"Voices of Tomorrow': how children become protagonists

From applications received from all over Italia to the halls of the XXI Trento Festival of Economics: 14 boys and girls selected through the Call for Ideas "The Voices of Tomorrow" will take part as speakers in the official programme of the event, scheduled from 20 to 24 May 2026.

A project created to give space to new generations and transform ideas, skills and visions into concrete contributions within the public debate on the major issues of the economy, work, innovation, sustainability and social transformation.

The Call for Ideas, promoted as part of the 21st Trento Festival of Economics entitled "From Markets to New Powers. The hopes of young people", collected 270 applications from girls and boys aged between 18 and 30. The young people selected will directly take part in the Festival's panels, speaking - as real speakers - alongside economists, managers, academics, representatives of institutions and protagonists of the national and international production world. Of these 14 young speakers, 7 are students and PhD students and 7 are already professionals and workers, active in fields ranging from economics to artificial intelligence, from law to sustainability.

The 14 young speakers will make their contribution in appointments dedicated to the topics of work, artificial intelligence, sustainability, energy, geopolitics and social economy. On 20 May, the panel "New rules for transparency, inclusion and gender equality" with Gift Flavia Onwuelo, 22, from Manzano (Udine); on the same day in the panel "Books and democracy", Galileo Lorenzo Sciarretta, 20, policy advisor between Rome and Brussels, will be present. On 21 May in the panel "How artificial intelligence and quantum technologies destabilise stock markets", Carlo Lorenzo Colombo, 22, from Caronno Pertusella (Varese), will speak. Also on 21 May, in the panel 'From Olympic medals to the economics of life', Lorenzo Menghetti, 19, from Imola, Italy, will take part. On 22 May, in the panel 'Uncertainty shortens horizons, for this we need imagination and a willingness to take risks', Alberto Visentin, 20, from Milan, will speak. On the same day, at 12.00 noon at the ITAS Forum, in the panel 'Professions and justice at the test of artificial intelligence', Enila Elezi, 28, from San Donato Milanese, will be present. On the same day in the panel 'Sustainability, competitiveness and markets', Davide Piemontese, 27, from Ancona, will take part. On 22 May, in the keynote speech 'A perfectly predictable future', Michele Ciletti, 23, from Foggia, Italy, will speak. On 23 May, at 2.15 p.m. in the panel 'Hi-tech start-ups and funding: from Italia to Silicon Valley', Michele Bolognesi, 27, from Ferrara and Tommaso Beccatelli, 26, from Bolzano, will participate. On the same afternoon, at 2.30 p.m., the panel 'Who chooses who in the labour market' will feature Greta Farina, 26, and Carlo Cignarella, 25, resident in Munich. The Fuori Festival programme will feature Claudio Bertelli, 29, from Paratico (Brescia), who will take part in the panel "Generational transition and philanthropy. Managing wealth: vision, responsibility, time' on Saturday 23 May.

Finally, on 24 May at 12.15 p.m., Matteo Porcacchia, 21 years old from Borgo Val di Taro (Parma), student of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Parma, will participate in the panel 'Energy Communities, how to overcome obstacles'.