Il Sole 24 Ore is among the winners of the Journalism Science Alliance Grant with Lab24
The visual journalism section of *Il Sole 24 Ore* online will be carrying out an investigation into the impact of AI data centres in Italia
Il Sole 24 Ore, with Lab24, the visual journalism section of the newspaper’s website, is one of the 25 winners of the Journalism Science Alliance Grant, with a project focusing on the impact of the growth of data centres in Italia. Now in its second year, this international programme supports investigative journalism based on scientific research and data.
The Sole 24 Ore digital data-visualisation project, carried out in collaboration with the Digital Innovation Observatories at the Politecnico di Milano, will analyse the rapid growth of data centres in Italia, with a particular focus on Lombardy and the Milan metropolitan area, which is currently one of the fastest-growing markets in Europe. The study will examine the practical impact of this technological transformation across three key areas: water consumption, land use and energy requirements.
The grant will support the various stages of the investigation: using data, maps and satellite imagery, the working group will identify where new data centres are being built, which areas are affected, and whether the developments are taking place on former brownfield sites or agricultural land.
The research will be carried out through scientific collaboration with the Digital Innovation Observatories at the Politecnico di Milano, in particular with the units studying the data centre sector and energy consumption. The aim is to produce new and systematic information on a rapidly growing but still little-discussed phenomenon, by linking technical data, institutional sources and the local context.
“We chose to investigate the phenomenon of data centres because we wanted to illustrate, through data, maps and satellite images, the tangible impact that the greatest technological revolution of our time is already having on the areas where we live,” explains Luca Salvioli, journalist in charge of new formats at *Il Sole 24 Ore* and *Lab24*. “Thanks to our collaboration with a scientific partner, we will be able to experiment with new investigative and visualisation techniques, offering a rigorous and innovative account of this transformation.”
