Italy’s adoption of artificial intelligence significantly lags behind other major European economies, reflecting broader digital challenges in a country already struggling with low economic growth and demographic decline. The new data from Italy’s national statistics bureau highlights a digital divide that could further hamper Italy’s competitiveness, especially as the country faces a concerning brain drain of young, educated talent seeking opportunities abroad.
The big picture: Only 8% of Italian enterprises used artificial intelligence in 2024, substantially below other major European economies like Germany, where adoption reaches nearly 20%.
- This digital gap exists alongside Italy’s broadly insufficient digital literacy, with less than half of Italians possessing basic digital skills compared to the EU average of 55.5%.
- Italy’s government recently slashed its 2025 growth forecast to just 0.6%, creating a challenging economic environment for digital transformation.
Regional disparities: The digital skills gap widens significantly in Italy’s southern regions, where only 36.1% of residents have basic digital skills.
- This north-south divide reflects longstanding economic inequalities in the Mezzogiorno – comprising six southern mainland regions plus Sicily and Sardinia.
Brain drain concerns: Italy lost 21,000 highly educated young professionals to emigration in 2023, a 21.2% increase from the previous year.
- ISTAT reports that over the past decade, Italy has experienced a net loss of 97,000 qualified young workers aged 25-34.
Economic context: Italy’s modest first-quarter growth of 0.3% comes amid mounting uncertainty about international trade policies.
- Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government faces significant challenges in stimulating an economy that’s falling behind on digital transformation while losing its educated workforce.
Recent Stories
DOE fusion roadmap targets 2030s commercial deployment as AI drives $9B investment
The Department of Energy has released a new roadmap targeting commercial-scale fusion power deployment by the mid-2030s, though the plan lacks specific funding commitments and relies on scientific breakthroughs that have eluded researchers for decades. The strategy emphasizes public-private partnerships and positions AI as both a research tool and motivation for developing fusion energy to meet data centers' growing electricity demands. The big picture: The DOE's roadmap aims to "deliver the public infrastructure that supports the fusion private sector scale up in the 2030s," but acknowledges it cannot commit to specific funding levels and remains subject to Congressional appropriations. Why...
Oct 17, 2025Tying it all together: Credo’s purple cables power the $4B AI data center boom
Credo, a Silicon Valley semiconductor company specializing in data center cables and chips, has seen its stock price more than double this year to $143.61, following a 245% surge in 2024. The company's signature purple cables, which cost between $300-$500 each, have become essential infrastructure for AI data centers, positioning Credo to capitalize on the trillion-dollar AI infrastructure expansion as hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Elon Musk's xAI rapidly build out massive computing facilities. What you should know: Credo's active electrical cables (AECs) are becoming indispensable for connecting the massive GPU clusters required for AI training and inference. The company...
Oct 17, 2025Vatican launches Latin American AI network for human development
The Vatican hosted a two-day conference bringing together 50 global experts to explore how artificial intelligence can advance peace, social justice, and human development. The event launched the Latin American AI Network for Integral Human Development and established principles for ethical AI governance that prioritize human dignity over technological advancement. What you should know: The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the Vatican's research body for social issues, organized the "Digital Rerum Novarum" conference on October 16-17, combining academic research with practical AI applications. Participants included leading experts from MIT, Microsoft, Columbia University, the UN, and major European institutions. The conference...