Made in Italy: Eccellenze in Digitale: a training program for Italian SMEs to improve digital literacy and competitiveness

The Italian economy is struggling in the global competition due to several critical issues, but especially because of slow productivity growth in SMEs. A delay in ICT adoption for process and product innovation is a possible explanation for slow productivity growth. The support offered by young “digital angels” can help Italian SMEs to build internal ecommerce and exploit digital technologies. Then, the role of existing industrial districts as nodes of the network economy, coupled with increased awareness of ICT opportunities, can be a remedy for the stagnation of the Italian economy. Institutions should implement specific programmes to facilitate this process of digital transformation. This thesis analyses “Eccellenze in Digitale”, a programme financed and coordinated by Unioncamere and Google which involved 105 graduates to support SME entrepreneurs in the digital transformation of their companies....