How can the Canton Ticino communicate better with the new generations? The students of the Canton Ticino Gen Z Lab delivered innovative answers to this question during an interactive workshop day at LTCC.

They are digital, highly qualified, and about to enter the job market: the Gen Z. Born between 1997 and 2012, this generation is the future of our canton. But still too often, politics talk about them instead of with them. The Cantonal Administration of Ticino has taken action with the Gen Z Lab, a collaboration with LTCC, Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) and Scuola universitaria professionale della Svizzera italiana (SUPSI).

On Monday, 5 June 2023 the premises of Dagorà Lifestyle Innovation Hub were woken up by 30 highly motivated students, ready to dive into the communication of the cantonal administration. Welcomed by the LTCC’s president Carlo Terreni as well as Jelena Tašić Pizzolato, Managing Director, and honored by the presence of the President of the Government of Ticino, Raffaele De Rosa, and the State Chancellor, Arnoldo Coduri, the expectations for the workshop day were set: the first-year Master students in Public Management and Policy at USI and in Business Administration with Major in Innovation Management at SUPSI were considered to be the perfect candidates to challenge the current communication of the public administration and to suggest new strategies.

“How do you see the public administration in Ticino?”

During the first breakout sessions, carried out in groups of 5, SWOT-analyses brought to light how the students perceive the current state of the public administration in Ticino. Numerous representatives of the cantonal administration as well as the two universities followed the deliberations with great interest as silent observers. In order to refine their reflections about strength and weaknesses, opportunities and threats, the students reassembled in the plenary. Milena Folletti, the Canton’s Delegate for Digital Transformation, Paola Fusaroli De Marchi, assistant to the State Chancellor, and Ivan Vanolli from the Information and Communication Service of the State Council equipped them with strategical insights of the Cantonal Administration.

“We want to hear from the young people how Ticino in 2040 should look like. What we see today gives us important signals that we must try to put into practice“, said State Chancellor Arnoldo Coduri to RSI (watch the full video here). Accordingly, the results of the Canton Ticino Gen Z Lab will also influence the Canton’s new strategic document, “Prospettiva 2040”, which will provide an overview of the most important challenges and opportunities for Ticino until 2040, in order to direct the reflections of the Government and Parliament and the operations of the Cantonal Administration.

“How can the public administration communicate better with the new generations?”

After the lunch break, it was time to get the core of the day: Back in their groups, the students had to brainstorm and develop fresh and innovative ideas for communication, that would make them more involved with topics of the public administration. The student’s imagination did not disappoint; the concepts ranged from the Metaverse to chatbot, to podcast, to app, to influencer marketing. The five groups then selected their most promising ideas with the help of an impact-effort matrix and pitched them to the audience of the Cantonal decision-makers and university representatives.

“The nice thing is that students feel involved and proactively give their input on how to improve public administration both from a communication point of view and from a point of view of new services that can be offered”, stated Carlo Terreni, President of LTCC to RSI.

From ideas to concepts

The jury then had the difficult task to assess the most effective and feasibly ways for the public administration to connect with and support the vibrant Gen Z community. Finally, the projects “Agorà Giovani”, “Creazione Community”, and “ChatTI” of the violet group were chosen as winners! But the Canton Ticino Gen Z Lab does not stop there – in July, the winning students will visit the Palazzo delle Orsoline in Bellinzona where they are going to present their projects to the government of Ticino.

Thanks again to the Republic and Canton of Ticino USI, and SUPSI for their kind support and to all the students for their creative energy and amazing contributions! If you want to stay updated on this and other projects of the LTCC, follow us on LinkedIn.