The Italian Region of Lombardy has launched a number of research projects to study how to use blockchain based technologies.
The projects are part of the Three-year Strategic Programme (PST) for Research, Innovation and Technology Transfer, to which a total of 750 million euros worth of resources have been allocated.
More than 1500 citizens participated in the drafting of the programme through an online public consultation on the Open Innovation web platform.
One of the key themes of the programme is the use of new innovative technologies for public administration, such as blockchain technology. The first experimentation in this field has already started, with the Lombardy is Research prize, but the PST plans to extend the scope of application to other projects dedicated to family policies and the traceability of certain supply chains.
The state of progress is that of experimental projects activated in collaboration with the regional company Lombardia Informatica, the most qualified to operate in this area, which has therefore been included in the ordinary plan of activities, also from the financial point of view.
These first experiments are aimed precisely at quantifying the cost/benefit ratio of the relevant applications, and the real added value for citizens and administration. Once the results are available, the Region will consider adoption on a larger scale.
In fact, the objective is also not to increase the costs of the ordinary activities of the Region, but rather to direct them towards more efficient and effective solutions, thanks to these new technologies.
The general aim of the PST is precisely to outline the lines of development for the future of research and innovation.
The Vice-President of the Lombardy Region and Councillor for Research, Innovation, University, Export and Internationalisation of Enterprises, Fabrizio Sala, said:
“Research and innovation not only serve to boost the economy, but are for us tools to address people’s needs in a concrete and measurable way. 65% of the children who go to school today will have jobs that do not exist yet. Our goal is to identify the skills of tomorrow in a context of continuous evolution. With the Three-Year Strategic Programme, we are looking to the future and we are proposing Lombardy as a testing region, a place where innovation can be carried out, an international reference point”.
