Neither player (especially if the only player), nor referee: the role of the State in the field of technological innovation must be that of the coach. Use a football metaphor the Minister of Digital Transition Vittorio Colao, former CEO of Vodafone and guest (in attendance) of the Trento Festival of Economics: “A coaching state wants benefits for all citizens, and in fact our goal is to bring fast connectivity everywhere in the country. To achieve this, his role is to make the players, i.e. digital companies, play at their best. If businesses really fail, then the State becomes forced to be a player too, but by no means the only player in the field”. Colao also returned to the theme, already extensively discussed in recent weeks, of the project for a single national network, which however now seems to have stalled: "The PNRR is absolutely clear in setting service objectives for citizens, not to favor some businesses instead of other. Businesses are tools, not ends. We'll see if some of these companies want to form a consortium. After all, the debate on the single network was thus heard only in Italy, and without leading to results". Concept to which, again in Trento, he also returned Tim's president Salvatore Rossi: "The discussion around the single network project is above all political, there is little technical".
In short, digital innovation does not depend primarily on governance, but on the investments and objectives that the State sets and, speaking of the PNRR, the minister recalled that the funds for the Internet are equal to 6,7 billion, of which 2 billion for the mobile network and 4,7 billion on the high capacity network. "The State - Colao said - must begin to be an innovator where it is a monopolist, that is, public services, public administration". The goal is to reach every single Italian citizen with super-fast Internet by the beginning of 2027, whether it is with optical fiber or with 5G. Precisely on 5G Colao called for "greater European autonomy", for a network that is more secure, even if "the issue of 5G is not just China". On security, the minister also answered the question on need for a finally secure PA cloud: “Today 95% of Public Administration servers are not secure. By June, I'm expecting proposals from companies to create a national strategic pole that gives the public the access keys in cryptography, to protect sensitive data. Especially the strategic ones: health, defense, etc".
Finally, a consideration on global minimum corporate tax, for which there was a historic first agreement at the G7 of finance ministers, which will then be better defined in the G20. The issue also concerns digital, because this new tax will effectively sterilize the debate on the web tax to be applied to American tech giants: “The agreement is a historic and right turning point. The homogeneity of international taxation is above all a question of fairness. The multinationals themselves, the serious ones, wanted it. And when it is actually approved, then it will no longer be necessary to talk about a web tax". On the 15% rate, lower than the first proposal of 21% formulated by the American president Joe Biden, Colao has no doubts: “Everything goes well, the important thing was to leave. Indeed, the choice of 15% is intelligent in the logic of the fight against tax havens, because this rate does not differ much from that of countries such as Ireland, for example, which are at 12,5%. This way it is easier for everyone to accept and digest it”.
