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Only 8% of Italian Firms Use AI as Digital Skills Lag Behind EU Peers, Says ISTAT

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Italy remains significantly behind its European peers in the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital skills, according to the annual report released Wednesday by ISTAT, the country’s national statistics bureau.

Only 8% of Italian enterprises were using AI in 2023 — a far lower share than in other major EU economies. By comparison, nearly 20% of German businesses use AI tools, with higher adoption rates also recorded in France and Spain.

ISTAT’s findings point to a broader challenge for Italy: insufficient digital literacy among its population. In 2023, only 45.8% of Italians aged 16 to 74 possessed at least basic digital skills — well below the EU average of 55.5% and far from the bloc’s 2030 target of 80%. The figure drops even further to 36.1% in the Mezzogiorno, Italy’s economically disadvantaged southern regions, including Sicily and Sardinia.

Brain Drain and Economic Concerns

ISTAT also highlighted the ongoing “brain drain” affecting Italy’s younger population. In 2023 alone, 21,000 graduates aged 25–34 left the country, marking a 21.2% increase compared to the previous year. Over the past decade, Italy has experienced a net loss of 97,000 qualified young workers, exacerbating demographic and labor challenges.

This trend poses long-term risks to Italy’s innovation capacity and productivity, particularly as the country struggles with low growth and aging demographics.

Economic Forecast

Amid mounting external pressures, including U.S. trade tariffs, the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni last month slashed its 2025 growth forecast from 1.2% to 0.6%. Preliminary data showed the Italian economy grew by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the previous quarter.

Outlook

Italy’s sluggish digital transformation threatens its competitiveness in a rapidly evolving EU market that is increasingly driven by AI integration, digital skills, and tech innovation. The report underscores an urgent need for targeted policies to:

  • Boost digital education,

  • Incentivize AI adoption among small and medium-sized enterprises,

  • Retain young talent by fostering innovation-friendly environments.

Without such reforms, Italy risks falling further behind in the digital economy of the future.

Microsoft to Invest $300 Million in South Africa’s AI Infrastructure Expansion

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Microsoft has announced plans to invest an additional 5.4 billion rand ($296.81 million) in South Africa by 2027 to expand its cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, catering to the increasing demand for Azure services in the region.

At a Johannesburg event on Thursday, Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith revealed the company’s strategy to support digital skills development. Microsoft will cover the cost of technical certification exams for 50,000 individuals in areas of high demand, including cloud architecture, AI, and cybersecurity.

This new investment builds on Microsoft’s previous expenditure of 20.4 billion rand, which was used to establish South Africa’s first enterprise-grade data centres in Johannesburg and Cape Town. These facilities have positioned the country as a critical hub for data centres to meet the growing computational needs of AI as businesses look to integrate the technology into their services.

Looking ahead, Microsoft plans to spend approximately $80 billion globally in fiscal 2025 to advance data centre infrastructure, with a focus on training AI models and deploying AI-powered applications and cloud services.