Alfonso Molina

Alfonso Molina is the co-creator and Scientific Director of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, Italy, and Personal Chair of Technology Strategy at the University of Edinburgh, UK, where he worked for almost 3 decades. Alfonso has carried out extensive theoretical and practical work focused on the development of an environment integrating academic theories, instruments of practical application, and projects on a variety of themes: technological and social innovation, multi-sectorial clusters for territorial development, ICT-based educational innovation, and many others. Research themes of particular interest include multi-sectorial hybridity in social innovation, knowledge-oriented non-profit organizations, education for life in the 21^st century, personal ecosystems and self-entrepreneurship, startup accelerators, and inclusive self-entrepreneurship accelerators.

Alfonso has collaborated as an advisor and consultant with the European Commission, UK government, and European cities. For the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, Alfonso has ideated, among other initiatives, the InnovationGym, an environment for education for life in the 21^st century and the National Network of InnovationGyms (over 120 schools so far).  He has authored books, papers, reports, and models and, lastly, has published the book Educazione per la Vita e Inclusione Digitale (published by Erickson, 2016).

Keynote

Title of the talk: Tackling the Challenge of 21^st Century Education through an Integral Programme of Education for Life. The Case of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, Italy

The presentation gives an overview of the Education for Life in the 21st Century Programme of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, illustrating its reason and content. It addresses briefly the contextual aspects characterized by the continuous scientific-technological and socio-economic changes and their consequent impact on companies, jobs and school education in terms of tools, environments, and pedagogical offer. This is followed by a description of the following components of the FMD’s Education for Life Programme:

1. The Education for Life in the 21st C Model (a person-centred, holistic educational model)
2. The Self-Entrepreneurship and Personal Ecosystem Approach (sustaining that the objective of education in the 21^st C  should be to equip people to become entrepreneur of themselves)
3. The InnovationGym and Network of InnovationGyms,  (a multi-lab and activity environment to realize the concepts of education for life and self-entrepreneurship); and
4. The Inclusive Self-entrepreneurship Accelerator (a practical programme integrating the above aspects and focused on youngsters)

Time permitting, the presentation includes an example of a project focused on combatting educational poverty.

The holistic and flexible approach of the Education for Life Programme supports educational players in the understanding and practice of systemic educational innovation. In practice, the Programme is an integrated set of innovative aspects and, simultaneously, an approach to systemic innovation in the school world.