Ca' Foscari students awarded for their ideas for Made in Italy in China

An innovative project that uses social media to promote Italian culture abroad: students enrolled in the Professional Master's programme for Global Management for China at Ca' Foscari University of Venice are definitely connected to the future. The students were winners of the University School Challenge “Bank of Ideas”, dedicated to introducing new business ideas that will increase the visibility of Made in Italy in China whilst helping to facilitate institutions, companies and individual citizens.

The project “A Bridge to Italy”, an idea born from Maddalena Militello, Valentina D'Antona, Samora Gandini and Fabio Aldo Calderone, was honored at Ca' Dolfin (by videoconference from Beijing)  by the Italian ambassador for China, Ettore Sequi and the director of the Masters programme, Renzo Cavalieri, during the closing ceremony for Masters students of the academic year 2015-2016. The idea is to use the social platform WeChat, which is very famous in China, in order to promote Italian sites of cultural importance, offering the ability to customize user’s photos with details related to Italy and its typicality.

The competition "Bank of Ideas", directed exclusively to students of the Global opportunities Masters programme, was launched at the Italian Embassy in Beijing last June. Future managers were asked to submit proposals and innovative projects; ideas, processes and analysis that meet the needs of companies and promote their presence in the Chinese market. Master's students were divided into groups and each then presented six papers, judged by a jury composed of a representative for each of the following institutions: the Italian Embassy in China (Ambassador), ICE (ICE Director Beijing), Italian Chamber of Commerce China (Secretary General) and the Italy-China Foundation / Italian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce (centre studies director).

The projects presented in this showcase focused on areas related to trade, cultural promotion and communication with a view to solving problems that characterize Italian companies and individuals in China. Some projects focused on assistance and management of information that are fundamental to the approach of foreign investors (both Italian and others) in the Chinese market and that even today remain difficult to find inside a Chinese context. Other projects placed the promotion of Italian cultural heritage in China as their central concern, not only in terms of attracting Chinese tourists to Italy, but also as an export of typical Italian know-how linked to the world of Made in Italy and sport. These are both areas with strong potential to help lead to a strengthened relationship between Italy and China.

The initiative itself is a pilot project, intended to be extended to all universities and research institutes with Masters/graduate programs dedicated to China.