Investing in young people, strengthening skills, and building new connections between culture, innovation, and territories: these are the foundations of the project “Youth, Creativity, Innovation: a Capacity Building Process in Piedmont”, officially presented on Friday, January 16, during a press conference held in the Sala Trasparenza of the Piedmont Region Headquarters.

The event marked the beginning of a strategic pathway promoted by the Piedmont Region and developed in dialogue with the three UNESCO Creative Cities in the region – Turin, Alba, and Biella – with the aim of placing young generations at the center, strengthening skills in cultural and creative sectors, and fostering new figures capable of interpreting and telling the story of their territories: the Young Ambassadors of the UNESCO Creative Cities.

Within this framework, BIA is involved in the design and implementation of the Capacity Building program for the City of Biella, contributing to the translation of strategic visions into concrete processes of training, listening, and co-design.

The press conference opened with institutional greetings from the Piedmont Region, which reaffirmed the value of the project as an investment in human capital and in the creative skills of younger generations.

Speakers included:

– Elena Chiorino, Vice President of the Piedmont Region and Councillor for Education, Vocational Training, Employment, and Corporate Welfare
– Marina Chiarelli, Councillor for Culture, Equal Opportunities, and Youth Policies, who emphasized the importance of integrated policies capable of connecting culture, education, and territorial development.

This was followed by institutional greetings from the UNESCO Creative Cities of Piedmont, highlighting the central role of collaboration between local authorities and the Region, as well as the need to actively involve young people in processes of urban and cultural transformation, through contributions by:

– Caterina Pasini, Deputy Mayor and Councillor for Cultural Services and UNESCO Creative Cities of Alba
– Sara Gentile, Deputy Mayor and Councillor for Culture and UNESCO Creative City of Biella
– Marzio Olivero, Mayor of Biella (via video link)
– Rosanna Purchia, Councillor for Cultural Policies of the City of Turin
– Carlotta Salerno, Councillor for Education and Youth Policies and Public Education of the City of Turin

The contributions outlined a shared vision: today, UNESCO Creative Cities represent privileged laboratories for experimenting with sustainable development models, where creativity becomes a strategic lever and youth participation an essential element.

A key moment of the conference was dedicated to interventions by the Creative Cities’ Focal Points, with Annalisa Ricciardi for Alba and Roberto Brogi for Biella, and by the Focal Point of Turin UNESCO Learning City with Pier Giorgio Turi, key figures in coordinating local activities and in dialogue with the national and international UNESCO network.

The speakers highlighted the importance of a structured approach to capacity building, capable of integrating existing knowledge, experiences, and practices across territories, and of strengthening connections between different creative clusters.

The event was moderated by Barbara Debora Viola, Head of the Cultural Heritage Enhancement, Museums, and UNESCO Sites Department of the Piedmont Region, who guided the discussion while emphasizing the strategic value of the project within regional cultural and youth policies.

The “Youth, Creativity, Innovation” project builds on experiences developed in previous years by the Piedmont Creative Cities and represents an evolution focused on active learning, skills exchange, and the creation of scalable and replicable pathways.

Within this context, BIA oversees the design and implementation of the Capacity Building program for the City of Biella, supporting the territory through a process that goes beyond knowledge transfer, aiming instead to generate awareness, vision, and responsibility.

The program will enable participating young people to understand how the UNESCO Creative Cities Network functions, explore Biella’s specific role as a Creative City for Crafts and Folk Art, and develop projects and outputs capable of communicating the territory externally, becoming informed ambassadors of their city at both national and international levels.

The launch of the project therefore represents a significant milestone for Piedmont and its UNESCO Creative Cities: a forward-looking pathway that invests in young people as active agents of change and in creativity as an intangible infrastructure capable of generating cultural, social, and economic value.