Italians would like to live in a more innovative country, but they also express many fears about the effects of new technologies on a social level and in particular on employment and the gap between high and low and medium incomes. A research curated by CENSIS and financed by Che Banca!, and presented at the opening of the Innovation week promoted by Edison in Milan, offers many ideas of great interest to understand what is the level of the culture of innovation in our country, and what drive comes from citizens towards those who have the responsibility to propose and manage change, ie, Government and businesses.
Italians therefore understand and share the need for innovation as a drive to go beyond the boundaries of one's own garden, change habits, break with traditional rules, and also as an opportunity for economic growth. Above all, progress in the field of telecommunications is appreciated, but progress in the field of transport is also eagerly awaited, especially as regards the electric or hybrid car or healthcare.
Positive judgment also on the role that the Government is playing, even if the innovations promised with the digital agenda are still not seen concretely and are not changing the lives of individuals and businesses. Overall, many fellow citizens believe that innovation arises from the intuition of isolated geniuses, but that we are incapable of creating a system, and this creates skepticism, especially among young people who are eager to see the innovations we hear about applied in practice.
Great strides have been made in recent times. The first calls for tenders for the installation of the ultra-fast band have been published, the central engine of the single digital identity has been launched which will allow all citizens to access any information or public service, the Foia has been approved, i.e. the system that will allow everyone to see the documents of the PA. But now we need to accelerate its implementation said Elio Catania, president of digital Confindustria, and Marco Gay, president of Condindustria's Youth, only to be told by Minister Madia, however, that his commitment will certainly be maximum in implementing the law, but that really doing it requires the contribution of everyone, citizens and above all productive categories starting with companies and banks that must enter the single digital identity system.
As for the fears that innovation could lead to the end of work, both Catania and Gay underlined that in the more advanced countries, where they have already applied a more extensive digitization, the relationship between the destruction of jobs and the new ones created is one to three. Naturally, change involves the destruction of old-type jobs and the creation of new jobs, which perhaps do not yet exist today, so it is necessary to carefully manage a transition phase that requires adequate welfare and large investments in training.
As for the increase in social gaps, with an increase in inequality, it is not certain that analogous phenomena should occur in all countries between the winners and the mass of those left behind. This problem in Europe too can be managed carefully given our long experience in welfare systems which, however, should be adapted to the characteristics of greater personal and territorial mobility.
The thrust of innovation that everyone understands to be positive and unstoppable if we want to continue on the path of progress, also generates fears that are typical of transition phases, fears that can be exploited (as is happening in many parts of Europe) by those who speculates on it to build a political courier, or by those who don't want to change anything. It is therefore necessary to manage them wisely, on the one hand by showing the benefits of innovations as quickly as possible and on the other by assisting those who risk being left behind.
In any case, Italy appears ready to make the great leap to become a country fully inserted in the leading ranks of the advanced countries. It is a matter of not wasting time, of coagulating sufficient forces around precise projects to make them move forward rapidly. The Italians seem eager to see that someone manages to get the country back on track.
