New generations and new skills for the transition. A talk with Francesco Del Pizzo

«It is a 2^nd-level Master’s course aimed at anybody who has a Master’s degree in STEM disciplines, spread between the universities of Salerno, Cagliari and Palermo. Terna has made a three-year commitment to this project, meaning that while the course starting this November will be the first one, at least two more will follow. It is a free course, fully financed by Terna. Not only will the company pay all the costs incurred by the Universities in carrying out the project, it will also pay an extra study bursary to all participants, equivalent to the wages of a new graduate. The Master’s lasts 10 months, with the first 6 consisting of classroom learning with professors from the Academy and Terna managers. After this period, participants will have to work on a group thesis within the company. The students will have 4 months’ experience of life inside the company, during which time they will put their specialist skills into practice».

«Absolutely not, the Master’s is just one step along a path that stretches into the future. Once the training is complete, the 45 students selected will receive a letter from Terna with a commitment to employ them on a permanent contract. They can then begin work as experts on algorithms and models for the electricity market; experts on analysis and regulation systems; experts on the management of equipment in the field; experts on Substation Automation Systems (SASs); or experts on Substation IoT Systems. The young professionals who choose this pathway will know from the start that they won’t need to search for a job: they’ve already got a position waiting for them».

«The deadline for submissions was 18 September. We were delighted to receive significant interest despite the short time frame: 170 applications for the 45 places available, 15 per university. 70% of the applications came from engineers, and women were also well represented: 20.5%, a higher percentage than the average for engineering faculties».

«The Master's Degree is the flagship project of the Tyrrhenian Lab, a centre for research and development of digital technologies applied to grid management. It reflects Terna’s decision to invest a total of €100 million over the next five years in specialist skills to tackle the energy transition. We will have three centres, in Palermo, Salerno and Cagliari. When fully operational, the laboratory will employ around 200 people and indirectly involve another 800 highly qualified personnel. Therefore, this territorial development initiative will encompass around one thousand professionals overall, all highly specialised in STEM disciplines, who will develop technologies applied to the management of the electricity grid. This is a point of pride for us, because there is limited understanding at the moment in Italy of the value that can be generated from skills and specialisations, and the advantages of employing our young laureates in centres of excellence, without the need to go searching for brainpower anywhere else».

«Terna has decided to invest directly in skills and in the development of technologies. We don’t purchase supplies and technologies, we develop them from ideas all the way into products. This approach sets us apart from other operators, who are highly dependent on market supplies. That’s why we decided to invest in the Tyrrhenian Lab and in the Master’s Degree in Digitalisation of the electricity system for the energy transition. We operate in a niche market: each country has just one TSO (Transmission System Operator), and there are very few large ones. That means there’s no critical mass of clients justifying investments in digital innovation applied to the transmission grids. Terna is conscious of the fact that if we don’t act as innovation leaders, it’s hard to expect anybody else will. This is the reason why we've chosen this courageous route. We don’t leave it up to the market to bring our ideas to life; instead, we develop internal skills that can put them into practice».

«The Italian training system for certain disciplines — I’m thinking in particular of electrical engineering and digital skills applied to the electricity grid — is rather weak. There is neither training at university nor a sufficient market. The professional profile that we’re looking for doesn’t really exist: a figure who understands the electricity system as a complex machine, while at the same time holding digital skills. Historically, these two skill sets were the domain of two different professionals in company processes: electrical engineers on the one hand, and computer or electronic engineers on the other. However, it’s important to realise that for the purposes of innovation, the two skill sets must be brought together under the same professional profile».

«Our aim is to train professionals with an organic hybridisation, because bringing these skills together in a single person allows a much broader range of creative processes. It is our goal to teach IT skills to professionals who deal with electricity, and to teach electricity to professionals who deal with IT. Once the necessary skills have been developed, we will have professionals capable of achieving the mission for which they were trained: applying digital innovation to grid management, and serving the country’s growth and its transition to a more digital, ecological world».

«In Italy brain drain is an increasingly rampant problem. Young people who get their degrees in the South move elsewhere to reach their potential, either to Northern Italy or abroad. It's a tendency that impoverishes our society, depriving the South in particular of the professionals and the skills that are essential for its development. One very interesting aspect of our Master’s Degree is the many applications that were received from students at other universities: candidates from the Politecnico di Torino, from La Sapienza in Rome, and Federico II in Naples. In Salerno, 73% of the candidates did not attend the University of Salerno; while the proportion of applications from graduates from outside of Cagliari and Palermo was, respectively, 23% and 27%. It’s not hard to explain why: it’s an opportunity that attracts students from other institutions too, giving those who studied elsewhere the chance to return to their home towns while specialising in a profession that will contribute to its development».