Apple Naples academy inaugurated

(ANSA) - Naples, October 6 - US technology firm Apple on Thursday opened its first European iOS Developer Academy in Naples.
    The European training academy of the world's biggest tech company kicks off in partnership with Naples' Federico II University and will be located at its San Giovanni a Teduccio campus on the city's eastern outskirts.
    A first group of 100 students from around the world begins the free nine-month course Monday. They were selected among 4,000 applicants, including many from southern Italy.
    More spots will reportedly be available in next year's program.
    "The Apple Academy kicks off as promised," Premier Matteo Renzi tweeted. "Naples has a lot of future ahead - if the South restarts, Italy restarts". The location of Apple's first Developer Academy in Europe was announced in January when Apple CEO Tim Cook visited Renzi in Rome.
    Campania Governor Vincenzo De Luca said at the inauguration ceremony that the regional government had invested 100 million euros in the project and has pledged another 30 million. An additional seven million euros will fund scholarships and free transportation for students, De Luca said. Academy students will be taught how to write code to create apps that will run on iOS devices, and will be provided with a current-generation MacBook, iPhone and iPad.
    According to data released by Apple in January, when it announced the launch of its first European iOS developer academy, the company "has contributed to the creation of over 1.4 million jobs, including 1.2 million attributable to the community of app creators, software engineers and entrepreneurs building apps for iOS, as well as non-IT jobs".
    The App store has helped developers in Europe earn over 10.2 billion euros from selling their apps around the world, the company added. In Italy, over 75,000 jobs are reportedly attributable to the App Store.
    The Federico II University in Naples is the oldest public university in the world and the third university in Italy ranked by enrolled students.