Digital Agenda: missed opportunity

Joint Press Release with IWA and Associazione Roma StartUp

DIGITAL DIARY: LOST OPPORTUNITY

Digital literacy, e-commerce, citizens' fiber optics have been cancelled, advantages for innovative startups and growth incentives are almost nil

[Rome] 4 December 2012 – The associations States General of Innovation, IWA Italy and Roma Startup, who have worked in recent months to collect proposals from the world of businesses, associations and experts to improve the Growth Decree 2.0, they express theirs strong dissent on the conclusion of the process of conversion into law undertaken in the Senate.

In front of serious shortcomings present in the decree and shared by the majority of observers on the subject of interventions for thedigital literacy, with the fundamental role of RAI, Of e-commerce incentives, Of diffusion of the PEC for citizens, Of strategies and goals for smart communities or for the communications market regulation, and by the definition of truly incisive measures for startups, all the ameliorative and supplementary amendments presented on these issues were rejected in examining Commissions, in some cases to the enormous amazement of the proposing Senators themselves.

The few improvements introduced, from the "Internet bill of rights", to the request for a strategic plan for the Digital Agenda, to the provision for the administrations of a Telework Plan, to some adjustments on the rules for Open Data and for management of the Resident Population Registry, do not change the overall judgment on what could have been done and what has not been done.

Since the government has placed its trust in the text released by the Commission, both in the Senate and in the Chamber given the imminent expiry of the decree, can no longer be remedied and the text will no longer be improved. so we have aDigital Agenda truncated, largely unfeasiblecertainly once again inadequate for the role and status that this Government would like us to maintain in the European Union, and for what Italians would legitimately expect as citizens of one of the great industrialized countries.

This is due to a too heterogeneous decree and a parliamentary path that did not allow for adequate discussion for a provision of fundamental importance for the future of our country.

There we appeal to the Government to quickly take charge of introduce with further measures the improvements required by the unfortunately rejected amendments, overcoming the current intolerable shortcomings and at theAgency for Digital Italy because it includes them in its strategic plan.

We will supervise the continuation of the implementing decrees and will undertake the initiatives we deem appropriate for avoid losing this fundamental opportunity for change for our country.

Association Rome Startup www.romastartup.it, Association States General of Innovation www.statigeneralinnovazione.it, International Webmasters Association (IWA) – Italy www.iwa.it

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