2. Overview of ICT in Italy
• Italy is ranked as the world's sixth-largest industrial economy, and is
Europe's fourth largest market for Information and Communication
Technology. There has long been a dichotomy between the relatively
industrialized, prosperous north, and the agricultural, less advanced
south. IT adoption is no exception. Italy is the world's fourth largest
market for mobile telecommunications. Italy was considered a
medium ICT intensity country by OECD's
3. Italy's ICT Policies
• The Italian government recognizes that Italy's progress in ICT has
lagged behind that of the ICT leaders in the EU, US, and Asia. For
example, according to an experimental European Commission study
measuring the divergence of the European countries, the US, and
Japan, along 17 qualitative dimensions of innovation
4. • According to The Government's Guidelines for the development of the
Information Society, "The exercise revealed that Italy's greatest
weaknesses in innovation were government investment in
R&D, education and skill levels, high technology patents and
innovation financing. The country's strong point was the innovative
capacity of its small and medium sized enterprises". As of 2002, key
facts statistics that support this include:
5. • Italian spending on ICT R&D was half the European average in the public and
private sectors.
• The number of Italian patents registered with the European patent office was
among the lowest in Europe.
• Only 1 in 10 Italian firms sells products online; slightly more than that buy
products online
• Only 1 in 5 Italian workers have basic ICT skills
• Some population segments risk being excluded from the benefits of information
technology.
6. The 10 priorities for e-government
• All "priority" services available online.
• 30 million Electronic ID Cards and National Services Cards to be distributed.
• 1 million digital signatures distributed by the end of 2003.
• 50% of expenditures on goods and services to be effected by e-procurement.
• All internal government correspondence to be sent by e-mail.
• All payment commitments and orders to be managed online.
• Certification of computer literacy for all eligible public-sector employees.
• 1/3 of all training by e-learning.
• 2/3 of all central government offices to offer citizens online access to administrative procedure
files.
• All offices that deliver services must also have a system for measuring customer satisfaction.
7. • Overall, despite being a large, highly developed, wealthy nation, Italy
is not an ICT leader. Strengths include wealth, relatively well
developed infrastructure, huge domestic market, high rate of adoption
for certain technologies, such as mobile telecommunications, well-
educated populace. Weaknesses include small size of firms, somewhat
cumbersome legal system, lack of ICT training and education, and the
profusion of quality, competitive ICTs available for import.
