I resume, clarify and try to clarify what my previous post could imply, written in one go as soon as I heard the list of new ministers and the related powers and on the basis of my disappointment at the absence of explicit powers for the innovation of the public administration and for the digital agenda.
Never as in this period have I seen "the network" waiting for a government with such anxiety, never as in this period has even just a couple of hours late by President Monti in presenting the list of Ministers sparked doubts, expectations and hopes on the network (from Facebook to Twitter the wait was clear). I have told here these expectations and I concluded by saying “we are ready to hope, we are ready to look to tomorrow. And tomorrow everyone will be ready to criticize and find the quirk that's wrong... but now we need a team that works, immediately, to innovate the country."
At the conclusion of IGF 2011 we prepared a open letter to Prof. Monti with the request of a Minister with delegation to the Italian Digital Agenda or in any case of a great effort to address the "digital spread" and the association StatiGeneralInnovazione.it Yes is associated with that request.
Then came the long-awaited list of proxies and my intervention, and so I try again (with the calm of the past, with the comments and criticisms I get - thank you all!) to give you my opinion, always ready, of course, to listen and get yours!
To some, mine seemed like a judgment. It wasn't, it couldn't and above all it didn't want to be, judgments are given ex post and not ex ante, I am deeply convinced of that.
Much less a political judgement, precisely because of what has been said above.
Marco Calvo says “The ministries that we have seen in recent years, propaganda without money and authority, led by politicians without any competence, what are they for? It is not establishing the Ministry of Innovation that becomes innovation.”
Could not agree more!
And I take Marco Calvo again because I couldn't say it better than him “I prefer Governments with few ministries, but many means, obtained by saving and merging. And skills broad enough to run the administrative machinery. The parcelling out of responsibilities has created many armchairs that are useful for politics, but useless for deciding (and influencing)… After all, the meeting on the 25th and 26th is also for this, isn't it? To bring the usefulness of innovation to the attention of all Italians, including the Prime Minister. Or at least, we hope it will be the first step in this direction.”
Finally, I agree with Lucia and her optimism when she says that President Monti, in his speech to the Senate, mentioned the Digital Agenda ("It is also necessary to work to achieve the objectives set at European level with the digital agenda"), even if I think that more should be done to make explicit the importance that this issue has for our country. He will do it? I hope so!
I believe that, constructively, our task is to put forward proposals, but also doubts and perplexities if necessary, and to work together to innovate this country. Innovation must be a central and transversal theme and the country needs to get out of this stagnation, a country that is ready, but needs to define medium and long-term strategies. Operating, even by innovating, but patchy and without visions takes us not very far.
Let's define the country's strategies together, let's plan our future together. We look forward to seeing you at Stati Generali dell'Innovazione on the 25th and 26th to talk about it and work together!
