Studies continue to
suggest that Italy’s exit strategy from the economic crisis could lie in
boosting its digital economy. The most recent study, conducted by the Boston
Consulting Group and Google, estimates that, in three years’ time, Italy’s
Internet economy will record an annual growth of between 13 and 18 percent and
represent from 3.3 to 4.3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product
(GDP). Moreover, by 2015, the digital economy will be worth some 59 billion
euro, almost double the 31 million the sector generated in 2010.
The results were presented on occasion of an agreement
between Google and the Tuscan Region and the National Confederation of Artisan
and Small- and Medium-Sized Businesses, focused on the education of young
workers and the digitization of small- and medium-sized business.
The research reveals that small- and medium-sized
businesses in Italy that have a Web presence are more productive than those
that do not. In the last three years, according to the report, ‘Small- and
medium-sized businesses that are active on the Internet have recorded an
average growth of 1.2 percent in revenues, compared to a decline of 4.5 percent
in revenue of those businesses that continue to operate “offline.”‘
The study also showed that a 10 percent increase in
the use of the Internet could increase employment by 0.44 percent for adult
workers and 1.47 percent for youths in the workforce.
