Technologies and new skills: challenges and scenarios

The process of digitisation of the country and the development of network and technological infrastructures is proceeding at varying speeds, yet much remains to be done if we consider the less encouraging data on the skills required to meet the needs of the labour market.

According to the DESI (Digital Economy and Society Index), through which the European Commission has been monitoring the digital progress of the Member States since 2014, Italy is proving to be among the countries steadily improving in the dissemination and promotion of a 'digital culture' and a positive approach to innovation.

The investments of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) in development and incentives for digital transformation have been put on the table, but a major obstacle needs to be overcome in order to give real acceleration and define concrete strategies.

The search for figures with technical profiles, especially in telecommunications, IT and network infrastructures plays an increasingly strategic role in this scenario and in the development of labour policies.

Digital, electronic, and IT skills, but in general targeted and specialised training seem to be chimeras, and for SMEs, but also for large players, keeping up with market demands is becoming an increasingly topical and real challenge.

According to some researches and studies in the sector, the lack of specialised, technical skills combined with digital skills presents us with some difficult questions to answer. The speed with which new technologies are developing in the various sectors, coupled with economic, labour and education policies that are not developing as quickly, creates a skill mismatch, which places particular emphasis on the need to work on the development of transversal, flexible and multifunctional skills.

Francesca Balducci, Think Tank Risks and Scenarios Secursat