The ICT sector in Emilia-Romagna, many lights and few shadows

Despite the emergency caused by the flood and the increase in the costs of raw materials, the digital market of Emilia-Romagna recorded significant growth in 2023, reaching a total value of 6,063.2 million euros, for an increase in 2.6% on the previous year. The first edition of the report “Digital in Emilia-Romagna 2024”, analyzes the path towards the digital transition undertaken so far and investigates the areas in which it is necessary to accelerate to reach even more competitive levels of digitalisation.

The numbers in the report certify the importance of Emilia-Romagna at a national level, with excellent data regarding the economy in general and the adoption of innovative processes in particular. The study also aims to be a proactive tool and provide ideas so that the interaction between private entrepreneurship, the public sector and European projects provides even more opportunities for growth and development.

The report uses methodologies and contents of the annual study “Digital in Italy” by Anitec-Assinform

«After Puglia and Lazio, with this report we enrich our analysis of the territories, in order to study the dynamics of the digitalisation of our country even better. Once again a situation of great vitality emerges, where a historically flourishing productive fabric – such as that of Emilia-Romagna – has for some time been taking important steps towards digitalisation and the adoption of innovative technologies, through a virtuous local ‘ecosystem’ which dialogues with supranational markets and institutions. The data confirms the importance of investing in digital skills, with a policy strategy focused on education, higher training, upskilling and reskilling. A topic on which our association is engaged with the Observatory on skills and with various training projects, but which requires even more commitment and dialogue at central level. Today we have the possibility, also thanks to artificial intelligence and infrastructures such as HPC Leonardo, to make our production chain thriving and dynamic, starting from valuable experiences in the area and creating useful synergies within our industry.” As Marco Gay, president of Anitec-Assinformthe Confindustria Association which brings together the main ICT companies, commenting on the publication on the trend of digital in Emilia-Romagna.

«Emilia-Romagna – he declares Annalisa Sassi, President of Confindustria Emilia-Romagna – confirms itself as one of the most innovative and digitalized regions at an Italian and European level, with very dynamic companies, an expanding digital market and a public system that makes available significant financial resources. Emilia-Romagna companies are engaged in important digital transformation processes: according to our investment survey in 2023, 55% invested in ICT and 58% in training. In Emilia-Romagna we have an extraordinary convergence of acceleration factors: to make a real leap in quality we must work together, businesses, institutions and the many innovation players to simplify the system, make it more accessible to businesses and more transversal, and increase the impact of technological training on the territory by strengthening digital training courses in line with the needs of businesses”.

Digital in Emilia-Romagna 2024

• Divided into four chapters followed by a focus, the report “Digital in Emilia-Romagna 2024” initially examines the regional economy and the progress of the Digital Agenda Data Valley Common Good, with the new financial allocations of the European ERDF and ESF+ 2021 programs -2027 aimed at valorising data and attracting investments and skills.
• It then analyzes in detail the regional ICT market, which recorded significant growth in 2023, exceeding 6 billion euros, with an increase of 2.6% and higher growth peaks for ICT services, content and digital advertising, software and consultancy ICT.
• Almost 13,000 ICT companies are active in the area; among these, there are 500 Innovative ICT Startups and SMEs in the region.
• Through the annual investment survey of Confindustria Emilia-Romagna, the fourth chapter illustrates the dynamics and processes of digitalisation of companies, while the final focus is dedicated to the Leonardo supercomputer, the sixth most powerful in the world.

Conclusions

• The conclusions of the report, on the one hand, highlight some critical issues in the advancement of digital at a regional level
• and, on the other hand, they offer ideas for improving and encouraging innovation and transformation processes.

On the first side, the low development of startups and innovative SMEs in the ICT field, the heterogeneity in the progress of territorial digitalisation, the process of transferring technological innovation from research to businesses not exploited in an optimal way, the managerial culture which is not inclined to to innovation and change in some segments and sectors, the lack of advanced ICT professionals.

On the second front, some lines of intervention are identified, such as the change of perspective in governance which favors a vertical orientation, to make the organization of the regional ecosystem simpler and more effective, favoring economies of scale and scope; the adoption of differentiated political actions, with calibrated targets and measures; the need, on the part of the business world, to have “certainties” regarding the procedures and times of public financing of technological investments.