Continues Italy digital delay, But the PNRR it can be an accelerator. Our country is in 24th place in the European Union in the percentage of people with basic digital skills; in 25th place considering citizens who interact online with the Public Administration; and 21st in the ranking of companies with a website with advanced features. But there is also good news, Italy records a good positioning in some dimensions often not considered in the comparative indices, such as the cybersecurity and the link with the sustainable transition.
This is what emerges from the 2022 Report of the Observatory on Digital transformation of Italy made by The European House - Ambrosetti in collaboration with the IBM Italia Foundation and the Eni Enrico Mattei Foundation.
Secondo Lorenzo Tavazzi, Partner and Head of Scenarios & Intelligence, The European House – Ambrosetti, there are several reasons that make “an Observatory on Digital Transformation in Italy necessary, starting from the assessments of the delays in the level of digitization compared to other EU countries and from structural deficiencies, including the serious lack of widespread digital skills”. But at the same time, Tavazzi underlines, the PNRR can be an accelerator. “In fact, investments of 40,7 billion euros are planned: a fundamental opportunity for the country to restart a productivity that has been stagnant for over 20 years and implement the necessary green transition, so closely connected to digitalization processes. The link between the two transitions, the principles of ethics and inclusion, the need for cybersecurity: these are some of the dimensions often not adequately photographed by traditional indexes, but placed at the center of the Observatory's analyses”.
Digital transformation report in Italy 2022: the current situation
Unfortunately, our country is once again experiencing delays in the digital transition: Italy is in 18th place out of 27 EU countries in Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), behind all major economies. The improvement of 2 positions in the general ranking is driven by the component relating to connectivity (16 positions gained compared to 2021), while in digital public services there is even a deterioration of one position and in human capital the situation is stable.
In 2021, the percentage of individuals who used the Internet at least once a week was 80% (with a gap of 8 percentage points compared to the European average), only 40% of citizens interacted with the PA online (compared to a European average of 65%), and only 56% of Italian companies had a website with advanced features.
The lack of widespread digital skills, the limited levels of connectivity and the reduced propensity for data sharing are holding back this transformation. Italy is the 24th country in the EU for the share of people with skills digital, at least basic, while on the business front, Italy records an incidence of ICT experts on the total number of employees equal to 3,8% (compared to an EU average of 4,5%).
In 2021, only 65,7% of families in Italy adopted the fixed broadband, 15,4% less than in Germany and 12,1% less than the European average. And this despite the fact that our country is in first place in the EU for 5G coverage.
The reduced propensity for data sharing, however, limits the potential deriving from the creation of digital ecosystems. Only one company out of three exchanges data with public bodies (33,1%) and with its reference community (32,9%).
The opportunities of the PNRR for digitization
However, the Observatory's report points out that within the PNRR, digital transformation is the second among the 6 missions by budget, with €40,7 billion available, more than Spain, Germany and France combined (€38 billion).
Italy's digital transition therefore represents a unique opportunity to relaunch productivity and therefore growth in Italy. According to estimates by The European House - Ambrosetti, the structural impacts enabled by the PNRR are extremely significant and could amount to +2027% of annual GDP in 1,9 and will remain persistent until 2036 (with a potential cumulative impact of +13% ). In particular, the digitization of the PA and the greater productivity of businesses, enabled by technologies and digital, could account for +1,2% of GDP per year, thus providing an important boost for the relaunch and competitiveness of the country-system.
Digitization and sustainability for Italy's recovery
The success of energy transition is closely linked to digitization processes. “The two transitions are inextricably linked” according to Alessandro Lanza, Executive Director, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
Le new digital technologies in fact, make it possible to make consumption and processes more efficient: the long-term Italian energy strategy foresees that electricity generation will have to go from 288 TWh in 2018 to 600-700 TWh by 2050, while that produced from renewable sources from 117 TWh to 670 TWh, and digitization will make this growth in electricity production possible.
However, the problem remains the procurement of critical raw materials, both for green and digital technologies, for which a sharp increase in demand is expected, which will also have to be met with a boost to the recycling of technological products.
Cybersecurity, a strategic need
According to the Report, the development of the digitization process must guarantee the security in the use of data and digital technologies. The progressive digitization of essential services for society and the economy makes the cybersecurity a strategic need. Overall, cybersecurity is estimated to generate an annual global cost of around $6 trillion (about 1% of global GDP) and is set to increase to $10,5 trillion by 2025.
Even in Italy, cyber attacks are increasingly frequent, and the economic consequences for businesses are evident: in 2021, the Cyber attack caused cumulative damage to Italian companies of 4,1 billion euros.
An inclusive and ethical digital transformation
The ways in which the digitization process is developed must guarantee the principles of inclusion ed ethics, to ensure that the digital transition does not leave anyone behind and does not contribute to further widening the gaps already present. On the inclusion front, there are many in Italy gaps, for example in terms of age, education and territories both between Regions and between more and less urbanized areas.
Furthermore, ethical principles must be ensured since digital technologies can raise ethical issues, for example when an algorithm produces systematically biased results due to incorrect assumptions in the machine learning process which can lead to discrimination and other social consequences.
The Tableau de Bord and the lines of action necessary for the digital transformation of Italy
The Observatory has created a Dashboard, a tool to be integrated with the activity of the Department for digital transformation, capable of returning, every year, one photography updated on the digital development of the Italian system, in order to prepare coherent policy initiatives to promptly guide and "govern" the country's digital development.
The action proposals of the Observatory on the Digital Transformation of Italy
In summary, theObservatory on the Digital Transformation of Italy proposes the following lines of action:
1. Valuing Transition 4.0 as a reference program to support the twin transition of companies in the country.
2. Promote a multidisciplinary approach to training and development skills development digital,.
3. Make theethics and inclusion are the guiding principles of the digital transition, formulating a principle of guarantee of ethics and inclusion to be applied to the development of digital projects of the Public Administration and businesses.
4. Create certification protocols for data infrastructures and data intermediaries that meet the security requirements established by European legislation and possibly verified through specific audit mechanisms; on the other hand, introduce tax incentives to increase the number of companies adopting data sharing protocols.
