A full immersion in business culture and industrial innovation: the students of the Innovators Community Lab (ICLab) at the University of Trieste took centre stage in a study visit to the headquarters of the Marcegaglia Group in Gazoldo degli Ippoliti (Mantua).

The group was welcomed by Emma Marcegaglia, Chair & CEO of Marcegaglia Holding and former President of Confindustria (2008–2012), and Antonio Marcegaglia, President & CEO of Marcegaglia Steel, who shared the story of a family business that has grown into one of Europe’s leading industrial groups in the steel sector.

During the visit, the ICLab students had the opportunity to engage directly with the company’s top executives on key issues such as business model transformation, relationships with suppliers and investors, crisis management, and the environmental and economic sustainability of green projects.

One of the most memorable moments was the visit to Casa Marcegaglia, the company museum inaugurated in 2023 and dedicated to the history, values and vision of the Marcegaglia entrepreneurial family. A striking digital installation gives voice to Steno Marcegaglia, the company’s founder, who recounts his humble beginnings and rise in the industrial world.

The museum offered UniTS students an immersive experience where art and industrial heritage blend with the idea of enterprise as a common good, in a narrative that uses technology to interweave identity, memory and social responsibility.

The visit concluded with a tour of the historic plant in Gazoldo degli Ippoliti, which today employs more than 1,700 people and remains a strong symbol of the Group’s deep local roots.

The initiative forms part of the training programme of the Innovators Community Lab, which in this edition has expanded its role modelling opportunities to provide students with inspiring examples, hands-on experiences and valuable professional contacts to better understand the dynamics of innovation, business and the world of work – through direct interaction with key players in the production system.