Today, sustainability must be the guiding principle of every choice, especially when it comes to digital transformation. Because technology must be an accelerator, not an obstacle to development. It must build bridges, not accentuate inequalities. And this is how it can play a leading role in building a more sustainable future for our country.
This is, in essence, the vision that guides the work of PagoPA: the company created with the aim of developing and disseminating digital public services in Italy, which are easy to use and citizen-friendly, and which just recently joined the Foundation for Digital Sustainability network as a Partner.
We spoke about this with Alessandro Moricca, PagoPA’s Sole Director and the company’s delegate in the Foundation’s Steering Committee: with a degree in Economics and Commerce from La Sapienza University and a Master’s in Business Administration from Bocconi University in Milan, he is a manager with a long-standing experience gained, since the early 2000s, covering top roles in the fields of finance and business organisation.
For an ethical and inclusive digital
“For us at PagoPA, sustainability is a guiding principle in our approach to technological innovation, which we conceive as a tool to reduce inequalities and enable people to have more opportunities and exercise their rights more easily“. Sustainability therefore inspires innovation, which itself becomes a crucial enabler of sustainability, in a virtuous circle that, as Moricca explained, for PagoPA takes concrete form in the creation of its services: ‘Building simple, accessible and secure digital services means contributing to a more sustainable development model: we reduce the time, costs and consumption associated with traditional administrative processes, we simplify people’s lives and we make the management of public resources more efficient. Every infrastructure or platform that we create, from PagoPA to IO, up to SEND, is created with the aim of improving the quality of the relationship between citizens and institutions, promoting an ethical and inclusive digital world‘.
Inclusion: the guiding principle
Technology is therefore the tool, but it is the vision behind its development that guides its effects. Therefore, digital sustainability must be the compass that guides this path. “For us, digital sustainability is the ability to use technology consciously to generate lasting value for society, the economy and the environment,” he explained. “Each of our projects is inspired by the ethical neutrality of technology: a technological innovation in itself cannot be ‘good’ or ‘bad’, but must be responsibly directed through the development of solutions that are always oriented towards simplifying people’s lives and reducing potentially negative impacts on society and the environment. This orientation is important to us because it is the basis for building a fair and resilient future, in which innovation is not an end in itself, but serves to foster the country’s sustainable and inclusive growth, reducing inequalities‘.
Much revolves, therefore, around the concept of inclusion. On the other hand, whether we talk about sustainability or digital transformation, the underlying concept must be the same: that of leaving no-one behind. “Inclusion is a pillar of our mission. Our solutions are born to simplify access to public services, putting people at the centre, regardless of their level of digital competence or the territory in which they live. Making digital public services universal and intuitive means guaranteeing equal opportunities for access and participation in public life. For this reason, we also promote collaboration with administrations, partners, universities and schools to spread digital skills and awareness in the use of technologies, helping to reduce the digital divide and strengthen trust between citizens and institutions“.
Digital Sustainability, the importance of collaboration
Creating awareness and culture on the issues of digital sustainability, and translating this into concrete and impactful initiatives, is the purpose that the Foundation has always pursued together with the companies and organisations in its network, which PagoPA, as Moricca emphasised, has chosen to join with a clear objective: ‘we want to actively contribute to the construction of a shared ecosystem between the public and private sectors, in which digital becomes a concrete tool for sustainability. We believe that collaboration and the sharing of expertise are essential to meet the challenges of digital transformation in a sustainable way. The Foundation’s path reflects our vision: to promote digital that combines efficiency, innovation and social responsibility. Joining the network means strengthening our commitment to a development model where technology and sustainability are two complementary dimensions‘.