Italian strategy for artificial intelligence: facilitators for companies and support for start-ups
The full document drafted by the committee of experts set up to support the Italian government has been published
4' min read
Key points
- The "country-specific perspective"
- From industry to social, seven areas of intervention
- Digital skills lag
- Only 15% of SMEs started pilot projects in 2022
- Strategy for enterprises: let's make way for 'facilitators'
- Thematic laboratories and university spin-offs
- Research, training and Pa: recommendations
- An Agency for Supervision
4' min read
Thirty-eight pages for four strategies: research, public administration, enterprises and training. With an ad hoc Foundation called to implement it and the dream of a national path to AI and the technological neutrality of software and platforms. The full document on the 'Italian Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2024-2026' has just been published. It was drawn up by the committee of 14 experts commissioned by Executive Meloni to analyse the impact of AI and devise a development plan calibrated to the context and specificities of our country.
"The text," explained the Undersecretary for Technological Innovation Alessio Butti, "is supporting the government's work in defining national legislation and policies on AI and demonstrates our determination to drive the development of this technology in an effective and safe manner.
The "country-specific perspective"
.Already in the preamble, the Strategy makes explicit the need to 'carry out project activities and data infrastructures aimed at developing AI systems in a country-specific perspective, capable of preserving the competitive differentials of our excellence, avoiding their dilution as a result of the import of systems developed in other countries'. A key point, for the government, to be cultivated not in the name of isolation (which is impossible) but of the connection of our research units with the major platforms operating at the international level and of cooperation "to foster a system of rules consistent with an all-round principle of social responsibility (right to privacy, gender balance, transparency in the data value chain, etc.).
From industry to social, seven areas of intervention
Equally important, for the Executive, are the ethical and social aspects, as already emerged at the G7 in Borgo Egnazia. The document signals the will to address artificial intelligence also on the social welfare front, with applications in the areas of welfare, environmental and cultural heritage protection, educational processes and health. Seven, in particular, are the sectors considered to be of particular interest for the use of new AI solutions: the made-in-Italy industry, from traditional manufacturing to tourism; the digital industry; the financial industry, including banking and insurance services; health; education; the protection of the territory; and the protection of privay and personal safety.
The digital skills gap
.Italian research is not starting from scratch. We have more than 160 university curricula hinged in 53 universities that already provide AI-related teaching, a national ad hoc doctorate articulated in five federated doctorates that bring together 61 universities and research bodies, 3,261 publications that place us seventh in the world, albeit sidereally distant from China, India, and the United States. But Italy is last among EU countries in terms of the number of ICT graduates (1.5%) and fourth to last in terms of the share of citizens with basic digital skills (45.6%). "An important wake-up call," write the experts, "on the need to invest also in digital citizenship education policies, as well as to further strengthen professionalisation paths in AI.
