(Finance) – Also in 2022 the ICT sector si confirms a vital pillar for the competitiveness of the Italian economy, conquering first place for volume of investments in intra-muros Research and Development and projecting the country to pre-pandemic levels. According to the data emerging from the 2nd edition of the Report “ICT Research and Innovation in Italy” – created by Anitec-Assinform in collaboration with APRE (the Agency for the Promotion of European Research) and presented in Rome at the Palazzo dell’Informazione – spending on intra-muros R&D in the ICT sector reached 2.5 billion euros in 2022, with growth of 1.5 percent compared to 2021. Almost half of these two and a half billion were concentrated in the software and IT services sector, while hardware manufacturing companies recorded an increase of 7.1% compared to the previous year. To this it must be added that 84% of investments in Research and Development in the ICT sector came from private funds, demonstrating the strong commitment of Italian companies to technological innovation. With 52,000 employees involved in R&I activities and almost 19,600 full-time researchers, the private sector therefore confirms itself as a fundamental driver for the development of advanced digital technologies in our country.
The Anitec-Assinform Report continues underlining that Italy has received a total of 724.1 million euros through the Horizon 2020 program for ICT R&I projects and, at the end of 2024, 293.2 million euros through Horizon Europe, with an increasing success rate compared to past, but still lower than countries like Germany and France. Despite the progress made, Italy still suffers from being undersized compared to the major European economies: the share of intra-muros R&D spending in the ICT sector for Italy has fallen from 9.5% to 6.7% of overall spending of the EU27 between 2010 and 2022, which highlights the need to rapidly scale up investment.
“The report highlights the dynamism of the ICT sector, but also underlines the need for a strategic intervention to overcome the critical issues that are still present”, states the Vice President with responsibility for Enabling and Frontier Technologies of Anitec-AssinformClaudio Bassoli. “To enhance the potential of our country, it is essential to strengthen investments, encourage public-private collaboration and promote the development of advanced skills especially in the field of ICT applied research, thus ensuring a central role for Italy in the European technological panorama and global”.
The second part of the Anitec-Assinform Report offers a detailed analysis of emerging sector of Quantum Technologies, highlighting their revolutionary potential and their centrality for the evolution of digital.