Pmi Day 2025: a bridge between the worlds of education and business

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Learning to choose what to do in the future, which path to take to build one's personal and professional career. And learning to do so with responsibility and courage, possibly making mistakes, but seeing the error as an opportunity for learning and growth and not as a defeat. This is the message of the SME Day 2025, the event promoted by the Small Industry Association of Unione Industriali Torino, in collaboration with the Education area of Unione Industriali Torino, Federmeccanica, Amma, Steamiamoci and the Women's Business Committee. This year, the event focuses on students from traditional Licei Scientifici tradizionali e Scienze Applicate, dedicating the edition to Stem subjects and thus concentrating on mathematics, science and computer science.

Confindustria's Pmi Day is a national event now in its sixteenth edition, which has received the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Ministry of Education and Merit and the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces. It is also included in the European SME Week and Confindustria's Business Culture Week.

The Pmi Day is "an occasion in which the world of high schools comes into contact with the world of SMEs," explains Filippo Sertorio, president of Piccola Industria di Unione Industriali Torino, a moment in which entrepreneurs share with students their experience, the choices they have made and those they continue to make every day, including opportunities, risks, successes and obstacles to overcome in the need to cope with increasingly rapid changes. A moment of encounter and confrontation, therefore, which allowed the students, during the kick-off meeting held at the Sermig Arsenale della Pace in Turin, which involved 400 students from 20 classes from eight educational institutions, to ask the professionals present questions on the importance of Stem subjects. Among the 'questioned' were Marco Gay, president of Unione Industriali Torino, Filippo Sertorio, president of Piccola Industria, Giorgia Garola, president of Amma, Claudia Persico, national vice-president of Federmeccanica, Federico Sandrone, president of Gruppo Giovani Imprenditori dell'Unione Industriali Torino, Cristina Tumiatti, vice-president of Comitato Piccola Industria dell'Unione Industriali Torino.

The success of an initiative of this kind is demonstrated by the numbers: as far as Turin is concerned, since 2017 over 15 thousand students have participated in Pmi Day, growing year on year. "Since 2022, we have quadrupled the numbers," Sertorio continues, "going from 1,000 students to the 4,000 that we plan to involve with this edition. This growth has been made possible thanks to the collaboration of the schools: "teachers and school managers have understood that there is a need to hold this meeting to give young people a future, to introduce them to the world of SMEs in addition to that of multinationals, which is certainly fascinating but not the only one possible," the chairman continues. Fundamental, therefore, is the communication of the company, making young people, those who will be the entrepreneurs of the future, understand correctly that "our SMEs today are no longer the factories of the 1970s, dusty, dirty, ugly. Today there are excellences that apply artificial intelligence to levels probably never even seen in large companies, there are companies working in pharmaceuticals with incredible conditions, research and development offices that patent, study and produce products for multinationals,' explains Filippo Sertorio.

"Telling boys and girls about these subjects is important. We have dedicated ourselves to three subjects that they are studying: maths, science and computer science and we want to tell them how they are applied in companies to make young people understand that on the one hand what they study can be applied, and on the other hand that there is a demand for these skills, that there are many small and medium-sized companies in the area that have jobs available today," illustrates the president of Piccola Industria. And this kind of knowledge could also help young people think about their future in Italy, considering that, according to the Report Italians in the World 2025 by the Migrantes Foundation, from January to December 2024, 123,376 Italian citizens registered with the Italian Register of Italians Resident Abroad (Aire) for the sole reason of 'expatriation', an increase of 38% over 2023. The increase mainly concerns young people and young adults: in the 18-34 age group there is an increase of 47.9% compared to the previous year, joined by +38.5% in the next age group (35-49). "I am not against the year abroad," Sertorio further explains, "because I believe it is a very enriching experience, but the fact of knowing that there is the possibility of returning, of finding something, is a win-win.