A corporate mentoring program is available for the teams taking part in the competition if they ask for it. “We have some industry players and also some past alumni who actually are accompanying each team for different subjects such as engineering, project management and supply chain. So the idea is that they help the team throughout the year to make the project better. Usually it is more the rookies that require the program but also for some very specific technicalities such as hydrogen,” explained Charlotte Mille, YCM sustainability manager. Among the shipyards involved there’s Sanlorenzo that has been supporting the University of Genova: “We started the program started more or less two years ago when we launched the idea to the professors and students of the University. The year before we were here and saw a lot of students that were doing something very interesting with this innovative boats. Then we reported the idea to University of Genova and pushed a bit them to enter the challenge. We gave them some support from the founding point of view and also sharing some ideas bringing some sort of practical experience.” From their point of view, the students find the program helpful and mind-opening: “Working with Sanlorenzo was a great experience because it helped us to know better composite materials and also to work with sustainable materials and also to get lighter and better in performance. The technical expertise of Sanlorenzo team was very important to develop new technology and for us to be more competitive and sustainable during this competition,” explained Francesco Travi a student taking part in the competition and studying at University of Genova.
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