Roll cloud, designing the digital future

The cloud is a virtual space that is always accessible via an internet connection, regardless of the physical location and device used. It allows to consult archived data and to use calculation services through dedicated servers. We speak of cloud storage to indicate the area of the cloud intended for data storage or cloud computing to indicate the area used for data processing or for the provision of services to citizens and businesses.
Cloud systems are central in the corporate digitalization processes, as they allow the use of a provider's infrastructures in a highly accessible and flexible way, with the certainty of being able to have continuous updates and advanced technologies at reduced costs.

A strategic agreement that allows the Bank to become a true Digital Company capable of providing its customers with easy and innovative tools and services, using Google  infrastructures and Tim's advanced technology. 
But that's not enough, the 3 partners wanted to extend the benefits and positive effects of digital development to the territory, starting with the Piedmont and Lombardy ones, with major focus on the school world and the productive fabric.
In fact, they have created Opening Future, a showcase portal - dedicated to students, teachers, SMEs and startups - which collects information, insights and initiatives useful for developing or expanding their skills and knowledge of the digital world.

The Roll cloud program is part of this framework and involved about 1,600 students in the last year of lower secondary schools and the two-year period of upper secondary schools in the Piedmont region.
The experiential activities included in the contest led students to explore future scenarios, professions and skills by experimenting in the field with the digital transformation of work.
The course took place in mixed online and offline mode with synchronous and asynchronous activities and brought forward 3 distinct phases that required student’s individual commitment and interaction in group dynamics.

It has been a focus on 6 professional profiles that well represent future professions and skills: The Cloud Architect, the Cloud Systems Engineer, the Cloud-Native DevOps Engineer, the Cloud Specialist, the Cloud Operations Administrator and the Cloud Security Specialist. 
These professionals - who already work within three partner companies - talked about their work and experience. The meetings have been held online through interactive channels and tools. Videos and other content available offline on the training platform will allow students to deepen their knowledge of the cloud professions.

It has been a challenge in which students will engage in facilitation, which is simple and effective ways and techniques to tell children, teenagers and their families about the technology of the cloud. To accomplish this, students had to design and create digital formats - commercials, games, cartoons, posts, animations - capable and suitable for explaining the functions and uses of the cloud. A special jury chose the 4 most significant projects, which accessed the Creative day, the final moment of the contest.

Held in Area X - the place that the Intesa Sanpaolo Group makes available to students to make them discover the importance of the issue of protection - it has been the occasion when the winning students of the Easy Cloud Story have been able to optimize the educational products they have worked on supported by an expert and with the on-demand help provided by a company mentor.
These are the winning projects:

• Il cielo è sempre piùCloud - a video made by the students of the Bee first grade secondary school, IC Alto Verbano, Verbania
• Progetto Cloud - a video game created by class 3B, IC Del Vergante, Invorio (Novara)
• Il Cloud - a video made by three students of ITIS A. Avogadro, Turin
• Hashtag fuori c’è il sole - a podcast made by five students of IS Ferrari Mercurino, Borgosesia (Vercelli).

All the projects remain available to the school community, to make the training and awareness-raising process for students and families continuous.

• 23 Piedmont schools involved
• 64 lower and upper secondary school classes
• over 1,600 students attended webinars with cloud professionals
• over 250 students and teachers connected on the Moodle platform for asynchronous activities
• 15 volunteers from the three partner companies got involved in the cloud professions webinars, in-depth video pills and mentoring sessions during Creative Day
• more than 50 projects submitted in response to the Easy Cloud Story challenge
• 4 winning teams from 4 schools participated in the Creative Day                                                                                                                                                                                                  

The Roll cloud contest is the first part of a broad program of initiatives that the Intesa Sanpaolo-Google-Noovle partnership intends to implement in the upcoming months.
Mutually borrowing expertise and background, the partnership will give vigor to the development of digital culture and agility towards change.
These pressures will have very positive repercussions if, starting from the business areas, they are able to permeate the school and the territory, inspiring new professionalism, new skills, technological innovation and social and economic growth.    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        January, 2022