Italy's performance towards the Digital Decade targets and objectives.
In 2023, Italy made progress in the area of e-government, in particular in e-Health and key digital public services for businesses. Despite some progress, particularly important challenges persist in digital skills, while Italian enterprises lag behind in the adoption of advanced technologies such as AI. However, in the past year, Italy continued to advance on gigabit networks roll-out.
Two main strengths or areas of progress
e-Health
Italy performs above the EU average on access to e-Health records (82.7 out of 100 against an EU average of 79.1 out of 100), which have been introduced in all regions and recorded a strong progress in 2023 (+15.9%). • :
Digital infrastructures
Despite the coverage of Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) and Fixed Very High-Capacity Networks (VHCN) being below EU average (59.6%, against an EU average of 64% and 78.8% respectively), Italy is continuing to make good progress in these indicators.
Two main weaknesses or areas to improve
Adoption of cloud by entreprises and unicorns
Only 5% of Italian enterprises use AI, below the EU average (8%) and showing with a limited dynamic. Moreover, the scale up of enterprises in Italy remains difficult, due to a generally weak ecosystem and limited venture capital investments. In 2023, Italy recorded only 7 unicorns (less than 3% of all the unicorns in the EU).
Basic digital skills
Only 45.8% of people in Italy have at least basic digital skills, with gaps across all age groups. This is well below the EU 55.6% average and showed a limited dynamic in the past years.
Italy's Key Performance Indicators
Italy’s Digital Decade strategic roadmap
The Italian roadmap demonstrates that the country plans a significant effort to achieve the Digital Decade objectives and targets. It set targets for all the 14 Key performance indicators and, in most of the cases, targets are aligned with the EU 2030 ambitions. To achieve its digital transformation, Italy plans to allocate a total budget (excluding private investments) estimated at over EUR 32.5 billion (1.6% GDP).
Digital rights and principles
The Special Eurobarometer 'Digital Decade 2024' reveals that 49% of Italian respondents believes the EU protects their digital rights well, a 6-points decrease compared to 2023, with confidence in digital privacy at 57%. 45% of respondents express concerns about the safety of digital environments for children and 40% are concerned about control over personal data. These findings underscore the need to reinforce digital rights at national level. Despite these concerns, 83% of Italians recognise the importance of digital technologies for accessing public services, and 81% for connecting with friends and family, highlighting a strong appreciation for digital advancements.
Country-Specific Recommendations
Italy must improve its performance towards the Digital Decade targets and objectives, to foster competitiveness, resilience, sovereignty, and promote European values and climate action.
Basic digital skills
Increase the efforts to boost digital skills across all target groups.
Adoption of AI by enterprises
Reinforce the adoption of technologies by enterprises, with particular attention to AI and taking into consideration the barriers and drivers specific to Italy.
Unicorns
Reinforce actions to sustain the ecosystem of start-ups and innovative enterprises, including through effective financial tools, initiatives to support enterprises’ scale up and synergies between the research and industrial sectors.
ICT specialists
Increase ICT programmes in higher education and adopt specific measures to increase participation of women in ICT education and careers.
More on the Digital Decade Report 2024
Digital Decade 2024 report: Country fact pages
Check out the progress of all Member States and extracts of country-specific recommendations.