{"id":2687,"date":"2021-06-29T10:57:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T08:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pmf-research.eu\/ict-research-in-italy-between-crisis-and-opportunity\/"},"modified":"2024-12-10T12:42:30","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T11:42:30","slug":"ict-research-in-italy-between-crisis-and-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pmf-research.eu\/en\/ict-research-in-italy-between-crisis-and-opportunity\/","title":{"rendered":"ICT research in Italy: between Crisis and Opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The harsh lesson of the pandemic has made us understand how digital transformation and scientific research are now a necessary condition to cope with the difficulties presented on a global scale. Important is the focus on research and development in the\u00a0Information & Communication Technologies\u00a0sector and investments in digital R&D, sectors that are constantly increasing and able to attract resources from abroad. Although compared to 2017 there is a slight increase in ICT investments in our country, the results achieved are still much lower than our potential and weigh on GDP just over half of the EU average. So, what are the developments of ICT research in Italy to date?<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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ICT IN ITALY: THE 1ST REPORT ON RESEARCH AND INNOVATION<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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According to the\u00a01st<\/sup>\u00a0ICT Research and Innovation Report<\/a>\u00a0in Italy, presented by Anitec-Assinform, the Association for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) of Confindustria in collaboration with\u00a0APRE \u2013 the Agency for the Promotion of European Research<\/a>, ICT companies have invested about 2.6 billion euros in research and innovation (R&I). Certainly, a figure that is growing but still much lower than the European average. Although the 2019 figure confirms a positive trend, for the 2020 there is a risk of growth slowed by the effects of the health crisis.<\/p>

The much-debated relaunch program, based on the multi-year recovery plan promoted by the European Union, assigns a fundamental role to digital and accentuates the need to promote the R&D sector and increase investments in ICT research in order to keep up with European technological leaders.<\/p>

Surely the pandemic has accelerated the digital transition process and the focus on R&D. There was an increase in university subscriptions, an increase in investment by computer and equipment companies (+4.8%) and \u2013 although with almost derisory growth \u2013 telecommunications services (+0.3%).\u00a0<\/p>

Although the improvements are visible and foresee continuous and positive growth, specific skills must be strengthened by encouraging more young people, especially women, to orient themselves towards the skills of\u00a0Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM),\u00a0<\/strong>in order to respond to the growing demand coming from sectors such as: robotics, artificial intelligence, biomedicine, and energy.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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ICT IN ITALY: SOME NUMBERS<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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ICT companies\u2019 R&D investments in Italy amount to only 12% of the total international funding envisaged by the sector and correspond to 0.15% of GDP; lower values and proportions than those achieved by Germany (0.21%) and the EU (0.22%). R&D staff and ICT researchers rose 13.1% and 20.6% respectively.<\/p>

In addition, thanks to the new funds allocated by the EU for Horizon Europe (HEU), the next European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation for the period 2021-2027, which will succeed Horizon 2020 (2014-2020), our country is expected to have a budget share of 7.9%.<\/p>

However, the total funds allocated in Italy remain undersized, with a ratio of public allocation for ICT R&D to GDP of 0.045%, while Germany is up to 0.054%. A percentage that, although clearly increasing, is still about 160 million euros far from the German European technological leader.<\/p>

In Italy, companies have started to consider digitalisation as a ‘natural’ condition and to equip themselves to seize all the opportunities it offers. The request for a better structuring of IT systems – and their opening towards the cloud – is now ubiquitous, as well as the need to be able to analyse, through bBig dData, the digital heritage in order to obtain accurate insights on the performance of organisations and to be able to make forecasts on future phenomena.<\/p>

The regional PAs, for their part, are undergoing a decisive process of modernisation: both the health sector and the local public administration sector are effectively engaged in digitalising their relationship with citizens and their internal management procedures.<\/p>

The ICTct and digital technologies market in Italy is growing at two speeds, with a decline in the traditional ITt sector and a strong push towards more innovative digital technologies. Overall, the sector as a whole lost 0.1% in 2020 and will grow 4.2% in 2021, but ITIt alone fell -2.8% in 2020 and will fall back 0.5% this year.\u00a0 In contrast, the market for new digital technologies (such as cloud, collaboration, AI, machine learning, 5G, IoT, blockchain, …) grew by 2.5% in 2020 and will grow again by 6.8% this year.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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TOWARDS A DIGITAL AND INNOVATIVE FUTURE<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The development of ICT technologies is therefore a fundamental element to promote innovation and the competitiveness of the entire economy. A high positioning in the ICT sector and research and development is in fact synonymous with high social and economic indicators:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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