The academy training artificial intelligence specialists is now up and running

The ever-increasing development of artificial intelligence is already creating strong demand amongst businesses for professionals capable of managing this new technology. For this reason, Fusion Ai Labs – a Ligurian centre that promotes applied research and industrial experimentation in artificial intelligence – has created Ai Academy Direct, a 14-week programme, co-designed with businesses, designed to train young specialists in artificial intelligence and facilitate their entry into the workforce, through a model that involves businesses right from the candidate selection stage.

The demand for AI skills in companies, as Stefano Sedola, Chief Research & Learning at Fusion Ai Labs, points out, “is growing, but organisations are struggling to find candidates capable of transforming prototypes and experiments into reliable systems that can be integrated and used within business processes. Our academy was set up for this very reason, with a model that combines practical training, work on real-world cases and direct dialogue with businesses. We have set ourselves the goal of training professionals capable of taking artificial intelligence beyond the experimental phase: people who can understand technology, business, ethics and governance, and who can work on AI systems applicable in real-world contexts. It is also a way of demonstrating that Italia can attract and retain talent in a sector that is strategic for the future.”

One of the distinctive features of this academy is that it links training, business and employment. The model, in fact, involves the signing of a tripartite agreement between the participant, the partner company and Fusion Ai Labs: the partner company supports the candidate’s training programme and subsequent employment, including through financial support; Fusion AI Labs guarantees the scientific and educational quality of the programme. For their part, participants undertake to follow the programme with commitment and professionalism. The programme begins with a structured selection process: an online application, a technical assessment and an interview with the Fusion AI Labs team. The selected candidates are then presented to interested partner companies, which take part in the matching phase before the programme begins.

The training programme runs over 14 weeks, totalling 200 hours, and combines remote lessons supported by AI tools, weekly in-person workshops in Genoa (with direct access to Fusion’s researchers and engineers), a learning platform with an AI assistant available 24 hours a day, and case studies addressing open-ended scenarios – with no predefined solution – drawn from Fusion AI Labs’ real-world engagements with businesses and institutions. At the heart of the programme is the progressive development of a final project. The aim is to have 20 people trained and hired by 2026, 40 by 2027 and 60 by 2028. The first intake of AI Academy Direct begins on 14 September, whilst applications are open until 14 July (further information is available at https://www.fusionailabs.eu/academy/).

Meanwhile, Fusion Ai Labs has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mayor of Genoa, Silvia Salis, and the Director-General of Genoa City Council, Pasquale Criscuolo. “The memorandum,” Mr Criscuolo emphasised, “is the result of a strategic vision that guides the use of modern technologies, in an integrated and systematic manner, with the aim of speeding up administrative processes, improving the effectiveness, efficiency and accessibility of public services, and the sustainability and resilience of the local area – partly through the use of satellite imagery – as well as the capacity for predictive analysis of the various scenarios that will affect the city.”