Gabriele Sepio at the Fondazione Mondo Digitale conference: from the Industrial Revolution to the Digital Revolution, the challenges of the National Plan in terms of innovation, access to credit and putting people at the centre.
The digital transformation is ushering in a new phase for the Italian social economy, which is called upon to grapple with profound technological changes and the need to strengthen its organisational and economic capabilities. To meet this challenge, the sector’s wealth of values and experience must be translated into concrete tools: skills, resources, regulations and new models of development.
This is the perspective put forward by Gabriele Sepio, a lawyer specialising in third sector law and taxation, who spoke yesterday, Wednesday 21 October, at the conference The Social Economy in the Digital Age, organised by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale ETS as part of its 25th-anniversary celebrations.
His contribution linked the historical roots of the social economy to the opportunities and contradictions of the digital revolution, identifying the National Plan for the Social Economy, approved in July 2026, as an opportunity to tackle some of the structural obstacles limiting the sector’s development.
A history spanning eight centuries
The Italian social economy has its roots in a tradition far older than the European policies that now recognise its value. Sepio recalled the ‘Misericordie’ and the religious orders of the 13th century, the earliest expressions of a culture of solidarity that has progressively permeated the country’s economic and social history. “It is clear that at this historic moment we have a duty, on the one hand, to draw on our cultural experience in the social economy, and, on the other, to understand how this experience can be translated into the tools that are currently lacking to give social organisations a solid foundation.”
The historical parallel drawn by Sepio takes us to the second half of the nineteenth century, when the Industrial Revolution transformed work, production and social relations. The 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, Don Bosco’s educational legacy and the initiatives of Léon Harmel represent some of the responses developed during that period to protect people and guide change. Today, according to Sepio, the digital revolution raises a similar question: how to manage innovation whilst keeping the individual at the centre. “Now, instead of the Industrial Revolution, we have the digital revolution. And once again we are faced with the same question: how do we tackle this revolution whilst keeping the individual at the centre?” A challenge made all the more complex by the relationship between technology and human relationships. As Sepio observed, “connections are increasing, but relationships are diminishing”.
Technology and the risk of new inequalities
Digital innovation can broaden access to knowledge, services and economic opportunities, but it can also accentuate differences between people and organisations. Referring to a remark attributed to Bill Gates, Sepio highlighted how technology can become either the greatest factor in social levelling or a powerful generator of inequalities, depending on the choices that guide its development.
In this context, the social economy can make a unique contribution by experimenting with models that link technological innovation, participation and the distribution of value. Among the examples cited are data cooperatives, organisational forms that explore the possibility of collectively managing information and the economic value derived from it. The issue concerns the ability to build a digital economy in which people can participate in decision-making and benefit from the opportunities generated by innovation.
From the Third Sector Reform to the National Plan
To understand the role that the social economy can play in the digital transition, Sepio outlined the legal developments of the past ten years. The reform of the Third Sector has helped to define the identity and characteristics of these organisations more precisely, enabling the recognition of specific tools and resources. A key milestone is represented by Constitutional Court ruling no. 131 of 2020, which emphasised the role of Third Sector organisations in implementing the principle of subsidiarity set out in Article 118 of the Constitution.
“Over the past 10 years, the reform has made us realise that these organisations address people’s needs and, as the Constitutional Court states in Judgment No. 131 of 2020, they are the entities that implement the constitutional principle of subsidiarity.” The social economy is, in fact, characterised by values that are not fully reflected in traditional market indicators: free provision, mutual aid and reciprocity. These principles translate into economic activity, employment, services and the capacity to meet collective needs.
The National Plan for the Social Economy now represents a further step: creating more favourable conditions for the development of these organisations, whilst recognising their specific characteristics, including in economic and financial terms.
The obstacles to be overcome: state aid and credit
SEPIO has identified two issues of particular relevance to the growth of the social economy. The first concerns the European rules on state aid. Rules designed to prevent distortions of competition can create difficulties in identifying support measures suited to the characteristics of organisations pursuing social objectives. “In the National Plan for the Social Economy, action must be taken on the rules governing state aid,” emphasised Sepio, highlighting the need to take into account the specific characteristics of these organisational models. The second issue is access to credit. The risk assessment criteria used by banks can penalise non-profit organisations, limiting their ability to secure funding for structural investments. “How can this sector find the means to invest and become competitive if these obstacles are not overcome?” This is an issue that also directly concerns digital transformation. Indeed, innovation requires resources to be allocated to technological infrastructure, staff training, cyber security and the redesign of services. Without adequate financial conditions, there is a risk that smaller organisations will be excluded from opportunities for innovation, further widening the disparities within the sector.
The digital challenge facing over 153,000 organisations
The scale of the challenge is evident from the figures from the Single National Register of the Third Sector (RUNTS), which, according to data cited by SEPIO, lists over 153,000 registered organisations, including around 80,000 social promotion associations and 40,000 voluntary organisations. A widespread network, largely made up of small local organisations, which plays an essential role in the life of communities. For these organisations, digitalisation must develop along two complementary lines. The first concerns internal operations: strengthening staff skills, improving management processes, making the use of resources more efficient and increasing the sustainability of activities. The second concerns the social mission: innovating services and activities of general interest – ranging from care to training, and from healthcare to culture – whilst also contributing to the dissemination of digital skills amongst citizens. In this regard, Sepio referred to the activities of general interest identified in Article 5 of the Third Sector Code, highlighting just how broad the scope of application of digital technologies can be.
From vision to tools
Gabriele Sepio’s contribution highlights a crucial issue for the future of the social economy: digital transformation requires structural conditions that enable even the smallest organisations to innovate. Skills and infrastructure are essential, but they must be accompanied by regulatory, fiscal and financial instruments capable of recognising the sector’s specific characteristics. This perspective reinforces the debate launched by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale on the role of digitalisation in the National Plan for the Social Economy and on the need to regard innovation as a cross-cutting dimension of development policies. The challenge, as Sepio’s speech makes clear, is to link the Italian tradition of solidarity with the opportunities offered by the digital revolution, creating the conditions for the country’s social heritage to continue generating value even within new technological landscapes.
