InvestEU, agreement between CDP and AgID for the development of Artificial Intelligence in the public sector

As part of the InvestEU Programme, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and the Agency for Digital Italy have finalised an agreement on social and sustainable infrastructure investment strategies.

The survey, one of the objectives of the Three-Year Public Sector IT Plan for 2024-2026, highlighted the potential impact of Artificial Intelligence on the decision-making processes and services offered by Italian public entities.
 

Promote investment programmes in social and sustainable infrastructure enabled by the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by the public sector. This is the goal of the memorandum of understanding signed between the Agency of Digital Italy and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.

The agreement, one of the objectives of the Three-Year Public Sector IT Plan for 2024-2026, was completed with a questionnaire aimed at Digital Transition Managers in central government entities and managers of private national companies that manage public services.

The survey, which gathered information on AI solutions and projects and on strategic databases for the development of an investment plan, focusing particular attention on those that will have a direct impact on citizens and the regions, was carried out thanks to the consultancy service guaranteed by CDP with the resources made available by the European Union as part of the InvestEU Programme, and by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti itself.

The following points emerged from the survey:

• Strategic goals: public entities are focusing, first and foremost, on streamlining the efficiency of internal processes and improving data analysis and forecasting tools, initially prioritising instruments for internal use or for interaction with other public entities.
• Long-term strategies and planning: the majority of projects were scheduled to begin by 2024 with only a minor percentage of projects scheduled to start in 2025. A scalability risk and a clear vision of the expected impact of the AI projects planned or under development also emerged.
• Procurement and budget: until now the public sector has made limited use of structured and specific procurement tools for AI, often using general ICT contract tenders or trial proposals coming from the market. The spending on these projects is largely supported by budget funds or National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) funds.
• Data: the need to optimise databases with the aim of improving the efficacy of solutions was identified.
• AI functionalities and technologies: there is a prevalence of Chatbots and Virtual Assistants. Among the AI technologies used, traditional Machine Learning is prevalent followed by solutions that use Generative AI.

In summary, the survey, performed by AgID with the support of CDP in the role of Advisory Partner of the European Commission, highlighted how Artificial Intelligence has significant potential in terms of its impact on both internal processes and external services, with a strong positive effect on social and sustainable infrastructures. However, even if the entities interviewed demonstrated their commitment to effectively applying this emerging technology, the survey showed that it is necessary to support them in deploying a more effective long-term adoption process that makes it possible to obtain tangible and positive effects on the territory and the general public.

Finally, the results of the survey also made it possible to understand the current level of progress, identify virtuous cases, and support actions for guiding subsequent investments.