“Digitalisation and innovation have led our internationalisation and export support strategy”, observed Ambassador Angeloni, the Farnesina’s Director General for Country Promotion, speaking at the first Metaverse Festival in Italy. The event, which took place on 11 October 2022 in Turin, was organised by the Italian Association of Young Innovators (Italian initials ANGI) in collaboration with Turin’s OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni.
“The Metaverse fits neatly into the emphasis we have placed on export promotion since early 2020”, explained Ambassador Angeloni. “Since then, we have focused our attention on digitalisation and innovation. We inherited a report by the European Commission in late 2019 in which Italy was in second-last position for digital skills and expertise. We have made up for that through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR)”, continued the Director General. “We need to increase our digitalisation for exports”. In the light of this awareness, a number of instruments have been set up, such as the major providers agreement and the digital export bonus for small and micro businesses.
Ambassador Angeloni went on to illustrate the close fit between the Metaverse, a potentially universal instrument, and the export drive, which for a country like ours is global in nature. “I believe that the Metaverse, with its unlimited spaces and time-frames for promotion, is a new frontier, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises”. The Director General noted that this is a cutting-edge export promotion instrument that requires digital growth in our SMEs. An area in which the Farnesina has invested heavily in recent years, providing numerous tools to facilitate this priority transition.
