It is a great pleasure for me to attend the Italian Tech Week, the most important high tech event in Italy. Once again technology and innovation provide excellent creative solutions for me to be here with you today.
The hologram is a perfect example of what technology is today: uniting people, breaking down borders, allowing people to cross all boundaries between here and there. Teleportation has long been a dream of video game directors and creators. And here I am today virtually present at this live event thanks to holographic technology.
Hologramsof course, but also augmented and virtual reality, they can positively influence and change many technological sectors and bring benefits to society as a whole. Augmented reality will be a real revolution for the Metaverse, taking total immersion and interaction in the digital world to new levels.
The economic potential is absolutely enormous. The market size of 10 billion in 2021 saw a 26 percent increase over the previous year. Let us therefore try to exploit this enormous potential. And let’s do it “European”. We will focus on three main aspects: people, technologies and infrastructures.
First, people: we should feel as safe in the virtual world as we feel in the real one. With digital service laws, and market regulations, we Europeans now have strong tools for our digital spaces. We should also shape now the development of a truly safe and usable Metaverse, for example for European bonheurs, we want to launch a creative movement, together with hi-tech experts, citizens’ organizations and users.
Second, the technologies: to give shape to the Metaverse we need Made in Europe technologies, not only for entertainment, but also to develop artistic creativity, to simulate medical interventions, to guarantee cultural protection operations and environmental protection.
In recent months we have organized virtual and augmented reality lunches in industrial coalitions. We have developed various road maps, importing from over 14/40 European organizations, from large companies to small and medium-sized enterprises and of course to universities. Europe is also investing in research, and in various technologies. Think of the Europeanship Pact: will give strong impetus to hardware development and manufacturing development in Europe. The next step will be some kind of huge shift, in which we will really amalgamate our true skills. We obviously don’t start from scratch. Part of the answer lies in the European vision of this transformation in the years to come. The way to make this vision a reality, the so-called Pass for Digital Decade it will be signed very soon and it will become a real law. At the center of everything there will be large projects, the so-called multinational projects, the member states will be able to walk together, to realize the digital capabilities up to this vision of ours.
Third, the infrastructure: the amount of data has changed, is getting bigger, bigger than ever. But we see that the increase in data in infrastructures is accompanied by a lower desire to invest, a drop in investments. We must therefore ask ourselves whether the laws, the pre-existing conditions when the European objectives were outlined for cooperation and competition are still adequate. All market players who benefit from this transformation should meet and make appropriate proposals, and make contributions for the public good, for services and infrastructure for the benefit of all Europeans.
All this invites us to an all-out reflection on this vision, and on the model of infrastructures that we must move, the volume of data and future interactions.
Ladies and gentlemen, today’s event is also an excellent opportunity to see how our technologies today can contribute to climate emissions. In fact, let’s not forget that smart systems and digital technologies can reduce overall emissions by 15 to 20 percent [di gas serra]. For example, smart energy systems optimize energy use, and reduce tariffs. 3D printers can help improve efficiency in the agricultural and construction sectors. Of course, however, we should also minimize the environmental footprint of digitization.
So, I invite companies that have not already done so to join the great European digital coalition. Because the protagonists of this match are you. You represent your technological know-how. And that is my goal, let’s say my everyday job, as an industry commissioner: to bring European excellence from laboratories to factories. I invite you, in Italy, and in all other member states, to get the most out of it.
Translation by Anna Bissanti