Lucia Albano at yesterday’s conference: the centrality of the individual, the National Plan and the proposal to assess the impact of digital transformation
“Who do we want to make this digital transformation and this new world that is emerging available to?” This is the question with which Lucia Albano, Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, brought the relationship between technological innovation, collective responsibility and the development of the social economy back to the centre of the debate.
Speaking yesterday, 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, Albano acknowledged the value of a discussion that links two fundamental dimensions of the country’s development.
“I must truly thank the Fondazione Mondo Digitale for this perspective on the digital world on the one hand and the social economy on the other. It is an aspect that profoundly affects the world of the social economy, but perhaps we are not fully aware of it.”
Twenty-five years of transformation
To illustrate the depth of the change, Albano began by drawing on her own experience as an IT lecturer, recalling how, twenty-five years ago, introducing people to the digital world meant starting with the basic concepts of bits and bytes. A feat she likened to “landing on the Moon”.
Today, generative artificial intelligence opens up very different possibilities, transforming the way we process information and generate knowledge. This evolution makes it even more important to question the aims of innovation and the people who stand to benefit from it. Hence the crucial question: to whom do we wish to direct the opportunities offered by digital transformation?
The social economy can lead the change
In her speech, the Under-Secretary emphasised that the social economy is, first and foremost, an economy, characterised by the centrality of the individual and the pursuit of social objectives. The digital transition affects this sector on two fronts: within organisations, where it can improve processes, skills and capacity for innovation; and in society, where the social economy can help steer change towards goals of inclusion and shared development. Albano explicitly highlighted some of the priorities that emerged during the discussion: “Strengthening organisations’ capacity for innovation, investing in people and skills, making the digital transition a social infrastructure, and taking the lead in the digital transition”. These are issues which, according to the Under-Secretary, concern all associations, co-operatives and businesses within the social economy, which are called upon to reflect both on the effects of technology within their own organisations and on the contribution they can make to the transformation of society. The starting point is the centrality of the individual: a principle that must guide both economic decisions and the development of digital knowledge and skills.
A participatory approach to building the future
Albano then outlined the process of drawing up the National Plan for the Social Economy and its Action Plan, developed in part in response to the European recommendation through a process of consultation with stakeholders in the sector. “We received over 130 contributions from nearly 130 social economy organisations that took an interest in this issue and engaged with it proactively.” This process made it possible to define the scope of the social economy, identify tools and priorities and, above all, begin building a shared culture capable of recognising the economic and social role of organisations pursuing collective aims. According to Albano, this same method can be applied to digital transformation. The social economy and technological innovation are, in fact, profoundly changing economic and social models and require new capacities for dialogue, interpretation and proposal-making.
Assessing the impact of digital technology
One of the most significant points of the speech concerned the possibility of extending the culture of impact assessment to digital transformation. “We are used to analysing social impact, but analysing the impact that digital technology has, in a broad sense, on the economy and the social economy could, I believe, be not just a study, but an opportunity for the organisations themselves to find a way forward.” This is a particularly relevant perspective for the third sector. Measuring the effects of technology means understanding how organisations, people’s skills, working methods and the ability to respond to community needs are changing. Albano also highlighted the value of artificial intelligence as a potential laboratory for innovation and of evaluation as a tool to guide decision-making.
“Issues such as how to turn artificial intelligence into a laboratory for digital innovation, and how to use evaluation to learn and make decisions, can be developed into a methodology by a forum such as this and presented as a proposal to society.” This reflection thus opens up a shared working space between institutions, social organisations and the research community, in which evaluation can help make innovation choices more informed and verifiable.
From reflection to a shared proposal
In the concluding part of her speech, the Under-Secretary returned to the value of the meeting organised by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, acknowledging that the integration of the digital sector and the social economy offers a perspective worth exploring further. “It is an approach – bringing together the digital and social spheres – that I had not yet considered in such an integrated way; however, I believe it could be an interesting path towards fostering a culture that always places the individual at the centre.” This is an important acknowledgement of the discussion initiated during the conference and of the proposal to regard digital transformation as a strategic dimension of the social economy’s development. Albano’s conclusion highlights a responsibility shared by institutions, educators, organisations and citizens: “What is happening challenges us to understand how we can teach people to evaluate in order to learn, and how we can work to build social and digital innovation rather than simply endure change.”
It is precisely this perspective that the Fondazione Mondo Digitale intends to help develop: a shared journey in which skills, innovation and evaluation become tools for strengthening the social economy and putting the opportunities of digital transformation at the service of people and communities.
