Where you build a STEM career matters. A degree in engineering, computer science, mathematics, physics or another scientific or technical field may open doors in many places, but the opportunities that come with it are not evenly distributed.
Research centres, innovative companies, universities and technology infrastructure tend to cluster. When they do, they create more than individual job openings: they create environments where skills can move between research and industry, new projects can develop and different career paths can emerge.
In northern Italy, Trentino stands out on this front.
An innovation ecosystem recognised at European level
There is a useful way to look beyond general claims about innovation: compare regions using the same indicators. The European Commission’s Regional Innovation Scoreboard 2025, which assesses 241 regions across Europe, classifies the Autonomous Province of Trento as a Strong Innovator and the highest-scoring Italian region in the 2025 scoreboard. It also identifies Trento as one of Europe’s regional pockets of excellence: regions whose innovation performance stands out even though their country belongs to a lower innovation group.
For someone working in a STEM field, that matters because innovation rarely depends on a single company or research centre. It develops through connections between universities, laboratories, businesses, start-ups and people with highly specialised skills.
Those connections can be seen across Trentino: from the University of Trento and major research organisations such as Fondazione Bruno Kessler, to technology and industrial hubs where research and companies work in close proximity.
Technical and scientific skills are in demand
The other side of the picture is the labour market. According to the 40th Employment Report (2025) of the Employment Agency of the Autonomous Province of Trento, which draws on Excelsior survey data, local companies planned 1,080 hires of engineering graduates in 2024, accounting for more than 14% of all planned hires requiring a university degree.
For some engineering specialisations, more than 80% of these positions were considered difficult to fill. More broadly, the report notes that difficulties in hiring STEM graduates are much more frequent than for graduates in other fields. Across all university-level profiles, 61.4% of planned hires were considered difficult to fill.
The same pattern extends beyond university degrees. In higher technical education, known in Trentino as Alta Formazione Professionale, mechatronics and ICT are among the fields for which local companies are looking for people. The report records 750 planned hires at this level, with an overall recruitment difficulty of 62.4%.
Recruitment difficulties are a challenge for companies. For people considering their next career move, however, they also signal something important: these are skills for which there is real demand.
From AI to mechatronics: where research meets industry
The numbers become more meaningful when you look at what already exists on the ground.
In Trento, research in fields such as artificial intelligence, digital technologies and advanced computing connects with the work of universities, companies and institutions. Fondazione Bruno Kessler, whose work ranges from AI to cybersecurity, is one of the key actors in this ecosystem. In Rovereto, Polo Meccatronica brings together companies, research, education and technological infrastructure around advanced manufacturing, automation and mechatronics. Inside Polo Meccatronica, ProM Facility is a prototyping and product development centre where companies can access technologies ranging from metal and polymer 3D printing to metrology and X-ray tomography. Established in 2017, it brings together Trentino Sviluppo, the Autonomous Province of Trento, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, the University of Trento and Confindustria Trento. The city is also home to Progetto Manifattura, where companies and start-ups work in areas linked to the green economy and sustainable technologies.
These are different environments, but the underlying idea is the same: bringing knowledge, technological infrastructure and companies closer together makes it easier for research to become applications, and for specialised skills to find different ways into the labour market.
Choosing an ecosystem, not only a job
For a STEM professional, moving somewhere new is rarely just about one vacancy. It is also worth asking what happens after that first job. Are there other companies working with similar technologies? Is there a research community? Can you continue learning, change direction or move between industry and research without necessarily having to relocate again? The same question can matter to people moving with a family. A place with universities, research centres, technical education and companies working in science and technology provides a broader environment in which scientific interests can develop into study and, eventually, professional opportunities.
Trentino cannot offer every STEM career. No region can. But a region ranked as a Strong Innovator by the European Commission, with established research institutions and documented demand for technical skills, is a place worth considering when deciding where to build one.
