The Hon. Filippo Pietropaolo, president of the budget and economic planning commission of the Regional Council of Calabria, addresses an open letter to the Magnificent Rector of the Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, prof. Giovanni Cuda. An intervention that recalls the strategic role of the University for the development of the territory and calls for an institutional discussion on crucial issues for the growth, planning and future prospects of the University. The full text of the letter
Digital Calabria: growth, delays and structural imbalances
The digital sector and the development of its ecosystems sees Calabria behind the times, but characterized by signs of great liveliness.
According to the Regional Innovation Scoreboard in 2025, we will record one of the highest growth rates in Italy and we are among the “Moderate Innovators”, with positive performances in terms of the presence of innovative SMEs, greater collaboration between companies and research centers and growing investment in digital sectors. Already in 2022 the Calabrian digital market was worth 1.09 billion euros. Today it focuses on the expansion of AI and clouds. We are the second Italian region for growth in demand for work in the sector. In the June-August 2025 quarter, our companies planned a +15.1% increase in admissions compared to 2024.
Faced with this, however, we are faced with low digital literacy among citizens, public digital services that are still fragmented and inefficient, especially with regards to digital interaction between citizens/businesses and PA, as well as a weakness in terms of training, digital skills and the private R&D sector. This creates a strong imbalance that negatively impacts our ability to grow.
The choices of the Region and the birth of ReDigit
In this context, in the last legislature, the Region approved the establishment of the Regional Integrated Information System of Calabria and the articles of association and statute of ReDigit Spa, the new in-house company which finds its mission in the integrated development of Information and Communication Technologies. An idea implemented through regional law 17, on my initiative, approved last April by the Regional Council.
This is a first step in addition to the proposed law on the use of artificial intelligence systems in the regional context and the provision, currently under study, aimed at designing a regional strategy on cybersecurity that involves regional PAs, including small municipalities, and the private sector.
Calabria therefore looks to the future and wants to keep up with the times. For this reason we must operate along four lines: create a system, reduce today’s digital gap compared to the Italian and European average, increase the skills of our young people and put our companies in a position to be increasingly competitive and innovative.
ReDigit as an engine of digital transition
ReDigit represents the main tool: it is used to implement the public policies for digitalisation that the Calabria Region implements, aiming to promote, create and coordinate a regional digital ecosystem, through support for the digitalisation of the PA and businesses; incubation and acceleration of start-ups; access to credit through financing, tenders and incentives; training in digital technologies, including IoT, AI, cloud, cybersecurity, e-commerce, data analysis, big data.
If in the last legislature we launched many initiatives aimed at promoting both the improvement of the online services of regional public administrations and the digital transition processes for businesses, also through the use of resources linked to the PR and FSC programmes, now is the time to accelerate.
To do this, a systemic action is needed, on the model of what was done by Liguria Digitale, an in-house company that has been leading the digital transition process underway in Liguria since the end of the 1980s: 500 employees and a turnover of 80 million euros per year, half of which is invested in the territory involving companies and entities in various capacities.
Magna Graecia University, training and new skills
We need to create networks and partnerships between Calabrian actors or those operating in Calabria – companies, universities and research centers -, incentivize innovation processes and develop the necessary digital skills. An action that we must initiate with the University and that the University is called upon to support within its mandate. I think of UniMagnaGraecia and what can be built together. Let’s start by establishing a faculty of computer engineering.
Because it is true that UNICAL already does a great job in this field of which it is the undisputed prime mover, but UMG can make an extraordinary contribution to filling the skills gaps that the market requires. We must force ourselves to reason according to the logic of et et and not of either/or. Collaboration, not exclusion.
I am therefore thinking of a further specific course of study for the training of those innovative profiles most requested by the market. We need developers, systems engineers, software designers, full-stack developers, data analysts, cloud architects, cybersecurity engineers, to name a few.
ReDigit, once established, must necessarily plan to support this course with a Digital Academy, designed to offer both post-graduate specialization courses and training for young graduates. A structure capable of issuing the certificates of competence required today by the market and by our companies which, expressing professional projections and needs, are also called to collaborate in the construction of these professional paths.
They will benefit greatly by absorbing the new formats, starting with internships and internships which I hope will be supported by the Region.
Towards a regional digital hub: work, youth and the future
In this process the Magna Graecia University, which you represent, is therefore crucial. I see it as the most suitable entity to co-manage this training with ReDigit in a framework aimed at creating an advanced computer engineering hub. A widespread hub located in disused buildings in the center of Catanzaro, where laboratories equipped with cutting-edge hardware and software and suited to learning in the field can be created.
A type of training that the English would define as market-oriented and entrepreneur-oriented, which looks at the market and business culture, capable of developing an entrepreneurial mentality and combining technical and business skills.
Our goal must be to arrive at a digital hub: a three-legged system built on a partnership between the Region, University and businesses where public and private collaborate in a holistic logic.
In addition to strengthening the skills of human capital and increasing productivity, this mechanism would improve the efficiency of the PA, increase the appeal of our regional system and increase business confidence, increasing the ability to attract investments. In summary: more work, opportunities, wealth and greater quality of services and life of citizens.
Providing the University with support for the realization of its Third Mission, helping businesses to collaborate, satisfying their needs and growing, giving young people the right to choose. That is, the right to decide whether to stay, leave or return.
We need to demonstrate that Calabria can – and knows how – to create a system and wants to build the conditions so that young talents are not forced to emigrate. This is the great opportunity that the new digital paradigm offers us. With 2026 now upon us, let’s work together to make all this possible.
Happy New Year.
Hon. Filippo Pietropaolo