Words by Irene Dominioni, Illustrations by Mélody Da Fonseca
Unleash is the most unconventional youth conference aimed at awakening every youngster’s potential. Before the event, I interviewed Cesare Cacitti, a 16-year-old maker and one of the brightest minds among youth worldwide. Here is his story and expectations towards the event.
Thin and bespectacled, Cesare Cacitti looks like a little Steve Jobs. And, just like the founder of Apple Inc., he is one of a kind. He defines himself a “maker”, one who experiments, shares knowledge, cooperates and researches the world. Born and raised in Dueville, a small town in Italy, he built a 3D printer by himself at the age of 12, collecting handmade parts around his neighborhood.
Together with 15 other exceptional young speakers, Cesare will narrate his extraordinary story at Unleash, the event designed to celebrate youth potential and talent in all its forms, when 400 youngsters gather at the Circo Price in Madrid on June 8-10, 2016. Unleash gathers a panel of young speakers in all fields, from biodiesel to social activism (feminism), healthcare (crutches & neurological disorders), IT, data transparency and mobile communication, cooking, music, youth policy-making and crowdfunding.
Cesare’s story: how it all started
Cesare started playing around with electronics at the age of 6, when he received an assembly kit as a birthday present.
“I had invited all of my friends to the party, and when I unwrapped the gift I completely forgot about them and plunged into the game”, he recounts. It was love at first sight. Time passed, Cesare’s interest for the topic grew and he would spend a lot of his free time watching YouTube videos about electronic circuits and experiments.
One day, he ran into an instruction video for a handmade 3D printer, which completely caught his eye. At the age of 7, however, and with the language barrier posed by instructions in English, he had to temporarily leave his dream of building a printer aside. He learned English, some basics of software programming, welding materials and so on, until he decided he was ready to build a 3D printer with his own hands.
He first assembled a CNC (Computer Numerical Controlled) machine that made a pen draw on paper, reproducing the same basic mechanism of a 3D printer. Eight months later, the printer – made of parts he collected in the surroundings of his house – was ready. Cesare’s creation was seen in schools, tech fairs and at the Politecnico of Milan, where a researcher (who is now a good friend) commented: “Cool, it prints pretty well for being a fruit crate”, Cesare recalls, laughing.
Since then, he has built another printer called C15 (the initial of his name, and the age when he built it) for commercialization at low cost, met various sponsors and received funding for his startup from the Italian incubator Primo Miglio. He contributed to the creation of a digital fabrication laboratory “FabLab”, which was launched in Dueville this April. The facilitation offers a training room, printers, and classes to everyone who is interested in gathering different competences and spreading knowledge.
When did you realize you had a talent?
“I think it happened during middle school. I told one of my teachers about my projects, and she asked me to bring my equipment to make a presentation to my classmates. When she saw it, she was so enthusiastic about it that she asked me to make a presentation in each of her classrooms.”
Why are you attending Unleash as a speaker?
“I want everyone to understand that they can contribute to change the world in better and that they should not be let down by the obstacles they might find on the way. I also find the other speakers very interesting, I can’t wait to meet them and to learn from them.”
What would you suggest to any other young person pursuing a dream?
“First of all, never stop believing in it, never stop expanding your knowledge as much as possible, it serves to open up one’s mind and to get new ideas, and try to catch every possible opportunity without fear or worry, because all of them can be useful.”
Editing: Triin Ilves, Anna Valmero
