On the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we want to retrace the excitement of a project created and dedicated to bringing today's young female students closer to the STEM world
“5 passi da... ingegnera!” (literally “5 steps to...engineer!”) is a project born in 2022 from the partnership with ENEA, as part of the National Program for Information and Training on Energy Efficiency ‘Italy in Class A’ promoted by the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security.
The project aims to raise awareness and bring young female students in the penultimate year of high school (including those from humanities backgrounds) closer to STEM subjects and the world of engineering. The initiative responds to the challenge of creating new skills to ensure the implementation of the energy transition in the years to come, with a twofold matrix: aiming to decrease the gender gap traditionally marked in the engineering (and energy) sector, and outlining the figure of the “humanist engineer” with multidisciplinary skills and a cross-cutting vision, the pivot of all training and orientation projects promoted by our Foundation.
The first two editions of the initiative (conducted in the years 2022 and 2023) provided a total of 160 hours of training for the benefit of 27 young female students from 5 high schools in Rome and Province.
A wonderful opportunity to relive these emotions was our participation in the “5 Steps as an Engineer Camp” organized by ENEA with the support of Confimi Industria Abruzzo, which took place in Abruzzo in January 2025. The final day of the Camp, hosted by Walter Tosto spa in Chieti, saw an exceptional all-female panel lending their expertise to encourage and advise the young students participating in the Camp (about 110 upper 4th year students and female students): Ilaria Bertini, Director of ENEA's Energy Efficiency Department, Claudia Cattani, President BNL BNP Paribas, Silvia Paparella, Managing Director Ferrara Expo srl and General Manager RemTech Expo Environmental Technology Hub, Vincenza Frasca, National Vice President of Confimi Industria and President of the Women's Group, Tiziana Magnacca, Councillor for Productive Activities of the Abruzzo Region and Sara Di Mario, Founder Hazel New Energy; representing the Foundation was our Communications Manager Irene Di Amato.
“For us “5 passi da... ingegnera!” is the story of Martina, a participant in the first edition of the initiative: she continues to write to us to tell us enthusiastically about her course of study in Biomedical Engineering; this project gave her the opportunity to discover and choose the world of engineering. Without this initiative she might not have chosen it. We hope that the coming years will allow us to tell many stories, like Martina's.”
On the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we would like to extend our thanks to the female students who participate in our training and orientation courses, discovering the world of engineering and energy transition, and to the female engineering colleagues of the MAIRE Group, who put their passion and dedication into helping to create the content of our training projects.
Let's start again with Women, to choose STEM!
