Rome, 2 October, 2024 – In its largest funding in Italy so far, Microsoft at this time introduced a €4.3 billion initiative within the subsequent two years to develop its hyperscale cloud and AI datacenter infrastructure and supply digital expertise coaching to greater than 1 million Italians by the tip of 2025.
This transfer goals to assist Italy maximize the alternatives of synthetic intelligence (AI) and to contribute to the main focus of the Italian authorities on long-term financial progress and demographic problem. Microsoft’s knowledge heart growth in Northern Italy coupled with its dedication to supply intensive AI expertise coaching helps the rising demand for AI compute and cloud providers throughout Italy as organizations look to spice up productiveness and uncover new breakthroughs with AI. By integrating AI into strategic sectors comparable to manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and public administration Italy can innovate manufacturing processes, enhance affected person outcomes, improve monetary providers, enhance the effectivity of public providers. Furthermore, incorporating AI into native small and medium-sized organizations can allow the nation to unlock new ranges of innovation and entrepreneurship.
The adoption of AI additionally has the potential to deal with demographic challenges and enhance Italy’s competitiveness on a world scale, supporting the Italian authorities’s imaginative and prescient for a resilient, revolutionary, and inclusive financial system. Safety is on the core of this funding and our operations, guaranteeing that our expertise and providers are designed to guard and preserve belief, and to serve the nation’s cybersecurity posture.
With this funding, Italy North will change into one among Microsoft’s largest datacenter areas on the continent and can play an important function in assembly European knowledge boundary necessities. It’ll additionally function a key knowledge hub for the Mediterranean and North Africa, supporting the International Partnership on Funding and Infrastructure and assembly the federal government ambition beneath the G7 Presidency to foster collaboration with the International South.
“This landmark funding underscores our long-standing dedication to Italy’s digital transformation,” stated Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft. “By increasing entry to our AI expertise and experience, we’re equipping the Italian authorities, companies, and the broader workforce with the instruments to construct an AI-driven financial system that creates jobs and drives prosperity.”
This infrastructure will function beneath Microsoft’s AI Entry Ideas which had been created to foster innovation and wholesome competitors inside the quickly rising AI financial system. They replicate Microsoft’s increasing function and accountability as a pacesetter in AI and commit the corporate to creating investments, forging enterprise partnerships, and creating applications that guarantee broad entry to its AI expertise that empower organizations and people to develop and use AI in methods that may serve the general public good.
Upskilling greater than 1 million Italians by means of an AI Nationwide Skilling Initiative
In Italy, Generative AI holds the potential to reinforce productiveness and well-being, even within the face of a expertise scarcity and an ageing inhabitants. Italy may lose about 3.7 million staff by 2040, the variety of folks projected to depart the workforce, leading to €267.8 billion in nationwide GDP at current productiveness degree. New applied sciences will make it potential to take care of the identical degree of financial well-being. Accordingly to a latest research by TEHA Group and Microsoft Italy* reveals that 63 p.c of Italian entrepreneurs acknowledge a scarcity of Generative AI expertise. Nevertheless, broad adoption of this expertise might enhance Italy’s annual GDP by as much as €312 billion over the following 15 years, an 18.2 p.c enhance and one among strategic sector of the Italian Financial system – the SMEs and Made in Italy firms – may benefit from a rise of €122 billion in added worth.
Microsoft and its companions will introduce new coaching applications to ability greater than 1 million folks in Italy by 2025, targeted on AI fluency, technical AI expertise, AI enterprise transformation, and the promotion of protected and accountable AI growth. By our collaboration with a big community of Microsoft licensed coaching providers companions, trade companions, universities, nonprofit organizations, authorities establishments, and associations, we’ll launch skilling initiatives for professionals and college students throughout Italy, included in deprived communities.
As a part of the Nationwide Skilling Initiative, the nonprofit ELIS’s Embrace to Develop initiative goals to scale back instructional poverty and assist marginalized people enter the workforce. This program focuses on ladies who’ve been unable to search out jobs after maternity depart. One other initiative, Ital.IA LAB, led by the nonprofit Fondazione Mondo Digitale, focuses on making a nationwide infrastructure of studying hubs for Generative AI and establishing a community of trainers to coach younger folks, job seekers, and staff, particularly ladies and people in deprived areas, and within the South of Italy.
“In lower than a yr, our Cloud Area has assist Italian and worldwide firms obtain better productiveness and innovation,” stated Vincenzo Esposito, Normal Supervisor Microsoft Italy. “This new funding confirms our dedication for the sustainable progress of Italy by serving to organizations harness the ability of Cloud and Generative AI whereas offering Italians with the talents to maximise these applied sciences. Our Italy North Area will proceed in accelerating digital transformation and expertise in Italy, guaranteeing that nobody is left behind”.
Growth of infrastructure in Italy to speed up AI adoption to assist organizations innovate securely and improve productiveness
To assist firms studying the alternatives of AI for his or her progress, Microsoft Italy has created the AI L.A.B. program. Over 320 firms have joined the initiative up to now yr, creating extra 450 Generative AI tasks, with 50% already operational, all supported by a community of 30 native companions to reinforce innovation, creativity, and productiveness.
In line with a latest research from THEA Group and Microsoft Italy*, Italian firms are experiencing tangible productiveness beneficial properties because of Generative AI. In the present day 47 p.c of firms utilizing AI options report productiveness will increase of greater than 5 p.c, whereas 74 p.c have skilled productiveness beneficial properties of greater than 1 p.c. These beneficial properties are significantly vital, contemplating the general productiveness progress that Italy has recorded over the past 20 years (+1.6 p.c).
Microsoft’s superior computational infrastructure and AI platform providers can allow organizations from small medium companies and start-ups to massive establishments to develop, deploy, and use proprietary and open supply AI fashions and purposes. It’ll make Microsoft’s personal AI-infused providers like Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Dynamics extra broadly and regionally accessible to Italian prospects utilizing the brand new infrastructure to extend ranges of innovation and productiveness, Microsoft may also proceed providing cloud providers to the Italian Public Administration by means of the Nationwide Strategic Hub (PSN), utilizing Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty. This answer meets nationwide knowledge classification requirements with public cloud options, controls, and coverage governance.
A broad set of Italian group, firms and start-ups are leveraging superior Cloud Companies and exploring AI capabilities and can profit from this new funding.
Angelo Saccà, Director of the Info Techniques, Portal, E-Studying Division of the College of Turin: “Due to the strategic collaboration with Microsoft and the usage of the newest options, we’ve strengthened belief and drive to innovation, each for a common transformations and digital transformation particularly inside our tutorial group”.
As the most important Certified Belief Service Supplier (QTSP) in Europe, InfoCert (Tinexta Group) is unwavering in its mission to convey belief to digital transactions. “Microsoft’s vital funding in Italy underscores the significance of our home market and reinforces our shared imaginative and prescient for a safe digital future. Our dedication to safety and reliability is on the core of all the pieces we provide: the strategic partnership with Microsoft empowers us to proceed delivering cutting-edge options, significantly for small and medium-sized enterprises, that are the spine of the Italian financial system” stated, Danilo Cattaneo CEO Infocert. “By integrating the newest developments in synthetic intelligence, we offer revolutionary providers that meet the evolving wants of the market, combining the belief and innovation of our choices with the reliability of Microsoft’s infrastructure”.
Advancing AI responsibly and sustainably
Microsoft’s method to accountable AI is grounded in six core rules – equity, reliability and security, privateness and safety, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability. They replicate Microsoft’s increasing function and accountability as a pacesetter in AI and commit the corporate to creating investments, forging enterprise partnerships, and creating applications that guarantee broad entry to its AI expertise that empower organizations and people to develop and use AI in methods that may serve the general public good. Microsoft can also be among the many first to signal the Rome Name for AI Ethics, which inspires a principled method to synthetic intelligence and is endorsed by faiths of the Jap world and Abrahamic religions.
Microsoft will proceed to advance the reliability, security, privateness, and safety of AI by designing and constructing infrastructure and cloud providers to assist safe datacenters in opposition to unauthorized entry, environmental hazards, and different bodily threats. To advance reliability, Microsoft’s current cloud area in Italy is related to the most important, trusted world cloud infrastructure, supporting the best service availability and serving to prospects construct for enterprise continuity with confidence. The area is provided with Availability Zones, consisting of three distinctive bodily areas, every with impartial energy, cooling and networks. Microsoft Azure supplies numerous resiliency options for top availability, enterprise continuity plans, and catastrophe restoration steps to maintain providers out there and to satisfy excessive safety and privateness requirements.
In 2024, Microsoft launched the Datacenter Group Pledge to construct and function digital infrastructure that addresses societal challenges and creates advantages for communities, partnering carefully with native governments, residents, and stakeholders to make sure its infrastructure is a useful resource that contributes to a sustainable future and advances group prosperity and well-being. In Italy, Microsoft has joined the Forestami initiative for the reforestation of some territories of Milan’s metropolitan space, and not too long ago launched two Lombardia Group Challenges opened to native non-profit tasks in Milan and Pavia.
Microsoft can also be deeply invested in advancing the sustainability of AI, and is addressing the assets wanted to assist accountable progress of AI infrastructure. Microsoft has taken a first-mover method to planning, making long-term investments to convey extra carbon-free electrical energy onto the grids the place they function, Energy Buy Agreements (PPAs) are on the heart this method. In the present day, Microsoft has contracted over 34 GW of renewable vitality throughout 24 nations, marking progress towards accelerating renewable vitality markets and supporting the worldwide vitality transition.
In Italy, Microsoft has executed three PPAs for renewable vitality and is pursuing extra contractual alternatives within the close to future. Microsoft can also be transitioning backup turbines at datacenters to be powered by a renewable biofuel that reduces internet carbon emissions and the datacenter in Italy is LEED Gold licensed. Microsoft’s owned datacenters in its Italy North area are additionally registered beneath the EU Code of Conduct for vitality effectivity in datacenters and an impartial third get together EU Code of Conduct audit was efficiently accomplished in January 2024.
Along with carefully measuring and monitoring vitality use, Microsoft Italian datacenters use direct evaporative cooling techniques to assist scale back water use. This cooling system is very vitality and water environment friendly, utilizing water for cooling lower than 5% of the yr and fewer electrical energy than different water-based cooling techniques comparable to cooling towers. Nearly all of water used is harvested rainwater groundwater and is used for five cycles of focus and water reuse. Water from these cooling techniques is then discharged again to the native wastewater utility therapy plant, following native rules.
In 2023, Microsoft launched the AI and Sustainability Playbook, outlining the alternatives that AI supplies for accelerating sustainability. Along with designing, constructing, and working AI infrastructure for sustainability, the applying of AI generally is a highly effective instrument for attaining the tempo and scale of sustainability options to deal with the local weather problem.
AI 4 Italy: Impacts and prospects of Generative Synthetic Intelligence for Italy and Made in Italy”
