Innovation and sustainability: a look towards Italy

INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY ITALY - In this interview with Luciano Ippolito, a commercial with years of experience, we take stock of the Italian situation regarding innovation and sustainability in the Italian territory.

Innovation and sustainability: a look towards Italy

In this interview with Luciano Ippolito, a commercial with years of experience, we take stock of the Italian situation regarding innovation and sustainability.

Innovation, digitalization and sustainability have been topics that have accompanied the country’s politics and economy (and not only) in the last decade. There has always been discussion about the importance of having to implement the right actions, both in the public and in the private, in order to achieve at least satisfactory results in the three areas.

Digitalization: the Desi 2020 index developed by the European Commission Italy is placed twenty-fifth in Europe, in a better position only than Romania, Greece and Bulgaria.

In this regard, large sums have been allocated to finance projects that create a virtuous circle for the achievement of these three objectives, but the results have been unsatisfactory so far.

What do you think are the reasons why Italy is unable to take that extra step with regards to innovation, digitalization and sustainability?

Perhaps the pandemic, and the need to get out of it as quickly as possible, is providing answers that explain this "failure" (or at least makes them objective and visible to those who do not yet want to consider them) and suggested, if not imposed, actions that companies (public and private) must implement to generate that step change, technologically and especially culturally, so that the objectives can be achieved.

I stressed culturally because perhaps the history and tradition of the country Italy have become, despite them, deterrents that have slowed down the process of growth.

Could you give an example of what you’re saying?

For innovation and digitalization, in the projects financed and in the company innovation budgets, reference was made to design ideas that interested the "machine" component of a company, which can be inferred, not for anything else, in the name used for a long time in the parameters of financing and investment or "industry" 4.0. Industry concept that linked to a mentality, still strongly rooted, which evaluates the work of an employee on the basis of his presence in front of the machinery has made that solutions for innovation, organisation and sustainability were always geared to improving machinery or to improving jobs.

Sustainability: Sustainable Development Report 2020 with Italy 30," in the World Ranking on 193. Slowed down especially by the critical situations in which the greatest delays that occur for Goal 9 persist ("Enterprises, innovations and infrastructure).

This did not lead to satisfactory results, but rather led to an increase in polluting actions and to a drive to the production of increasingly efficient and productive tools and machinery at the expense of professional growth and the quality of life of those directly concerned.

The example of this micro-topic, especially simplistic, serves to give the idea of how culture and tradition influence, more than you might think, some important strategic and prospective choices.

So what?

Thus, in order to try to improve this condition, projects and promotions with a new impetus were increased. This is known as "Enterprise 4.0", but which basically follows in broad lines Industry 4.0, continuing therefore to affect the innovative push more on the construction of "machines" than on the implementation of innovative solutions and services.

So, the possible solution was in turn consolidating, if not generating, problems.

Basically we have entered a vicious circle that has moved away from the finish line and has generated chaos both macro and micro.

What could be, in your opinion, a solution to implement digitalization and sustainability?

As I said before, we are coming to a solution, to this short circuit, by solving another problem: the pandemic.

Lockdown’s condition showed that many obstacles to digitization were more mental than practical. In less than a month companies and people, for whom agile work seemed impossible, found themselves working remotely with new work tools and training projects for the staff, whose programming included a training project of months. They concentrated in a few weeks with more than satisfactory results.

The process of air pollution, noise and quality of life has suddenly improved thanks to the vertical collapse of travel (especially by car) and the return to the moments of family gathering around the home.

It turned out that not using cars was more eco-sustainable than the use of electric or hybrid cars whose design required and calls for innovative and economic efforts.

An obvious solution but never implemented (if not with rare ecological Sundays), and that’s where the innovative and digital thrust should be oriented, not so much on how to make cars less polluting but on how to reduce their use.

In conclusion, what are, for you, the highlights that characterize digitalization, innovation and sustainability?

Digitization

A step forward on digitization has been made, a small step in practice but a big change of mentality that has made people overcome the fear of change, now we must encourage and promote what spontaneously was born in each of us.

Innovation

Perhaps we are beginning to understand that "instead of inventing alternatives to the internal combustion engine" we must find a way to stop using the "internal combustion engine". That is, we must not find ways of innovating by polluting cars less, but we must innovate by finding ways of using fewer cars and machinery.

Sustainability

By pushing forward what is being achieved in Digitisation and Innovation, as just described, a sustainable process is automatically being generated.

The reversal of the process has begun, the vicious circle is becoming virtuous, now we are in a position to achieve the objectives because they are no longer just imposed but have been understood and the benefits for each of us are tangible.For more information on finance, investments and cryptocurrencies click here.