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.
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