept these new tools, so they are looking for young people who are ready now, who already have some ability to face the challenges of the sector. We train professionals for both the production area and the quality area, for the research area, packaging innovation, digital marketing. And we have also introduced new courses that train both retail store managers and farm managers, because agri-food companies in the primary sector are also affected by major technical changes and need people who can manage farms in a much more modern way.

Digitalisation pervades the supply chain

In short, it is increasingly clear that the demand for a 'quantum' leap in skills also travels backwards along the supply chain, all the way to the agricultural enterprise. 'New conception digitisation,' emphasises Giuseppe Morici, manager and consultant in the food and FMCG sector, 'now pervades or should pervade all steps of the agri-food production chain, from the field to last-mile logistics. And it requires much more pervasive, micro-detailed digitisation, which requires directly embracing the latest generation'.

International Chances

International trade, which is increasingly globalised, in a context that moves and changes in a sudden and violent manner, also requires change. 'Here too,' Morici concludes, 'we must take note of the fact that opportunities are all over the world and are much more available and easier to realise than they were 30 years ago. Those who are better at it today seize these opportunities locally. You have to globalise the ambition and localise the realisation of that ambition. A supply chain centralised only in Italy, or only in Europe, to serve the whole world, would not seize the opportunities and above all would not be able to withstand the challenges of the markets'.

You can listen to the full interviews in the Sunday 28 September episode of Mother Earth, chronicles from Agriculture, at 10.45 am on Radio 24-Il Sole 24 Ore.