This project investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the digital transformation of Italian businesses, particularly in terms of ICT adoption and its effects on productivity. The pandemic accelerated digitalisation across many sectors, but its benefits have not been equally distributed. This study examines whether COVID-19 served as a catalyst for innovation or created new barriers, widening the digital divide between regions.
The research aims to:
Assess how the pandemic-driven digital push affected digitalisation gaps across Italian regions.
Analyse the relationship between digital adoption and labour productivity at the territorial level.
Explore alternative digitalisation indicators, including social media presence and website use, to reflect the multidimensional nature of digital transformation.
Identify barriers to digitalisation in vulnerable areas and propose targeted public policies to support equitable digital growth.
The project combines company-level financial data with information on digital skills demand to map business digitalisation across Italy. An econometric model is then developed to:
Quantify the effect of digital transformation on regional productivity.
Correlate digitalisation levels with economic, structural, and demographic factors.
Highlight regional disparities in ICT adoption.
Funding Acknowledgement
This project is funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) under the Fund for Economic and Social Research – FRES 2 Call. The project received a total grant of €518,425.50.
CUP: B43C25000220001
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