A new White Paper on the Digital Economy for Italy has highlighted two key areas for accelerating the country’s sustainable long-term economic growth.
Originally presented on 15 July in an event in Regione Lazio in the presence of the Minister of Economic Development, Stefano Patuanelli, the White Paper focuses on the importance of digital transformation processes, as well as the organic design of a Digital Economy policy which can speed up Italy’s resumption of business and socially and environmentally sustainable long-term economic growth.
The event was streamed by the Italian press agency ANSA, with its Director, Luigi Contu, moderating a round table discussion, featuring Leonardo CEO Alessandro Profumo along with the CEOs of ENI, OPENFIBER, RAI and TIM Infocert, as well as the Global CIO of ENEL. During the speeches they discussed in depth the main issues of the company’s introductions to the White Paper publication.
In his speech, Alessandro Profumo emphasised the importance of investing in cybersecurity to protect the country’s digital autonomy. During the COVID emergency, many people have been working from home, resulting in a rapid surge in the number of connections and the amount of data traffic. This has led to an increase in connections and therefore in cyber threats, which have revealed security vulnerabilities and required prompt adoption of protective systems and services. But these systems and services alone are not enough, as Profumo pointed out; users must be educated in appropriate behaviour and digital culture must be promoted.
In this regard, Alessandro Profumo emphasised Leonardo’s key role in digital transformation and how the company is working with Italian Institutions to implement the plan for relaunching the national economy – a goal requiring public/private sector partnerships and targeted investment. The Leonardo CEO also confirmed that the company will be implementing the investments identified in its plans for growth, especially in digital technologies. Examples include the new Supercalculation Centre in Genoa, part of the Leonardo Labs initiative, which also involves hiring talented young people.
The White Paper on the Digital Economy is a project by the Digital Economy Centre, established in 2017 and inspired by its President, Rosario Cerra, President of the I CAPITAL Group, with the direct commitment of the Dean of the Faculty of Economics of SAPIENZA University in Roma, Dr. Giuseppe Ciccarone, the Dean of the Faculty of Economics of TOR VERGATA University in Rome, Dr. Giovanni Tria, and the Head of the Department of Economics of ROMA TRE University, Dr. Silvia Terzi.