The anchoring: an EU centred AI¶

Over the last decade, industry and society have been radically changed by the ongoing digital revolution. In this context, the EU has recognized AI as an area of strategic importance with the potential of becoming a key driver of economic development.

In April 2018, the European Commission put forward a European strategy on AI in its Communication ‘Artificial Intelligence for Europe’ COM(2018)237 a s part of its Digital Single Market Strategy. This strategy delineates the following aims:

• Boosting the EU’s AI technological and industrial leadership and AI uptake across the economy, both in the private and public sectors.

• Preparing for socio-economic changes brought about by AI.

• Establishing an appropriate legal framework based on ethical values and principles.

Following this, the European Commission and the Member States put forward a ‘Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence’ - COM(2018)795 in December 2018 with the stated goal of maximizing AI investments’ impact both at European and national levels and strengthening synergies and cooperation among Member States. To this end, Member States were strongly encouraged to develop their own national AI strategies as a first step to achieve these aims. This strategic programme responds to this encouragement.

More recently, the EU Commission published the ‘2021 review of the Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence’ with a view to strengthen Member States’ competitive landscapes. The review reports actions taken by the European Commission so far within the framework of the MFF 2021-2027 programming and sets concrete proposals and recommendations for further joint actions between the EU and Member States. The plan was accompanied by significant investments: €1.5 billion (2018-2020) and €1 billion/year (after 2020) to be allocated in the following funding framework programmes [1].

• Horizon Europe

  • Aspects contributing to AI (data and cloud infrastructures for AI). (data and cloud infrastructures for AI)).

  • Development of AI technologies (especially in cluster 4, where the partnership AI-Big Data and Robotics has been launched, and bottom-up approaches like EIC, MSCA, ERC etc.). :name: Development-of-AI-technologies-especially-in-cluster-4-where-the-partnership-AI-Big-Data-and-Robotics-has-been-launched-and-bottom-up-approaches-like-EIC-MSCA-ERC-etc.).

  • Use of AI in other clusters contributing to AI (1. Health, 3. Civil security for society, 5. Climate, energy and mobility, 6. Food and natural resources) and in all Missions. :name: Use-of-AI-in-other-clusters-contributing-to-AI-1-Health-3-Civil-security-for-society-5-Climate-energy-and-mobility-6-Food-and-natural-resources-and-in-all-Missions.

• Digital Europe

  • Strategic Objective 2.

  • AI-related activities in SO4 (skills) and SO5 (European Digital Innovation Hub).

To support the implementation of the plan outlined above, the European Commission launched the project “AI Watch” in 2019, with the goal of monitoring industrial, technological and research capacity, as well as national policy initiatives. Furthermore, the project keeps track of updates and technological developments of AI worldwide, assesses their impact in the economy, society and public services. Its first national strategies’ review was published in February 2020.

The last step taken by the European Commission, in April 2021, is the launch of the proposal for a European Regulation on AI [2] which aims to introduce a common regulatory and legal framework based on a well-defined risk-based assessment of each field of application.

The initiative also proposes the introduction of a European Artificial Intelligence Board, which will encourage national cooperation and ensure that the regulation is respected.

AI is therefore a key priority for the European Union. Italy aims to be aligned with this European priority and integrate its Strategic Programme within this European approach.

Guiding Principles¶

This National Strategic Programme for Artificial Intelligence defines a coherent and holistic framework of initiatives to support the development of a national AI ecosystem. Its design is inspired by five guiding principles.

1. Italy’s AI is a European AI. In line with the EU Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence [3], the Italian Strategic Programme stems from the awareness that only through common and coordinated actions Europe will be able to compete globally and work towards strategic autonomy. Therefore, this programme reflects the four sets of proposals put forward by the 2021 EU Coordinated Plan on AI. First, it sets enabling conditions for AI’s development and uptake by focusing on cooperation, data and computing infrastructure. Second, it leverages on existing Italian HPC and data-management infrastructure. Third, it aims at nurturing talents and adheres to the joint effort for improving and adopting the harmonised set of rules for AI proposed by the AI ACT. Fourth, it identifies priority sectors where to build strategic leadership.
2. Italy will be a global research and innovation hub of AI. [4] To guarantee future economic growth and strategic autonomy, it is essential for Italy to boost its AI research and development ecosystem and leapfrog at the forefront of AI developments. Accordingly, this strategic programme will invest in frontier research and applications to develop AI methodologies and techniques of tomorrow.
3. Italy’s AI will be human-centred, trustworthy and sustainable. [5] Technologies must not promote economic growth per se, but inclusive and sustainable growth, in line with the principles contained in Article 3 of the Italian Constitution and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This means that AI development must be centred around economic and social inclusion, human rights as well as environmental sustainability. AI must be designed and implemented in a responsible and transparent manner, based on trust and robustness so that it can be safely adopted in every sector and be capable of responding to societal challenges. To this aim, Italy adheres to the “Ethics Guidelines for trustworthy AI- Guidance and implementation program” defined by the High Level Expert Group on AI.
4. Italian companies will become leaders of AI-based research, development and innovation. The digital transformation of our entrepreneurial ecosystem is a must, if Italy wants to keep up with the most developed and innovative nations. To that end, this programme fosters the development, implementation and adoption of AI solutions. Public-private partnerships will be instrumental in finding appropriate synergies between research bodies and enterprises with the aim of increasing Italy’s technology transfer capabilities and thus competitiveness.
5. Italy’s public administrations will govern with AI and will govern AI. [6] The use and impact of AI in the public sector revolves around the dual dimensions of governance ‘with and of’ AI. On the one hand, Italy’s Government will improve its internal processes and policies thanks to a responsible use of data and AI technology. On the other hand, the Government is committed to governing AI and mitigating its potential risks, especially to safeguard human rights and ensure an ethical deployment of AI.

These Guiding Principles are not separate pillars. They offer an ambitious vision of the future of AI in Italy and an integrated approach that aims at stimulating all those factors that can contribute to the development of a favourable ecosystem. Industrial changes will lead to societal ones and both of these, in turn, will stimulate fundamental and challenge-driven research. The Strategic Programme is set to support all of these aspects.

Objectives and Priority Sectors¶

Given the challenges laid out in the prior chapter, as well as Italy’s competitive position in the field of AI, this strategic programme lays out six objectives with a view to boosting Italy’s strengths while mitigating its weaknesses. These objectives are:

Objective 1: Advance frontier research in AI, both fundamental and applied, with a view to generating impact on important priority sectors of Industry, Public sector, Society, and Environment. A multidisciplinary approach must be incentivized, where research coexists with industrial and social innovation generating true innovation ecosystems.

Objective 2: Reduce AI research fragmentation by helping the AI ecosystems achieve critical mass and by fostering network collaborations, making scientific excellence coexist with social cohesion and territorial inclusiveness.

Objective 3: Develop and adopt human-centred and trustworthy AI in the public and private sector, promoting the societal acceptability of AI solutions, their compliance to regulation of AI, while supporting the development and design of responsible AI technology and systems.

Objective 4: Increase AI-based innovation and the development of AI technology by fostering industrial investments and partnerships that drive excellent science out to the market, hence facilitating the uptake of AI in SMBs.

Obiettivo 5: Develop AI-driven policies and services in the public sector by boosting public sector innovation, the adoption of AI solutions and the cooperation between research centres, industries, and public bodies.

Obiettivo 6: Create, retain and attract AI talent in Italy by promoting all levels of education in AI, creating a new generation of holistic AI researchers and innovators, making Italy an attractive AI destination for qualified human capital from abroad, with a particular attention to diversity and gender balance.

Together with this strategy’s six objectives, Italy is committed to investing in eleven priority sectors. These sectors include those where Italy already has a competitive advantage, such as manufacturing, culture, agri-food and health, but also industries that are strategic to the country’s technological development, such as national security, IT and the environment.

Industry and Manufacturing. AI will enable the Italian manufacturing sector, the second largest in Europe and seventh largest in the world, to introduce innovative processes, products and business models to the market while maintaining (or increasing) its global competitive edge.

Education system. As artificial intelligence is transforming every aspect of our lives we need to educate all people to this technology through a new education and training plan to understand, reinforce, integrate and disseminate AI technology. AI should be an important topic at all education levels. At the same time, it can constitute a powerful instrument for a fruitful transformation of the national education system to develop personalized learning plans while ensuring fairness and trustworthiness.

Agri-food. Through AI, Italy’s thriving agri-food sector has the potential to increase further its competitive position by developing precision agriculture, thus avoiding overproduction and waste, increasing food safety and reducing emissions from land and agriculture.

Culture and tourism. Advanced technologies will further increase Italy’s touristic attractiveness by creating new synergies between cultural and creative industries, producers, managers and users of Italy’s vast cultural heritage. These technologies enable, for instance, continuous monitoring and preventive restoration of cultural heritage, monitoring and alert system for landscape heritage, customisation of services to better meet demand, virtual tours of tourist destinations to allow for better informed choices of travel destination, simultaneous translators for the description of places and monuments visited, geolocalised services for tourists.

Health and wellbeing. In the field of healthcare, AI applications boost product and process innovation by exchanging and aggregating information that is currently scattered in a multitude of public and largely underused databases. AI applications will help meet the new needs arising from an ageing Italian population. Moreover, they will have a significant impact on the population at risk of severe diseases such as degenerative, oncological, and viral diseases, and increase social inclusion of disadvantaged groups. A few application examples are medical devices and services in screening and diagnostic areas such as omics and medical imaging, new drugs and vaccines, tracking and treating people, supporting patient care (diagnosis and prognosis), and predictive models of healthcare needs.

Environment, infrastructures and networks. AI solutions will have a significant impact on preserving resources, reducing emissions, better managing traffic flows and related risks, strengthening the circular economy and better preventing natural disasters. More generally, AI will be a fundamental ally in accelerating the ecological transition, a pillar of Italy’s recovery and resilience plan and European Union’s recovery efforts. In addition, AI may have an enabling role also in the highly strategic development of 5G networks as it can help improve network performance as well as reduce capital expenditures associated with its infrastructure deployment/management [7]. A few application examples are monitoring and intelligent management of networks and consumption, monitoring and predictive management of the waste cycle, situational and predictive analysis of hydrogeological instability.

Banking, Finance, and Insurance. Modern AI technologies will allow banks and insurers to improve in at least two ways. First, they will increase the quality of services offered to customers and reduce their costs through a higher level of personalisation and security of transactions. Second, AI applications will strengthen fraud prevention systems and simplify the fulfilment of intermediary obligations through the adoption of mechanisms for detecting suspicious behaviour and analysing data and documents.

Public Administration. In the near future, AI will optimise bureaucratic processes, offering better services to citizens and businesses and reducing costs [8] for better services and performance. Furthermore, with its databases and innovative tools for purchasing, investment and regulation, the PA is called upon to play an active role in the AI revolution in the private sector for the benefit of the community (e.g. open data, geolocation tools, purchase of AI products and services, funds for AI, experimentation of AI solutions). The PA could benefit from AI solutions concerning flow management, virtual assistants and chatbots, predictive analysis of business risks and support for the examination of incentive applications, support in the fight against tax evasion and other forms of illegality, evaluation of past policies and impact analysis of experiments.

Smart cities, areas and communities. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that the digital ecosystem is essential to support all citizens, whether they live in cities or rural areas. AI will enable Italian residents, wherever they live, to gain access to communities and services, while reducing costs. Finally, AI technologies will enable Italy to reduce traffic and limit congestion thus also contributing to reining in the effects of one of the most polluting activities in the country. A few examples are smart parking, traffic management and signage control, self-driving vehicle management systems, lighting management and optimisation of public transport, as well as monitoring of bridges and buildings, home automation for buildings.

National Security. The importance of AI for the National Security of a country has been growing steadily in the last five years. Hence, Italy is fully committed to investing in AI applications that ensure the security of its citizens. This includes individual and national cybersecurity, where AI has been contributing to the development of new-generation detection and resolution software.

Information Technologies. The success of applications of AI in the sectors described above strongly depends on a high level of innovations in IT crucial fields impacting AI, such as Sensing, Reasoning and Search, Natural Language Processing, Computer Vision, Human-AI interaction, and Edge Computing. The broad field of IT [9] has a crucial role in ensuring a high level of innovation for implementing competitive AI in all different applications. For this reason, a special effort will be devoted to supporting the birth and growth of Italian IT companies.