Thursday 29 September Tim Cook will be in Naples for the award ceremony of the honorary degree in Innovation and International Management. The decision dates back to last spring, but the date was decided only a few days ago, after Apple’s security officers visited the Academy campus and agreed with the Federico II University on the times and methods of the ceremony. At 11 the Apple CEO will be in the Aula Magna Storica of the Neapolitan university, where, after the Laudatio Academica, he will hold a Lectio Magistralis. Cook will be preceded by the interventions of the rector Matteo Lorito, the director of the Department of Economics, Management and Institutions Adele Caldarelli.
Also present should be the mayor of Naples Gaetano Manfredi, who was among the very first supporters of the Apple Academy when he was rector of Federico II.
Innovation Almanac: 6 October 2016
Apple opens an Academy in Naples and wins a difficult bet
by Riccardo Luna
And it is precisely to San Giorgio a Teduccio that Cook will move in the afternoon: to welcome him will be Giorgio Ventre, scientific director of the Apple Developer Academy, where the new academic year is about to begin these days for about 300 boys and girls of the first and second. cycle of studies. 430 students will be admitted in attendance, to listen to the CEO of Apple: “Access will be limited to the capacity of the classroom”, explains the rector Lorito in the email sent to the students. To participate you will need to book online, but all 70,000 Federico II members will still be able to send an email by 24 September with their questions to Tim Cook.
Cook was already in Italy in 2015, and met Bocconi students, when the Neapolitan Academy did not yet exist; he then returned several times, in private and in public, and has always praised the culture of design and innovation of our country. But he had not yet seen himself at the Academy, although over the years there have been visits from the Apple management. Lisa Jackson, Apple’s Senior Vice President Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, spoke twice for the graduation ceremony, while CFO Luca Maestri attended last year.
Inaugurated in 2016, the San Giovanni a Teduccio Campus is built like an American university; the Apple style is recognized in the light wood tables, in the massive use of aluminum, in the large windows that bring light inside. In the classrooms there is no desk, but many tables where we all work together. Candidates must pass an online test in Italian or English, followed by an interview; training in information technology is not required, because the course is designed for candidates from different fields.
No one is judged, also because there are no teachers but mentors, older boys and girls who accompany the students on their training path. The Apple Academy not only prepares students for the job opportunities of the iOS app economy, but supports them on their career path once the program is complete. Over 100 companies have participated in recruiting and job fair events for Academy graduates, and program participants have embarked on successful careers in Italy and abroad.
Scholarships are available for those in need of financial support, and places are also available in the university residences of the Federiciano University. The program is open to students from Italy and all over Europe, and last year one in five students came from abroad. But, for a curious irony, the Apple campus is located right where one of the most typical products of Naples and Italy was produced: the Cirio tomato preserves.
Steve Jobs lives again online: the archive dedicated to the founder of Apple is born
by our correspondent Bruno Ruffilli
