The Italian school changing economic trajectories as a startup incubator for student entrepreneurs
ITI Giambattista Bosco Lucarelli, a public secondary school in Benevento, Italy, is igniting the spirit of entrepreneurship for students in a community facing high unemployment and youth migration, providing a launchpad for learners to transform their raw ideas into fully realised startups backed by hands-on experience in entrepreneurship and technology. Its The School Outside initiative is investing in the region's revival by giving students future-ready skills through an innovative education experience that empowers them to launch tangible business models that can sustainably build the community from within.
Junior Achievement supported the school by offering its programme to support entrepreneurship development. With that support the programme has given rise to student-led businesses that then received external private funding and ongoing support from a network of Business Angels who are connected to universities, trade associations and research centres. This provides a complete entrepreneurial path from ideation through to real-world application, giving learners the tools to effectively turn their ideas into action. The school describes this ecosystem as the School-University-Business model, a synergy that creates the right conditions to finalise a journey rooted in a culture of business, combined with developing the learner's growth.
In 2023, The School Outside created a socio-cultural and economic development centre that currently involves 19 companies, six training institutions, four non-profit organisations and various public institutions to develop young talent. In its first year of activity, the development centre, along with its internal incubator, has concretely supported four startups formed with 13 young founding members, three of which were formed exclusively by ITI Giambattista Bosco Lucarelli students.
With both student enrolment and teacher acquisition nearly doubling in 10 years, local companies explicitly asking for students to be sent to them for employment opportunities, and the vast majority of graduating students finding local employment immediately, ITI Giambattista Bosco Lucarelli is successfully changing the economic outlook of the region through project-based learning experiences.
