A recent analysis by the Research Office of Mestre CGIA draws attention to a growing critical issue for the Italian production system: the ageing of the workforce. The average age of people employed in the private sector is close to 42 years, and approximately one in three workers is over fifty. Against the backdrop of a contraction in younger age groups, some older cohorts have recorded significant increases over the past sixteen years: +154.5% among those aged 55 to 59 and +372% among those aged 60 to 64.
Although provincial data for Trento depict a less critical situation than the national average, this difference does not justify disregarding the phenomenon, which has concrete impacts across several domains.
One such domain is the management of knowledge within firms and, more broadly, within organizations. Individuals with a long employment history bring with them a stock of tacit knowledge and professional relationships, that is, a distinctive saper fare built up over time. Many operational capabilities are not based solely on formalized procedures, but rather on a deep understanding of work contexts developed through direct experience; similarly, the management of relationships with clients and suppliers often relies on trust, established practices, and mutual familiarity.
This body of knowledge represents a value both for the individual and for the organization; however, it can also turn into a source of vulnerability. The departure of experienced personnel (due to retirement, but not only) may deprive firms of specialized skills and operational continuity. This risk is further heightened by the loss of coordination and leadership roles: the exit of a foreman, for example, can leave a work team without a clear point of reference, weakening cohesion, decision-making capacity, and the ability to manage everyday critical issues.
For this reason, the key challenge is to turn individual know-how into shared knowledge within the organization. Organizing, making accessible, and transferring experiential knowledge within the working community becomes crucial not only to ensure continuity and adaptability, but also to preserve and strengthen the organization’s capacity to innovate and respond to change.
This capacity also affects the ability of firms to attract new workers. Those entering the labour market today assess not only economic conditions, but also the quality of the organization, its internal culture, and the opportunities it offers for growth and learning over time.
In this context, investing in continuous training takes on a strategic role. This is not merely a matter of technical upskilling: training can become a space for intergenerational exchange, in which experienced workers pass on organizational culture and memory, while new entrants introduce new tools and languages.
Moreover, internal training can be further strengthened and enhanced by fostering dialogue between organizations and systems of innovation and research, starting with universities. Challenge-Based Learning (CBL), adopted by the School of Innovation and also implemented across several Departments of the University of Trento, represents a concrete example. Through CBL, organizations bring real-world problems into the academic context, jointly exploring possible solutions and future scenarios together with students and faculty members. The active involvement of professionals in co-creation pathways with the academic community makes it possible to reinforce mutual learning and to activate innovation processes that would be difficult to achieve within the boundaries of individual organizations alone.
Ultimately, workforce ageing is a variable that must be governed and leveraged, rather than passively endured. Even in seemingly advantaged territories such as Trentino, the challenge lies in creating the conditions under which knowledge becomes a shared resource, capable of sustaining, over time, processes of learning, innovation, and organizational growth.