G7 Italy-digi

Investing in innovative Italy
Digital technologies
are opening up new
opportunities but
they also have the
potential to disrupt
Ensuring global
innovation
delivers benefits
The successful integration of technology to enhance citizens’ lives
requires a multipronged approach, writes Carlo Calenda
that improve sustainable growth,
productivity gains and living standards
are widely diffused, both within and
between countries, among pioneering and
traditional sectors of the economy, among
enterprises of different sizes, and among
all layers of society. Digital technologies
are opening up new opportunities for
individuals, the economy and society, but
they simultaneously have the potential
to disrupt the current livelihoods of large
numbers of citizens and to widen digital
divides, especially for small and mediumsized
enterprises (SMEs).
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Industrial policy should play an active
role in the Next Production Revolution
SMEs should be able to use advanced
digital services to enhance their
competitiveness
Guidelines for research and
development should be created to
mitigate cyber risks
As Minister of Economic
Development, I have the
honour to lead two strategic G7
ministerial meetings: energy,
on one hand, and information
and communication technologies (ICT) and
industry, on the other.
The ICT and industry ministers’ meeting
will be held after the Taormina Summit
in May, in September back to back with
two other important ministerial meetings:
science, technology and industry, and
labour and employment. In fact, Italy’s G7
presidency is concentrating its efforts on a
“people-centred action plan on innovation,
skills and labour”.
The ministers involved are asked to
take a multipronged approach to focus on
enabling factors, on education, and on
industrial and social policies.
Therefore, my commitment is to make
every effort to steer the transformation
that is now under way so that the Next
Production Revolution (NPR) will be
inclusive, open and secure. I will ask G7 ICT
and industry ministers to be far-sighted,
collaborative and coordinated among
themselves and extend their policies’
lifespan to future generations, by ensuring
that the benefits of the new technologies
Inclusiveness
Industrial policy should encourage the
full participation of SMEs by playing an
active role in the NPR, by developing
and implementing effective measures for
enabling innovative business models, for
bridging the digital divide, and for fostering
SMEs’ engagement, inclusiveness and
interconnectivity in order to unleash their
innovative capability as a major driving
force in the NPR.
At the same time, policy frameworks
should be put in place to enable the rise of
ecosystems where innovation can flourish
and the NPR can expand its reach through
effective collaboration within supply
chains and open innovation models among
established large companies, SMEs and
innovative start-ups. Another key issue is
represented by the enhancement of the
cooperation between the public and
private sectors to support the financing
of the NPR – enabling tangible and
intangible infrastructure.
Openness
I believe also that SMEs should have access
to data to participate fully in global value
chains, in other words to enhance their
competitiveness thanks to advanced digital
services and technologies. To spread the
benefits of the NPR, key actions include
26 G7 Italy: The Taormina Summit • May 2017 g7g20.com