E-Leadership Skills for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Country Report Italy
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e-Leadership Skills for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Country Report Italy A Snapshot and Scoreboard of e-Leadership Skills in Policy, Higher Education and the Labour Market Authors: Karsten Gareis Philipp Markus Eriona Dashja Tobias Stabenow Contact For further information, please contact: empirica Gesellschaft für Kommunikations- und Technologieforschung mbH Oxfordstr. 2, 53111 Bonn, Germany Tel: (49-228) 98530-0 * e-Mail: info@empirica.com * Web: www.empirica.com Bonn and Brussels, March 2015
Country Report: Italy - e-Leadership Skills for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises
Disclaimer kinds of leaders SMEs rely on to ensure they can use ICT to
develop, grow and compete, how SMEs use ICT to develop, grow
The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do and compete and what kind of e-leadership skills they need to
not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission. Neither succeed.
the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the This work represents an important step forward towards helping
Commission is responsible for the information provided in this business schools and SMEs collaborate and develop insights and a
document. common language for SMEs to access and foster leaders who are
both business and ICT-savvy (“e-leaders”) and who ensure SMEs
About this document use ICT effectively. It is laying the groundwork for the planning of
targeted educational offers for SMEs and entrepreneurs by
This document is a Country Report produced in the course of the business schools and universities, which will be demonstrated
service contract “e-Leadership Skills for Small and Medium Sized within the project duration.
Enterprises”, or short "LEAD”. Services are provided under LEAD also engages with other stakeholder groups from education
contract for the European Commission, DG Internal Market, and the labour market, associations representing SMEs, start-ups
Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs – Unit H/3 - Key Enabling and gazelles and others to take into account the target groups
Technologies and Digital Economy, Tender No. evolving requirements for e-leadership.
288/PP/ENT/CIP/13/C/N01C012
LEAD aims to sharpen the e-leadership definitions and metrics,
specify data requirements for establishing monitoring
mechanisms which can be used as a basis for policy making and to
About LEAD
improve monitoring of demand and supply of these skills.
LEAD develops targeted actions for start-ups and fast growing Technology trends are analysed to understand their impact on
SMEs to provide them with relevant e-leadership skills and new business models and organisation of companies and their e-
qualifications for entrepreneurs, managers and advanced ICT leadership requirements. An overview of the present European e-
users that are recognized trans-nationally. leadership policy landscape for the different target groups is
The LEAD consortium includes the partners: empirica, INSEAD, IE developed as well as an overview of the present European
Business School, Henley Business School, Aarhus University, New landscape of
Bulgarian University, Antwerp Management School, European e-Leadership courses and MOOCs. In addition a search and
Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), IDC Europe, analysis of initiatives from industry, education and training
PIN-SME and CIONET. organisations is carried out.
LEAD analyses the role of e-leaders in SMEs and entrepreneurial
firms based on engagement with SMEs to gain insights into what
Content
1 e-Leadership Scoreboard 3
2 Policies of relevance to e-Leadership skills development 5
3 Stakeholder initiatives for the promotion of e-Leadership skills development 8
4 Assessment of policies and stakeholder initiatives on development of skills in e-
leadership and digital entrepreneurship 11
5 Best practice policy and stakeholder initiatives 12
6 Examples of e-leadership education in Higher Education in Italy 15
Methodology 17
2 / 23Country Report: Italy - e-Leadership Scoreboard
1 e-Leadership Scoreboard
The scoreboard offers an approach to monitoring and assessing issues related to e-leadership skills
development, such as: education offers, workforce potential, exploitation opportunities, and
enabling policies or other driving mechanisms. It compares European Member States, allowing for a
comparative assessment of e-leadership performance of Member states. Doing so, it showcases
relative strengths and weaknesses of national e-leadership ecosystems, thus informing and
enabling policy discussions.
The e-leadership scoreboard
Rank: 27
Italy Index score: 2.40
comprises four levels: 24
indicators, 7 building blocks, 4
Score
Value
(0-10)
EU 28 Rank EU 28 avg.
dimensions to be further
Education and training aggregated to one overall e -
Master/Exec Ed level programmes with a mix of ICT & business 57 2.84 7 40
e-leadership skilling
- per - per 100,000 population aged 20-59 0.2 0.40 25 1
leadership Index (eLI).
100,0
E-leadership candidate programmes
- per - per 100,000 of workforce with potential e-leadership skills
2 1.82
The “e-leadership skilling”
6 1
0.4 1.70 9 0.4
100,0
Enterprises that provided training to ICT/IT specialists 4% 1.33 26 9.6% dimension consists of one
-
SMEs
- SMEs that provided training to ICT/IT specialists 4% 2.14 25 8.4% building block, “Education and
Quality of management schools 5.0 5.83 14 4.81
Training”. This building block
e-leadership skilled professionals
aims to capture e-leadership
e-leadership workforce potential
Line managers 37,101 0.6 13 99,726
Line - as % of total workforce 0.2% 0.0 28 1.3% education and training through
mana
ICT managers, architects and analysts
ICT - as % of total workforce
89,996 2.1 5 63,021
four indicators: The number of
0.4% 1.3 23 0.8%
mana
e-leadership pipeline
Master's/Exec Education level
ICT practioners - professional level 154,092 1.8 7 115,205 programmes with a mix of ICT &
ICT - as % of total workforce 0.7% 0.2 27 1.48%
practi
ICT graduates (per 1000 population aged 20-24) 1 0.0 28 3.5
business (per population), the
Business administration graduates (per 1000 population aged 20-24) 8 0.0 28 22.14 number of e-leadership
Business environment candidate programmes (per
High growth enterprises in ICT sector 481 2.7 3 235
% - as % of total number of high growth enterprises 4.1% 2.7 13 4.7%
population), the share of
share
High growth enterprises in ICT intensive sectors 1,451 2.4 3 771 enterprises that provided
% - as % of total number of high growth enterprises 12.4% 5.2 14 13.3%
share
Employment in ICT sector 446,785 5.6 4 154,090
training to ICT/IT specialists and
Empl - as % of total employment 3.0% 3.9 12 3.0% quality of management schools.
e-leadership skills exploitation
oyme
Employment in ICT intensive sectors
Empl - as % of total employment
2,373,412 4.4 4 789,975
In the second dimension, “e-
15.9% 6.1 12 15.0%
oyme
Percentage of enterprises that employed ICT/IT specialists 14% 3.2 25 23.8% leadership workforce
% of % of SMEs that employed ICT/IT specialists
SMEs
13% 3.0 24 22.4% potential”, the e-Leadership
Innovation opportunities
State of cluster development 5.5 10.0 1 4.17
Skilled Professionals and e-
Capacity for innovation 4.2 4.4 14 4.22
Leadership Pipeline building
Firm-level technology absorption 4.2 0.5 26 5.18 blocks aim to gauge the extent
Impact of ICT on new services and products 4.1 1.8 24 4.88 of e-skills/ICT practitioners and
Technology trends
e-leadership in the workforce.
Availability of latest technologies 5.0 3.2 23 5.65
% of enterprises using social networks 21% 2.1 22 29.8% The expectation is that e-
% of enterprises using RFID technologies 3% 2.9 14 4.14% leadership competences, as
e-leadership skills
National policy and stakeholder initiatives defined in the context of this
promoters
ICT Practitioner Skills 2.5 2.9 13 2.87
study, prevail in or recruit from
e-Leadership education and training 3.5 7.1 3 2.25
these two selected categories.
Skills for digital entrepreneurship 2.0 2.0 16 2.45
Overall this dimension of the
scoreboard looks to offer a proxy for the potential estimates of e-leaders in each country. A third
dimension is entitled “e-leadership skills exploitation” and attempts to assess the friendliness of a
country’s business framework and extent of its preparedness in exploiting opportunities provided
by ICT. It contains three building blocks capturing aspects from Business Environment, Innovation
Opportunities and Technology Trends in each country. The fourth dimension: “e-leadership skills
promoters” rests on the proposition that countries with efficient enabling mechanisms (policies,
3 / 23Country Report: Italy - e-Leadership Scoreboard
initiatives, etc.) are well positioned to produce the right mix of e-leadership skills in line with the
dynamics of the job market demand and talent requirement. This dimension is composed of one
building block which looks to capture insights on available programmes and initiatives focusing on
e-leadership education and training targeting large companies as well as those targeting digital
entrepreneurs and high-growth SMEs (gazelles).
EU IT e-Leadership performance per indicator
Master/Exec Ed level programmes with a mix of ICT & business
National policy &stakeholder initiatives on Skills for E-leadership candidate programmes
digital entrepreneurship
Enterprises that provided training to ICT/IT specialists
National policy and stakeholder initiatives on
e-Leadership education and training
Quality of management schools
National policy & stakeholder initiatives
ICT Practitioner Skills
Line managers
% of enteprises using using RFID
technologies ICT managers, architects and
analysts
% of enteprises using social
networks ICT core professionals
Availability of latest technologies
ICT graduates
Impact of ICT on new services
and products Business administration graduates
Firm-level technology absorption
High growth enterprises in ICT sector
Capacity for innovation
High growth enterprises in ICT intensive sectors
State of cluster development
Employment in ICT sector
% of enterprises that employed ICT/IT specialists
Employment in ICT intensive sectors
Performance-based indicator ranking
State of cluster development
National policy and stakeholder initiatives e-Leadership skills
Employment in ICT intensive sectors
Quality of management schools
High growth enterprises in ICT intensive sectors
Capacity for innovation
Employment in ICT sector
% of enterprises that employed ICT/IT specialists
Availability of latest technologies
National policy and stakeholder initiatives ICT Practitioner Skills
% of enterprises using RFID technologies
High growth enterprises in ICT sector
% of enterprises using social networks
National policy and stakeholder initiatives Skills for digital entrepreneurship
Impact of ICT on new services and products
E-leadership candidate programmes
Enterprises that provided training to ICT/IT specialists
ICT managers, architects and analysts
Firm-level technology absorption
Master/Exec Ed level programmes with a mix of ICT & business
ICT practioners - professional level
Line managers
ICT graduates
Business administration graduates
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
IT EU
4 / 23Country Report: Italy - Policies of relevance to e-Leadership skills development
2 Policies of relevance to e-Leadership skills development
The Agenda Digitale Italia (ADI) was launched on Policy & Stakeholder Activity
March 1, 2012 by the Minister of Economic
Development, in consultation with the Minister Summary Assessment
for Public Administration and Simplification; the
e-Leadership education and training:
Minister for Territorial Cohesion; the Minister of
Education, Universities and Research and the The new Italian Strategy for the Digital Agenda
Ministry of Economy and Finance. The Agenda gives a prominent place to the e-leadership
was prepared using a strongly participatory skills issue. It foresees measures for definition
process using various tools of civic engagement: of e-leadership skills with reference, were
face to face interviews, a public consultation and possible, to the European e-Competence
an online forum on the social web. In this period Framework (e-CF) and calls for e-leadership
the opinions and suggestions of thousands of training programmes especially for public
citizens and stakeholders have been received and administration staff and SMEs. At the level of
processed along six strategic goals (Infrastructure the Italian regions, regional digital agendas are
and Safety, E-Commerce, e-Gov/Open Data, currently being drafted. The available agenda
Digital Skills, Research and innovation (R&I) and for Lombardy also includes dedicated
Smart Communities). The Agenda was published measures explicitly addressing the need for
in Decree Law of 18 October 2012 "Further promoting e-leadership skills. Education and
urgent measures for the growth of the country". training offers have been developed by a
For putting the Digital Agenda into practice, the number of higher educations providers both
Agency for Digital Italy (AGID) was established in from the public and private sector.
the same year. The Agency is also responsible for
Skills for digital
periodic updating of the strategy. entrepreneurship
An Expert Advisory Team was appointed by
President Letta to explore the main challenges to Policies and
Stakeholder
meeting the Digital Agenda's objectives. The Activities
team, lead by Francesco Caio, published its report e-Leadership
"Achieving the Objectives of the Digital Agenda education and
for Europe (DAE) in Italy: Prospects and training
Challenges" in early 2014.1
Skills for digital entrepreneurship:
Eventually the Italian Strategy for the Digital
Agenda 2014-20202, containing dozens of The national Strategy for the Digital Agenda
individual Actions, was published in April 2014. and, in particular, the regional digital agendas
One strategic goal is called Digital Competences put some emphasis on the need to support
and covers e-skills related policy objectives. In digital entrepreneurship in the country, but
addition to actions which seek to boost digital there are few concrete actions in operation or
literacy and ICT user skills of the general planned. Training offers on digital
population and within companies (e-learning) and entrepreneurship come mainly from business
public administration, the Digital Competences incubators and start-up accelerators focusing
strategic goal also covers actions of immediate on the digital domain. Universities have set up
relevance to the present study, including organisations to promote spin-offs and spin-
Definition of e-leadership skills and provision of outs that seek to exploit research outcomes
e-leadership training courses to central and local commercially.
1
http://de.slideshare.net/Palazzo_Chigi/achieving-the-objectives-of-the-digital-agenda-for-europe-dae-in-italy-
prospects-and-challenges#
2
http://www.agid.gov.it/agenda-digitale/agenda-digitale-italiana
5 / 23Country Report: Italy - Policies of relevance to e-Leadership skills development
government staff.
Based on the Digital Agenda, the Guidelines for a National Programme for Culture, Education and
Digital Skills are currently being drafted in an open, participatory process coordinated online via
the website http://culturadigitale.partecipa.gov.it.
Regional Digital Agendas are being developed by AGID in cooperation with the regions. The work is
coordinated by CISIS, the technical body of the regions for the themes of the Digital Agenda.
Regional Agendas are available at the time of writing for:
Lombardy: Digital Agenda Lombarda 2014-18 includes "digital competences" as a priority area
of intervention. Starting from the observation that Lombardy lags behind the EU average in
terms of e-skills development, the document calls for measures amongst others to boost e-
leadership skills as a target for professional growth, in order to improve productivity and
increase competitiveness of the business system. Concrete actions planned include: a) Set up
of an observatory for monitoring and dissemination of professional e-skills standards, in order
to observe a more precise pictures of the situation in Lombardy and the actual needs that
must be met; b) Improvement of training provision to address identified shortcomings; c)
Implementation of new tools and techniques training (including distance learning, discussion
forums, "social" Wikis, "training pills" and other web 2.0 tools; d) Creating higher awareness
about existing training offers e) Adjustment of professional knowledge, even for those who are
already working professionally in the ICT area, in order to foster the development of new
professional profiles required by the market.
Veneto and Tuscany: Both the Agenda Digitale del Veneto and the Agenda Digitale Toscana
seek to support establishment of new innovative companies in the region and strengthening
use of digital technologies for improving internal efficiency of local enterprises; boosting ICT-
enabled innovation in products, services, processes and business models; foster relationships
between firms and actors in the value chain; enabling successful internationalization. With
regard to the digital competence strategic goal, the Agendas do not address e-leadership skills
but call for action to monitor and further develop knowledge and expertise in business
applications of ICT with a clear focus on increasing the competitiveness of the local economy.
The Veneto Agenda also mentions the need to attract ICT practitioners to the Veneto region.
Tuscany has a powerful e-learning service in place, i.e. TRIO “the web learning system of the
Region of Tuscany”, which is available completely free of charge and offers approximately
1,700 courses and a range of training services. Some of these are of direct relevance to digital
entrepreneurship and e-leadership.
Umbria: Agenda digitale dell'Umbria focuses, as far as ICT related education and training is
concerned, on measures to support the competitiveness of the region's SMEs, especially the
large number of small manufacturing enterprises which form the bedrock of Umbria's
economy. The focus here is on equipping companies with basic skills in strategic use of ICTs
(e.g. e-commerce, process modernisation). An example of an action is the deployment of
"Digital Angels", i.e. students with advanced ICT skills, to enterprises to contribute to a process
of acculturation to operating in the digital sphere.
Responsibility for support of (digital) entrepreneurship lies with the Ministry of Economic
Development, complemented by the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and
Sustainable Economic Development. At regional (and municipal) level, Chambers of Commerce
play an important role; they offer enterprises services to facilitate market intelligence and skill
trainings, to stimulate companies and businesses in innovative efforts and to support
internationalisation.
As far as training and education in e-leadership is concerned, initiatives are seen in Italy as under
the responsibility of the market itself. Namely, supply and demand (in terms of education and
training, the school system, including university and vocational training, as well as ICT professionals
6 / 23Country Report: Italy - Policies of relevance to e-Leadership skills development
and enterprises) have to find common agreements locally to develop proper initiatives answering
labour market requirements. Concerning secondary school, the school autonomy allows any of
them to identify specific courses and initiatives meeting the companies’ needs, locally. The so called
interprofessional funds support vocational continuous training according to companies’
requirements. Recent legislation on apprenticeship regulates it at several proficiency and
qualification levels, including the so called Alto Apprendistato (“high” apprenticeship) addressing
postgraduate young people. At any levels, it is a two years programme of training and job very
similar to the German “dual system”. The Alto Apprendistato is managed by universities together
with enterprises and it is built according to the real needs perceived by the business.
7 / 23Country Report: Italy - Stakeholder initiatives for the promotion of e-Leadership skills development
3 Stakeholder initiatives for the promotion of e-Leadership skills
development
3.1 Initiatives within the established education system
Several universities organize MBA and executive MBA addressing young people, professionals and
young managers. ICT training initiatives related to the e-Leadership have been developed as part of
MBA courses and in the form of some dedicated executive MBA courses; the “Politecnico di
Milano” (the Polytechnic University of Milan) has also some specific courses on e-Leadership skills
at Bachelor and Master degree levels. These university courses are included in the standard
curricula subject to annual university enrolment fees; MBA and Executive MBA courses are private
initiatives with quite expensive rates. The same for any further initiatives from private training
institutions addressing professionals and managers.
The University LUM Jean Monnet’s School of Management offers a higher education course
(Information Systems – SME / IT4Business) that aims at managers and CIOs in SMEs that want to
learn how to effectively implement, use and administer an up-to-date information systems. The
course has been selected as Best Practice (see detailed description further below).
The other Italian course selected as Best Practice is being offered at Polytechnic University of Milan.
It is a general Master in Management that offers the possibility to specialize in ICT Management
(see detailed description further below).
Universities also offer e-leadership related training in the context of spin-off and incubator
programmes. For example, I3P is a business incubator established at the Politecnico di Torino,
ranked as first in Italy and fifth in Europe by the University Business Incubator Index (UBI), while the
business incubator established at the Politecnico di Milano, managed by Fondazione Politecnico di
Milano and supported by the Milan Municipality is called PoliHub. Both I3P and PoliHub offer an
entrepreneurship empowerment programme, a business network for start-ups, dedicated
workspaces and a set of value-added services for start-ups including training and consultancy.
Initiatives from the business and start-up community PoliHub is based on the strong experience of
Acceleratore d’Impresa del Politecnico di Milano, founded already in 2000 with the support of the
Milan Municipality. Politecnico di Milano has been one among the first Italian institutions to
support the creation and growth of high-potential technological start-ups, including such successful
examples as Neptuny, Fluidmesh Networks and Khamsa.
The CINI Consortium3, which involves 1,300+ professors of both Computer Science and Computer
Engineering, belonging to 39 public universities and the Itais4, which involves the prominent Italian
professors and researchers in the field of Business Information Systems are working to develop
training curricula on e-leadership (applied to different sectors) at universitary level.
The National School of Public Administration (SNA) and FORMEZ, in the context of the National
coalition for digital competences, are cooperating with AgID and other Italian universities to define
new curricula for public managers, to be officially presented by June 2015.
3.2 Initiatives from the business and start-up community
Business sector initiatives striving to increase understanding of and awareness about e-leadership
skills include the following:
3
http://www.consorzio-cini.it/
4
http://www.itais.org/
8 / 23Country Report: Italy - Stakeholder initiatives for the promotion of e-Leadership skills development
RETE Competenze per l’EconomiaDigitale translates ‘Italian Competence Network for the
Digital Economy’. The network aims to raise awareness about e-competences and to
disseminate the European Competence Framework. It also aims to develop and supply training
programmes focused on the 36 e-competences to create e-leadership based culture among
ICT-driven SMEs. The network is currently being supported by leading Italian employers'
associations, ASSINTEL, Assinter Italy, CNA Communication, Digital and Unimatica
Confindustria as well as the Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, through which Italian companies
support research and education at the University in Milan.
UNI/UNINFO national standard for ICT Professions is also based on the e-CF. UNI is the
federal standardization body; its subsidiary UNINFO is responsible for developing standards in
the ICT area. The objective of this initiative is to agree on a reference standard for developing a
competence-based ICT culture within SMEs, focusing on e-Leadership skills and proficiency
levels. The result is the UNI 11506:2013 that is a standard allowing the Certification of the
Personnel based on the eCF professional profiles. The initiatives is related to UNINFO's
participation in the CEN international working group "PC 428 - Professions for Information and
Communication Technology (ICT)"5.
Some of the industry's initiatives for the promotion of ICT career choices to young Italians have also
started to put a special focus on e-leaders, such as Future IT Leaders, an Initiative by the AICA CIO
Forum and the Fondazione Politecnico di Milano. The objective is to provide an integrated, very
concrete, experience-based picture of the future IT leaders. This is meant to promote awareness
about IT professionals and their growing role within Italy's economy. Furthermore the initiative is
aimed at professional development of future IT leaders. The initiative started September 2012. Ten
e-leadership webinars followed by conversations and discussions in the IT leaders’ web community
have been held in 2013. The webinars addressed ICT practitioners aiming to grow and were held by
CIOs of large ICT end-user companies in Italy. In 2014 the activities are being continued through
four on-site meetings in Milan that, followed by another round of in-depth webinars.
Beside Future IT Leaders, AICA (the Italian Association of ICT professionists) is offering and
promoting ICT4jobs, a course oriented to students of high schools. The required skills are wholly e-
CF compliant and are in line with the competences defined by the digital agency for the figure of e-
leader. The activities carried out by two pilot schools intend to suggest the methodological model
that could be used by any other educational institution. The elearning version of the course is
actually available in TRIO (“the web learning system of the Region of Tuscany”).
Other Research centres (i.e. Scuola di Robotica di Genova – School of Robotics6), universitary
departments (i.e. University of Trento) and voluntary associations (i.e. Wister) are involved in
“viral” training initiatives whose aims are to spread the spirit of e-leadership amongst girls and
women.
AgID, Assinfor, Assintel and Assinter are working on the second edition of the "Observatory on
Digital Skills 2015". A chapter will be focused on e-leadership skills in Italian enterprises. Before
summer 2015 the four partners are going to launch the initiative “we are looking for e-leaders!” on
their web sites to find - with a bottom-up approach - stories and best practices which can represent
models of competences for e-leadership in different economic and public sectors.
5
http://www.uninfo.it/index.php/partecipare/aree/category/attivita-professionali-non-regolamentate
6
http://www.scuoladirobotica.it/
9 / 23Country Report: Italy - Stakeholder initiatives for the promotion of e-Leadership skills development
3.3 e-Leadership training in the context of SME and entrepreneurship support
Offers for training in digital entrepreneurship skills come mainly from business incubators and start-
up accelerators focusing on the digital domain. Some of the more successful examples from Italy
include:
The Forum Ricerca Innovazione Imprenditorialita (Research Innovation Entrepreneurship
Forum) is organizing several activities, forums, workshops, conferences and seminars to
support entrepreneurs and promote the entrepreneurial spirit and research. The Forum has its
roots as a department of the University of Padua which was set up to promote
commercialization of research outcomes through spin-outs and spin-offs;
We Tech Off was a project (2008-2013) that supported the creation of innovative companies
through the provision of services and support in favour of business ideas and technology start-
ups. It was sponsored by Aster, a consortium between the Region of Emilia-Romagna,
universities, public research institutions CNR, ENEA and the regional system of Chambers of
Commerce and the Italian Ministry of Economic Development;
Campania In.Hub and its regional ecosystem for the promotion of innovative
entrepreneurship support SMEs and entrepreneurs through funding and consultation in the
Campania region in Italy. It also brings together incubators, accelerators and business experts
to support start-ups and regional SMEs;
Dinameeting 2010 caters to all the micro and small enterprises in Lombardy, belonging to
manufacturing, business services, logistics, commerce and tourism who want to implement a
growth path through information technology. Experienced professionals help SMEs to invest in
ICT to fully exploit its potential;
Polo Innovativo (Coalition for innovation) of Molise is a regional competence centre designed
to support the creation of innovative start-ups and increase the technological competitiveness
of existing businesses;
PST Business Incubator based in Benevento aims to promote the creation of innovative
businesses in the ICT sector. It also works on the development of business networks as well as
innovation and technological improvement of the economic system.
Providers of training programmes with an explicit focus on digital entrepreneurship include the
Wwworkers Academy, the training school of the organisation of the same name. Wwworkers was
established in 2010 by Giampaolo Colletti with the intention to provide a forum by and for people
networking in the digital economy. Wwworkers are thus defined as ”those who work thanks to the
network on their own farm, in an Italian SMEs, in public administration or in multinationals
operating in Italy or abroad”7. The academy programme consists of a series of thematic modules
and practical workshops, offered on demand as a service to companies and organisations. The
courses are taught by experienced teaching staff for new technologies and are focusing on strategic
use of ICT and e-leadership in organisations.
Federmanager Academy8, the management school of the Association of around 31.000 Italian
managers in Industry (Federmanager9) in 2014 organized seminars or courses for companies and
SMEs, but also for unemployed managers, on issues such as Big Data, Intangible Assets, Smart
Working supported by ICT, Demand Driven MRP, and eLearning blended courses in some Italian
Regions. In 2013-2014 Federmanager Academy supported around 180 Italian unemployed
managers to exploit Social Network and ICT to find a new job.
7
http://www.wwworkers.it/pagine/chi-siamo-cosa-facciamo [emphasis added]
8
http://www.federmanageracademy.it/
9
http://www.federmanager.it/
10 / 23Country Report: Italy - Assessment of policies and stakeholder initiatives on development of skills in e-leadership and digital entrepreneurship
4 Assessment of policies and stakeholder initiatives on development of skills in e-leadership
and digital entrepreneurship
Exhibit 1: High-level assessment of policies and stakeholder initiatives on development of skills in e-leadership and digital entrepreneurship
Stakeholders from: Assessment:
Continuity (0-2)
Target fit (0-2)
Unions/ NGOs
Maturity (0-2)
Policy fit (0-2)
Government
MSP fit (0-2)
No / Type Title of policy / initiative Main stakeholder(s)
Education
Business
Scope /
Policy 1 Agenda Digitale Italia (ADI) Ministry of Economic Development --- --- --- --- --- 1 --- 2 2
Policy 2 Italian Strategy for the Digital L'Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale (AgID)
--- --- --- --- --- 2 --- 2 1
Agenda 2014-2020
Policy 3 Digital Lombarda 2014-18 Central Directorate Integrated Planning
--- --- --- --- --- 2 --- 2 0-1
and Finance, Lombardy Region
Policy 4 Agenda Digitale del Veneto Regione del Veneto --- --- --- --- --- 1 --- 2 0-1
Initiative 1 RETE Competenze per Assintel, Assinter Italia, CNA
l’EconomiaDigitale translates Comunicazioni, Confindustria Digitale,
‘Italian Competence Network and Unimatica 2 1 2 2 2
for the Digital Economy’
Initiative 2 Future IT Leaders [2012-] CIO AICA Forum 1 1-2 1 1 1
Initiative 3 UNINFO National standard for UNINFO
ICT Professions 2 1 2 1 2
Initiative 4 Wwworkers Academy Wwworkers 1 1-2 1 0-1 1
11 / 23Country Report: Italy - Best practice policy and stakeholder initiatives
5 Best practice policy and stakeholder initiatives
From the policies and initiatives mentioned above, the following has been selected as candidate for
best practice.
5.1 Italian Strategy for the Digital Agenda 2014-2020
The Italian Strategy for the Digital Agenda 2014-202010, containing dozens of individual Actions,
was published in April 2014. One strategic goal is called Digital Competences and covers e-skills
related policy objectives. In addition to actions which seek to boost digital literacy and ICT user
skills of the general population and within companies (e-learning) and public administration, the
Digital Competences strategic goal also covers actions of immediate relevance to the present study:
Definition of ICT Professional skills that are emerging on the market, referring to the European
e-Competence Framework (e-CF). This is expected to ensure recognition of professional
profiles, e.g. in ICT related procurement contracts; better match between supply and demand
for ICT skills on the labour market;
Definition of the level of school, college and vocational education and training required to
equip the newly emerging ICT professions with adequate skills;
Definition of e-leadership skills, including ICT but also soft skills, which everybody who is
responsible for "imagining, proposing, promoting, animating" digital innovation is required to
have – in any organization, public and private, large and small. E-leadership skills are described
as the expertise of that allows an individual employee to look ahead and to introduce digital
innovation within the context in which they operate (marketing, finance, logistics, public
administration, environment, tourism and cultural heritage);
Provision of e-leadership training courses to central and local government staff;
Following the example of the "Great Coalition for digital jobs" at EU level, constitution of a
national coalition on digital competences, composed of the stakeholders already involved in
the Digital Agenda for Italy, with the objective to set targets for the impacts of the Agenda on
the labour market and in particular employability of young generations.
Based on the Digital Agenda, the Guidelines for a National Programme for Culture, Education and
Digital Skills are currently being drafted in an open, participatory process coordinated online via a
dedicated the website http://culturadigitale.partecipa.gov.it.
The objectives behind the Guidelines are to:
Propose a shared definition of e-skills, including those related to ICT professionals;
Initiate a mapping of already existing offers related to e-inclusion, digital literacy, ICT
professional training in the country, and identify good practices;
Define the objectives and modalities of implementation for a "National Program for Culture,
Education and Digital Skills";
Choose a method for a campaign to build upon and go beyond existing initiatives;
Define how to promote and finance selected new initiatives;
Initiate a multi-stakeholder discussion and collaboration on projects and initiatives to be driven
forward;
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http://www.agid.gov.it/agenda-digitale/agenda-digitale-italiana
12 / 23Country Report: Italy - Best practice policy and stakeholder initiatives
Ensure integration between the activities of the programme and the guidelines of the other
strategic priorities of the Digital Agenda for Italy (e-commerce, e-government, open data,
research and innovation, smart cities).
The preparation of the Guidelines has been entrusted to five working groups:
Digital literacy, e-inclusion and basic ICT user skills;
ICT Professional skills;
Horizontal digital skills required by all employees (non-professional ICT) and e-leadership skills;
Digital skills in Public Administration;
Communication and promotion of the Guidelines (e.g. through a series of online seminars
(webinars) free and open to all, scheduled to take place at the time of writing.
The working group on horizontal and e-leadership skills has published some first results11 according
to which the policy objective should be to "develop a culture of e-leadership and spread it not only
across the most advanced economic sectors, but also in central and local Public Administration".
The working group also suggests seeking systematic ways in which to provide "the largest possible
number of persons, at school or at work" with e-leadership skill, with the goal to generate new jobs
through a combination of digital skills with competences for mastering change and pushing through
innovation.
5.2 Digital Lombarda 2014-18
Digital Agenda Lombarda is an initiative promoted by the region of Lombardia to direct and support
the growth of technological innovation in Lombardy, as part of the European 2020 Strategy and the
European Digital Agenda in particular. Lombardy region, first in Italy, adopted in late 2011 the
Digital Agenda Lombarda 2012-2015 to promote, guide and support the growth of technological
innovation in the Lombardy region, with the purpose to define a digital strategy in line with the
European Union 2020 objectives and in particular the European Digital Agenda.
In continuation of this path and within a policy framework consistent with the new EU programming
2014- 2020, the new Digital Agenda 2014-2018 aims to address and best support digital growth in
Lombardy, in close synergy with the regional strategy for smart specialization. Digital Lombarda
aims to facilitate change and modernization of economy among sectors, from the most specialized
to the more traditional ones and particularly in the manufacturing sector.
Digital Agenda Lombarda 2014-18 includes "digital competences" as a priority area of intervention.
Starting from the observation that Lombardy lags behind the EU average in terms of e-skills
development. The document calls for measures amongst others to boost e-leadership skills as a
target for professional growth, in order to improve productivity and increase competitiveness of the
business system. Concrete actions planned include: a) Set up of an observatory for monitoring and
dissemination of professional e-skills standards, in order to observe a more precise pictures of the
situation in Lombardy and the actual needs that must be met; b) Improvement of training provision
to address identified shortcomings; c) Implementation of new tools and techniques training
(including distance learning, discussion forums, "social" Wikis, "training pills" and other web 2.0
tools; d) Creating higher awareness about existing training offers e) Adjustment of professional
knowledge, even for those who are already working professionally in the ICT area, in order to foster
the development of new professional profiles required by the market.
For collecting the actual needs regarding retraining and re-skilling, it is important to encourage the
direct involvement of the companies and other employers. The Digital Agenda Lombarda represents
a multi-stakeholder initiative with involvement and active participation of citizens, businesses,
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http://commenta.formez.it/ch/PianoCulturaDigitale/?id_speech=73
13 / 23Country Report: Italy - Best practice policy and stakeholder initiatives
universities and research centres, schools, representatives of the productive sectors, consumer
groups, and the third sector.
14 / 23Country Report: Italy - Examples of e-leadership education in Higher Education in Italy
6 Examples of e-leadership education in Higher Education in Italy
Title of study Program Information Systems – SME
Level of degree Higher Education Course
Name of programme
School of Management
provider
Responsible
Università Lum Jean Monnet
institution
URL http://management.lum.it/corsi87f1.html?id=14
CIOs
Target group
Prospective systems managers
Payment / fees 2400 € plus VAT
3 years - 80 hours (meetings will be held on Friday from 14-18 and Saturday
Duration
from 9-13)
The aim is to update the knowledge of CIOs and those who want to approach
Learning outcomes the role of systems manager in a scenario handled constantly changing and
subject to continuous specializations.
Title of study Program Master in Management
Title of study degree Master
Level of degree Master
Name of programme
Polytechnic University of Milan
provider
Responsible institution Polytechnic University of Milan
URL http://www.mip.polimi.it/mip/it/Master/Master-in-Management.html
Managers who wish to broaden their education in the areas of
competence typical of the General Management
Professionals who wish to deepen their training on specific areas (for
example, by dialling the Master Executive with a path in the first year
Target group and a management training on issues transversal the second year)
Managers or entrepreneurs willing to hold positions of responsibility
within their own company or who have the desire to "make the
system" what they have learned during their professional career, or
wish to build the skills to realize their entrepreneurial dream
Payment / fees €16.500 (+ VAT)
Duration 2 years, part-time (1-2 days per month)
22 Modules, each 1 to 3 days. The modules belong to the following thematic
areas:
Corporate Strategy
Energy Management
Learning outcomes Entrepreneurship
Finance
HR and Organization
ICT Management
Innovation and Project Management
International Business
15 / 23Country Report: Italy - Examples of e-leadership education in Higher Education in Italy
Marketing and Sales
Operations and Supply Chain Management
Risk Management
ECTS credits / other
120 ECTS (60 ECTS are studied at a partner university
credits
16 / 23Country Report: Italy - Methodology
Methodology
European e-Leadership Scoreboard
The scoreboard attempts to offer an approach to monitoring and assessing issues related to e-
leadership skills development, such as: education offers, workforce potential, exploitation
opportunities, and enabling policies or other driving mechanisms. It compares at Member State
level the e-leadership “performance” of EU28 Member states across several building blocks,
thereby allowing for comparisons on relative strengths and weaknesses of e-leadership ecosystems
between countries, with the major goal of informing and enabling policy discussions at national and
EU level.
The e-leadership scoreboard is an evolving model to be further refined through input from
academic / experts debates and feedback from other interested parties. It comprises a series of
indicators using data from both primary and secondary sources. It is based on a straightforward yet
comprehensive framework for measuring determinants of demand and supply for e-leadership
skills in each country. Conceptually, the e-leadership scoreboard comprises four levels, 28
indicators; 8 building blocks; 4 dimensions, which can be aggregated to receive an overall e -
leadership Index (eLI).
The overall e-leadership performance in each of the country has been summarized into a
scoreboard, and further on into a composite indicator (e-leadership index). These raised a number
of challenges related to the quality of the data selected and to their combination into a single
indicator. A number of steps were taken to assure the quality of the data and the reliability of the
e-leadership index. The steps followed are explained in more details below:
Step 1: Identifying and addressing outliers
Mean and standard deviations have been calculated for all indicators among all countries included
in the scoreboard. Outliers have been identified as the absolute z-values larger than 3. Relative to
the case, the values distorting the variable distribution (positive/negative outliers) have been
replaced by maximum/minimum values observed in each single indicator. Beforehand, some
indicators have been standardized using population data in order to avoid any country-size effects
in the dataset sample.
Step 2: Setting reference year
A reference year is set depending on the data availability of each indicator for each of the countries
considered. Overall, for most of the indicators the reference year is lagging 1-3 years behind the
timing the e-leadership scoreboard refers to. In this case, the reference year for most of the
indicators of the 2014 e-leadership scoreboard will be lying between years 2011 to 2013.
Step 3: Treatment of missing data
When dealing with the missing values, we distinguish among two different cases which influence
data imputation procedure:
Missing at random: If data is not available for a year-in-between, we replace data using the
value for the previous year / latest year available.
Missing completely: For countries which data is completely missing for the entire time series,
no imputation is effort carried out. In these cases the indicator is left empty, marked as not
available (‘n/a’), and not considered in the calculation of the county scores.
17 / 23Country Report: Italy - Methodology
Table 1: e-Leadership scoreboard indicators
Latest data
Indicator Definition and scope Source
available
e-leadership skilling
Definition: combination programmes that have as target group specialist or junior / middle management are professional-
Number of Master's or Exec Ed level
oriented and have a mix of business and IT. Either at regular consecutive MSc level, or are aimed at specialist subjects only (e.g.
programmes with a mix of ICT and 2013 empirica
new media, marketing, logistics, communications, e-health etc.
business
Measure: per 100,000 population aged 20-59
Definition: E-leadership candidate programmes - programmes that are clearly aimed at experienced professionals with leadership
E-leadership candidate programmes roles, which usually already expect a high level of IT skills and significant business experience. 2014 empirica
Measure: per 100,000 of workforce with potential e-leadership skills
Enterprises that provided training to
Definition: Enterprises who provided training to develop/upgrade ICT skills of their personnel: for ICT/IT specialists (NACE Rev. 2). Eurostat Information society statistics
ICT/IT specialists to develop/upgrade 2012
Measure: % of enterprises Code: isoc_ske_ittn2
their ICT skills
Definition: In your country, how would you assess the quality of business schools
Quality of management schools 2013 World Economic Forum, Executive Opinion Survey
Measure: [1 = extremely poor—among the worst in the world; 7 = excellent—among the 2012–13 weighted average
e-leadership skilled professionals
Definition: ISCO-08 (1211, 1213,1219, 1221, 1222, 1223)
Line managers 2013 LFS
Measure: as % of total workforce
Definition: ISCO-08 (1330, 2421, 2511)
ICT managers, architects and analysts 2013 LFS
Measure: as % of total workforce
e-leadership pipeline
e-Leadership pipeline 1:ICT Definition:ISCO-08 (2152, 2153, 5356, 2434, 5212, 2513, 2514, 2519, 2512, 2522, 2523, 2529)
2013 LFS
practitioners - professional level Measure: as % of total workforce
Definition:Count of first degrees in ISCED 5A and first qualifications in 5B. The number of students entering the labour force in a
e-Leadership pipeline 2-1: ICT given year does not equal but is approximated by this number of graduates, as many will go on to second or further degrees Eusostat
2012
graduates (master, PhD). Code: [educ_grad5]
Measure: per 1,000 population aged 20-24
e-Leadership pipeline 2-2: Business Definition: Count of first degrees in ISCED 5A and first qualifications in 5B in business and administration. Erurostat
2012
administration graduates Measure: per 1000 population aged 20-24 Code: [educ_grad5]
Business environment
Definition: High growth enterprises (growth by 10% or more) and related employment by NACE Rev. 2 sectors: Information and
Eurostat
High growth enterprises n ICT sector communication (J). 2012
Code: [bd_9pm_r2]
Measure: Number of high growth enterprises measured in employment (growth by 10% or more)
Definition: High growth enterprises (growth by 10% or more) and related employment by NACE Rev. 2 sectors: Manufacture of
computer, electronic and optical products (C26), Manufacture of electrical equipment (C27), Manufacture of machinery and
High growth enterprises in ICT Eurostat
equipment n.e.c. (C28), Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (C29), Manufacture of other transport 2012
intensive sectors Code: [bd_9pm_r2]
equipment (C30), Professional, scientific and technical activities (M).
Measure: Number of high growth enterprises measured in employment (growth by 10% or more)
Definition: Number of persons employed in the following NACE Rev. 2 sectors: Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical
Employment in ICT sector products (C26), Information and communication (J). 2011 Eruostat
Measure: as % of total employment
Definition: Number of persons employed in the following NACE Rev. 2 sectors: Manufacture of electrical equipment (C27),
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. (C28), Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (C29),
Employment in ICT intensive sectors 2011 Eruostat
Manufacture of other transport equipment (C30), Professional, scientific and technical activities (M).
Measure: as % of total employment
Enterprises that employed ICT/IT Definition: Enterprises that employed ICT/IT specialists (NACE Rev. 2) Eurostat
2012
specialists Measure: % of enterprises Code: [isoc_ske_itspen2]
Innovation opportunities
Definition: In your country, how widespread are well-developed and deep clusters (geographic concentrations of firms, suppliers,
State of cluster development producers of related specialized institutions in a particular field)? 2013 World Economic Forum, Executive Opinion Survey
Measure: [1 = nonexistent; 7 = widespread in many fields] | 2012–13 weighted average
Definition:In your country, to what extent do companies have the capacity to innovate?
Capacity for innovation 2013 World Economic Forum, Executive Opinion Survey
Measure: [1 = not at all; 7 = to a great extent] |
Definition: In your country, to what extent do businesses adopt new technology?
Firm-level technology absorption 2013 World Economic Forum, Executive Opinion Survey
Measure: [1 = not at all; 7 = adopt extensively] | 2012–13 weighted average
Impact of ICT on new services and Definition: To what extent are ICTs creating new business models, services and products in your country?
2012 World Economic Forum, Executive Opinion Survey
products Measure: [1 = not at all; 7 = a significant extent] | 2011–2012 weighted average
Technology trends
Definition: In your country, to what extent are the latest technologies available?
Availability of latest technologies 2013 World Economic Forum, Executive Opinion Survey
Measure: [1 = not available at all; 7 = widely available] | 2012–13 weighted averageAvailability of latest technologies
Definition: Use social networks (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing, Viadeo, Yammer, etc.) Eurostat
Enterprises using social networks 2013
Measure: % of enterprises Code: [isoc_cismt]
Definition: Enterprises using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies Eurostat
Enterprises using RFID technologies 2011
Measure: % of enterprises Code: [isoc_ci_cd_en2]
National policy and stakeholder initiatives
Definition: Level of national policy and stakeholder activity on ICT Practitioner Skills
ICT Practitioner Skills Measure: 1 - 5 (1 = "No relevant policy or stake-holder activities of significant scope and size have been identified."; 5 = "A master 2013 empirica
strategy is in place.)
Definition: Level of national policy and stakeholder activity on e-Leadership education and training
e-Leadership e-Leadership education
Measure: 1 - 5 (1 = "No relevant policy or stake-holder activities of significant scope and size have been identified."; 5 = "A master 2014 empirica
and training
strategy is in place.)
Definition: Level of national policy and stakeholder activity on Skills for digital entrepreneurship
Skills for digital entrepreneurship Measure: 1 - 5 (1 = "No relevant policy or stake-holder activities of significant scope and size have been identified."; 5 = "A master 2014 empirica
strategy is in place.)
18 / 23Country Report: Italy - Methodology
Step 4: Calculating re-scaled scores
Min-max normalisation method was adopted to adjust for differences in terms of units of
measurement and ranges of variation. All 28 variables have been normalised into the [0-10] range,
with higher scores representing better performance for the indicators.
The following normalisation formula has been applied:
Where:
Xi = country score
XMin = sample minimum
XMax = sample maximum
Xi, 0 to 10 = the data point i normalized between 0 and 10
Step 5: Calculating composite e-leadership index
The e-leadership Index for each country is calculated as a weighted average of the rescaled scores
for every indicator included in the scoreboard. The weighting approach used distributes different
weights to each of the building blocks, based on the results obtained from a regression analysis
which assesses relationships between each building block indicators’ (independent variable) and
estimated number of e-leaders for each 28 Member States (dependent variable). The rationale
behind this analysis is to explore and assess relationships between indicators’ performance and
potential presence of e-Leaders.
Identification of policies and stakeholder initiatives on e-leadership skills
To gather information on and evaluate the current e-leadership skills policy and initiative landscape
and try to assess the impact of relevant policies at EU and national level, a significant amount of
information needed to be systematically collected. The challenge has not only been that the
information owners are heterogeneous (including actors in the public sector, the private sector, e.g.
the IT industry, and educational organisations), but also the geographic scope of the exercise, as
the study focused on activities in all 28 Member States (and major regions, if relevant). The
collected information included, in particular, factual information about ongoing and completed
activities at the European level and in EU Member States (e.g. information about the types of
initiatives, the stakeholders involved and the governance model applied), as well as views of
stakeholders and experts that have been involved in such activities regarding the outcome of these
activities.
Our activities consisted mainly of:
a survey of relevant national policies in the e-leadership skills domain, and
a survey of initiatives and multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) at Member State level in
this domain, with the focus as before.
The data was collected with the support, where found appropriate, of a network of national
correspondents covering all 28 Member States of the EU.
Information gathering using templates where appropriate is divided into three steps.
In a first step it focused on the general policy context in the different countries. The aim has been
to give a brief overview of the overall structure of the policy system and programmes and the key
stakeholders active in this area. In this section, national correspondents were guided to refer to and
19 / 23Country Report: Italy - Methodology
mention the policy programmes of relevance for e-leadership skills and to provide an overview of
how these are embedded and integrated in the overall policy context.
The work built on already existing literature and studies available from previous projects, statistical
sources and the proposers’ expertise and experiences gained in the precursor and previous projects
and service contracts. The analysis was enhanced by most recent literature and studies.
In a second step, more in-depth data has been gathered on the major policies and initiatives
targeting creation of e-skills and e-leadership skills which had been identified in the previous step.
The template was brief, with the following points to be addressed:
Name of policy, programme, initiative
Overall objectives
Specific objectives
Targets
Main characteristics
Policy evaluation: Monitoring and measurement system in place
Results achieved (versus objectives and targets)
The output of this activity included descriptions of the respective policies and initiatives on the
basis of a standardised template, consisting of about 5 pages of text in tabular format and a
preliminary assessment with regard to some benchmarking indicators (see below for a description
of the benchmarking approach).
At an early stage of the project (Phase I) empirica developed a data gathering guide and template
for use by national correspondents to gather the relevant information. This was followed by
contacting national correspondents and providing them with a Guide / Toolkit containing
background information, guidelines and instructions for how to conduct the research, and the data
capture instruments (description templates and questionnaires, as applicable). National
correspondents in each Member State were asked to identify key actors and experts in the fields of
e-skills and e-leadership skills and to interview them, as well as to undertake desk research.
In order to avoid work duplication and to achieve best value for money, national correspondents
were supplied with pre-filled data templates wherever available based on the instruments used for
precursor studies, which they were then asked to validate, update and complement as appropriate.
Benchmarking and assessment of policies and stakeholder initiatives on e-
leadership skills
Indices for Member States' level of policy activity
National policy activity was explored through an investigation on national policy and stakeholder
initiatives that have a bearing on skills development in the e-leadership and digital
entrepreneurship area. Findings are summarised in the form of two indices for policies & initiatives
addressing e-leadership skills of SMEs and skills for digital entrepreneurship, respectively. Index
values have not been mechanistically derived using checklists but rather through a qualitative
assessment of the significance and importance of each policy and activity.
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