L’Italia è tra i principali contributori al bilancio annuale dell’Unione Internazionale delle Telecomunicazioni (UIT), con un impegno attuale di 15 unità contributive, pari a quasi 4,77 milioni di franchi svizzeri (circa 4,9 milioni di euro o 5 milioni di dollari) ogni anno.
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As part of this special blog series on ITU’s top contributing Member States, ITU News interviewed Eva Spina, Director General for Communication Technologies and Cybersecurity at Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development.
Previously Director-General for Spectrum Planning and Management, Dr Spina continues to oversee national spectrum policy and guide Italian coordination with multilateral organizations including the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications (CEPT) and the European Union’s Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG), as well as ITU. Since 2019, she has also served as Director of the Higher Institute of Communications and Information Technologies (Istituto Superiore delle Comunicazioni e delle Tecnologie dell’Informazione – ISCTI), which conducts scientific research and provides technical support to companies, institutions, and citizens.
Why does Italy support ITU?
Italy has supported ITU since the organization’s foundation and participates in the mission of extending the benefits of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and telecommunications to all, amid continuous evolution and innovation.
In this context, Italy fully shares ITU’s mission to bring the benefits of new telecommunication technologies to all the world’s people, recognizing this as a key aspect of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations.
How does the work of ITU relate to your strategic initiatives in the broad field of ICTs?
ITU’s rational use of resources constitutes a valuable source of best practices in the fields of radiocommunication, standardization, and telecom/ICT development.
ITU’s results in these areas have also contributed to the dynamic evolution of Italian ICT infrastructure, helped to foster a digital society in our country, increased our quality of life, and improved our economic performance.
Almost 19 Italy-based companies or scientific and industrial organizations – primarily engaged as ITU Sector Members or Associate Members – contribute actively to this important work through various Study Groups and other ITU fora.
ITU initiatives to support developing countries, particularly in improving their ICT infrastructure and intensifying the use of modern telecommunication technologies, coincide with Italian policies aimed at promoting sustainable development in the world.
What specific benefits do you see from your work with ITU, and which ITU activities are most relevant to your country?
ITU represents a unique forum, where different international stakeholders can share all kinds of ICT-related information and support each other in developing national and international policies and regulations.
Italy believes ITU must increasingly strengthen such collaboration between science, economy, industry and society, as well as with other organizations.
Digitalization is widespread in all areas of society and around the world, and ITU has fostered sustainable digital transformation globally, reducing the digital divide between advanced and developing countries.
Can you provide some examples of how ICTs are helping drive sustainable development in your country, your region or around the world?
The Italian Strategy for Digital Skills is aimed at fighting the cultural digital divide affecting the Italian population. The strategy seeks to ensure digital inclusion; support e-skills development throughout the higher education and training cycle; and promote and develop key competencies for the future and increase the percentage of ICT specialists, especially in emerging technologies.
Another objective is to ensure that the entire working population has the basic digital skills to address new needs and enable new ways of working.
The strategy identifies four lines of intervention, in line with the four pillars of the European Coalition for Digital Skills and Jobs:
- Higher education and training – fostering e-skills among young people within the mandatory education cycles;
- Active workforce – ensuring adequate e-skills in both the private and public sectors, including e-leadership skills;
- ICT specialist skills – enhancing the country’s ability to develop skills for new markets and new jobs, with a specific focus on emerging technologies and key competencies for future jobs;
- Citizens – cultivating digital skills to exercise citizenship rights and promote active participation in democratic life.
Another important tool put in place by Italy to promote sustainable development is the Three-year plan 2020-2022 for information technology in the public administration.
This is a strategic and economic policy document for all governmental or public administrative units to guide the digital transformation of the country.
One of the fundamental points of the plan is to promote sustainable, ethical, and inclusive development, putting innovation and digitization at the service of people, communities and territories, while respecting environmental sustainability.
What do you see as the main ICT industry trends in Italy?
In the three-year period of 2022-2024, the main technological drivers will continue to be cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and cybersecurity. These key digital enablers have have already, in recent years, injected strong momentum into the digital market.
From this perspective, the next key opportunity to seize is the environmental and digital transition, including the central role of new technologies.
New resources allocated under Italy’s National Plan for Recovery and Resilience should provide a positive boost, creating a very positive impact on this market in the period 2021-2024.
Which issues should ITU address as its highest priorities in the coming years?
Italy hopes for progress to continue and to further increase in all the programmes and studies carried out by ITU in the field of sustainable development. These include improving energy efficiency in industrial production, transport and daily life, as well as in ICT itself, through greater and faster exchanges of information and data.
How should ITU evolve to meet the changing needs of the ICT industry?
Italy hopes the involvement of non-state operators, such as public and private companies, associations, non-governmental organizations, will continue and be strengthened in the work of the ITU, without losing sight of the fundamental role of states and international organizations in determining policies related to telecommunications.
To this end, and given the increasing complexity of the global telecommunications system, there is scope to bring together further forums for useful meetings and discussions between interested parties under the coordination of ITU.