Creating a new Ministry of Innovation and Digitization it's good news, at least in intention. Italy needs a lot of innovation and digitization, but to date there is no system action in which to insert a medium and long-term vision, which dynamically responds to an increasingly rapid and often unpredictable technological change, which it is reasonable to expect will intensify in the coming years.
To try to draw up innovation and digitization policy indications, we need to start from the fact that we are at the gates of a new industrial revolution, the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution. This revolution will be characterized by the pervasive application of new digital technologies, such as robotics, the internet of things, additive manufacturing or 3D printing, big data analysis, machine learning and artificial intelligence. These new technologies have three fundamental characteristics that must be considered to design an appropriate policy:
a. Pervasiveness: they are potentially applicable technologies in all industries, both in the manufacturing sector and in the advanced services sector;
b. Productivity: they are able to generate strong productivity gains for the companies and sectors that adopt them;
c. Absorptive capacity: their adoption requires the presence of personnel with skills and, given the rapidity of technological change, capable of progressive learning.
Not all of these technologies need to be developed on site. But they are not technologies either plug-and-play that is, that they can be adopted by companies simply by introducing them into their production processes. Crucial fact for Italy, new digital technologies can benefit not only hi-tech contexts, such as the pharmaceutical or aeronautical sector, but also less technological sectors such as agriculture, as well as the service sector. They will make it possible to better manage global value chains and supplies, a central objective for the new phenomenon of innovative medium-sized Italian companies that have made internationalization the lever for their growth.
For Italy, as for the other advanced and emerging countries, it is a question of leaving today, to decide who will be in or out in ten years. New digital technologies will have a substantial impact on job creation and destruction. Firms can and must certainly invest in training, but they must also be able to have a qualified workforce already educated and competent, which must be provided by public training. If on the one hand the growing automation will make many routine jobs obsolete, on the other hand new professional figures will be needed for the programming and management of the machines. It is estimated that close to 90 per cent of new professions will need to skills digital to be attractive for businesses. It is believed that automation will make re-shoring cost-effective for many companies that have relocated in pursuit of labor cost savings. But where will the new jobs be created? What will be the balance for Italy between the destruction of routine jobs and the creation of cognitive jobs? Here a huge game is being played for the future of the new generations, the level of wages, the share of added value in industry that will remain (or will return) to Italy.
What should the Ministry for Innovation and Digitization do in this context? First of all, start from the awareness that we start with a delay compared to our main partners. If we look at the indicators of science, technology and innovation, we know that - compared with Germany, France and Great Britain - Italy spends less than the European average on Research & Development and on education, and has a lower propensity to use the Internet in schools, workplaces and for the citizen/public administration interface.[1] Awareness of the Italian lag in innovation, including digital innovation, must not only serve to complain, but to realize that we need to roll up our sleeves. The delay can be reduced and, in the medium term, even canceled if the public institutions work together and consider it a priority objective. The program points should be as follows:
1. Prepare a plan for the new digital technologies that systemises training, school and university, jointly with Industry 4.0 plan. The next National Research Program should represent a joint integrated effort for the next ten years in which the objectives are indicated together with the available tools.
2. In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, University and Research, activate a definition of new skills and abilities to be developed, ranging from the humanities to the abstract sciences.
3. Relaunch the theme of higher technical training, still too far from European standards, and from the opportunities offered by the industry.
4. Relaunch the project Smart Cities, drawing on structural funds, starting with the Pon Metro managed by the Territorial Cohesion Agency.
5. Launch a plan on new digital technologies calibrated across the five specialization areas outlined in smart specialization for creating three hubs for public-private research in new digital technologies in Northern, Central and Southern Italy.
[1] For a battery of indicators see la Report on research and innovation in Italy. Analysis and data of science and technology policy, CNR Editions, June 2018.
