Digital Grows More Than GDP, But Italy Has a Serious AI Skills Problem

The numbers of the Italian digital market do not explain everything, but they offer a key to understanding where the country is going, and at what pace. The Italian digital market reached a value of 81.6 billion euros in 2024, growing by +3.7%, exceeding the increase in the national GDP (+0.7%). In detail, driving the expansion are – needless to say – artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing, according to the new report by Anitec-Assinform, presented today in Rome.

More specifically, the cybersecurity sector is the sector with the highest relative growth, destined to grow further if it is true that the 1.5% increase in military spending to 5% will end up strengthening cyber defenses.

Numbers that offer a fairly clear interpretation to the Confindustria association that represents the main Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and consumer electronics companies in Italy. And that made President Massimo Dal Checco declare: "Digital is now the engine of the national economy. 2025 is the year in which AI enters our daily lives on a permanent basis".

The Skills Problem and Demographic Decline: Managers Have 'Illusory Visions' About AI

It is not a one-color picture. The sector is suffering (and is destined to suffer in the future) from skills delays, which are lacking: both among high-level managers, often with unrealistic visions and limited skills on AI, and among technicians and workers that the sector urgently needs.

Added to this is the lack of new talent to train, in a context aggravated by the Italian demographic decline. Among the most dynamic sectors are the so-called “digital enablers and transformers”, i.e. enabling and transformative technologies that accelerate the digital transition of businesses and public administration.

This includes cloud computing, cybersecurity, big data, artificial intelligence, IoT and cognitive computing solutions. For this category, an average annual growth rate of +10.2% is estimated until 2028, against +2.8% for the ICT sector as a whole. Last but not least, a sword of Damocles hanging over the sector: what will happen to this growth, to these numbers, as the end of the PNRR resources approaches?

The importance of adequate infrastructure: the shortage of datacenters

Another obstacle to competitiveness is the lack of adequate infrastructure: Italy has only 170 data centers, compared to 520 in Germany, highlighting a structural delay that risks slowing down the development of advanced digital services. The report also contains a monograph on the adoption of AI in Public Administration, analyzed from a regulatory, technological, organizational and economic point of view.

Spending on AI solutions has grown from 32.5 million in 2023 to 47.3 million in 2024 (+45.5%), with 75% of investments concentrated in central PA. Local administrations, while showing interest, are lagging behind due to a lack of funds and skills.

Although AI still represents a relatively small sector in terms of market, it is configured as a transversal supply chain capable of generating transformative effects on numerous sectors: from healthcare to finance, from manufacturing to logistics.

Other growing segments in the digital market include: ICT software and solutions (+3.9%, 9.4 billion euros); digital content and advertising (+5.6%, 16.1 billion); devices and systems (+1.6%, 20.3 billion, returning to positive growth); telecom network services (+1.2%, 18.5 billion)

The scenario outlined by the report is clear: digitalization is a trend that is destined to last and expand. But to sustain it, Italy must invest in infrastructure and human capital, bridging skills gaps and implementing effective policies to attract, train and retain the talents of the future.