SEE Lab: an Italian Excellence Recognized by the United Nations
Despite Italy's recent decline in the e-government rankings compiled by the United Nations, the country keeps standing out in strategic areas such as the space economy. A significant example is SDA Bocconi's SEE Lab (Space Economy Evolution Lab), which recently received a prestigious award for its contribution to sustainable and technological development. The SEE Lab is, in fact, the only Italian organization cited in the report Accelerating Digital Transformation for Sustainable Development, presented to the UN by Navid Hanif, assistant secretary-general for economic development.
The SEE Lab, led by Simonetta Di Pippo, has established itself as a center of international excellence, using space technologies to promote socio-economic progress and support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). According to Di Pippo, “Our work at SEE Lab shows that space is not only a technological frontier, but also a key resource for addressing global challenges such as climate change and natural resource management.”
However, Italy's overall picture in e-government is less bright: the country has dropped from 37th to 51st place in the UN rankings. This slide highlights Italy's difficulties in keeping up with other European nations, such as Estonia and Denmark, which lead the global ranking thanks to investments and strategies aimed at digital transformation.
According to some experts, this slump can be traced to slow digitization of public administration and poor integration of advanced IT systems. Despite this, the success of initiatives such as the SEE Lab shows that Italy still has strong potential in technological innovation, especially when it comes to using resources such as space to promote economic and social development.
“In addition to the SEE Lab, Italy's growing commitment to collaborating internationally and fostering public-private partnerships for the development of new space technologies should be mentioned,” Di Pippo points out.
“These efforts, if properly supported, could provide Italy with a competitive advantage at the global level, partially compensating for the gaps in the e-government sector.”