Research · 28 February 2026
Purpose, skills and training
Forty-five interviews with senior figures at 42 organisations across Modena and Reggio Emilia: how they define their purpose, which skills they ask for to deliver it and what training they put in place.
Editorial bites
- For these companies sustainability is no external constraint: it is lower energy bills and a sharper profile on the market at once.
- The skills most often named for sustainability are not technical ones: listening, empathy, handling cultural and generational diversity.
- Measuring emissions and consumption has become data work: advanced digital skills and AI now sit among sustainability skills.
- The training that works is mixed: in-person workshops to compare notes, online modules for theory, labs on real company cases.
- Posters, internal memos and the Code of Ethics matter as much as courses: sustainability is also learned from what circulates every day.
A research report by OPERA, the research unit of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. The 21 categories from the thematic analysis, the interview quotes and the full map of skills and training activities are in the complete document.