Microsoft Announces $1.5 Billion Investment Plan to Accelerate Digital Transformation in Italy

Microsoft announced a $1.5 billion, five-year investment plan in Italy, marking a significant commitment to support local innovation and growth, including the intent to bring Microsoft’s first datacenter region to the country.

The plan “Ambizione Italia #DigitalRestart” builds on the strategic initiative “Ambizione Italia“ launched in 2018 and will create new opportunities by empowering people and organizations and supporting economic growth. Microsoft will deliver access to local cloud services, expand its partnership with Poste Italiane, launch digital skilling and smart-working programs, accelerate business’ restart by providing access to AI Hubs and programs for SMBs, as well as support the country by launching a Sustainability Alliance.

Microsoft’s investments in Italy span a 35-plus-year history with more than 10,000 partners and 350,000 professionals. The plan marks a major milestone toward delivering its enterprise-grade cloud services globally, totalling 61 regions announced, with Microsoft Azure available in over 140 countries.

Jean-Philippe Courtois

“I am proud to announce our $1.5 billion investment plan for Italy. This plan will support those working across the country to sustain and rebuild businesses, to explore new entrepreneurial opportunities and help solve some of the country’s most difficult challenges, all while meeting critical security and compliance needs. We see enormous potential to accelerate innovation within the national ecosystem through cloud services, AI and digital skilling. Our mission is to empower the people and organizations of Italy to achieve more,”

said Jean-Philippe Courtois, executive vice president and president, Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations.

Giuseppe Conte

“Once again, Italy is confirmed to be a hub for attracting investment, innovation and development. The ‘Ambizione Italia #DigitalRestart’ plan will help accelerate the digital transformation of our country. Microsoft’s initiative, with cloud services and digital smart-working programs dedicated to small and medium-sized enterprises, will certainly help Italy move even faster in this direction. The new Sustainability Alliance that Microsoft aims to bring is also of utmost importance to the national Green New Deal,”

said Giuseppe Conte, prime minister of Italy.

Paola Pisano

“We need to orient the country toward digital and technological transformation by addressing three challenges: digitalization, innovation and ethical and sustainable development,”

stated Paola Pisano, minister, Technological Innovation and Digitalization.

“Artificial Intelligence presents a real and tangible opportunity to revolutionize our country, and we have a duty to invest and play a leading role in its development, to ensure we don’t fall behind. This means designing, developing and experimenting with artificial intelligence solutions and applying them to administrative processes and production processes, to assess and correctly address their potential impact on society.”

Expanding technology partnership with Poste Italiane and bringing Microsoft’s cloud to Italy

Microsoft and Poste Italiane, the largest service distribution network in Italy, are extending their partnership to foster innovation among developers, startups, enterprises and public administration. The two companies will launch a joint plan to develop a new digital skilling project for the Poste Italiane workforce and a joint initiative for skilling in the country. Poste Italiane will also accelerate its own digital transformation with the latest Microsoft solutions.

Matteo Del Fante

“We’re going to play an important role in Italy’s digital transformation and future development. The strengthened collaboration with Microsoft is aligned with our Deliver 2022 strategic plan. By leveraging advanced cloud services, we can empower public and private companies to innovate, providing greater opportunity for the country’s growth,”

said Matteo Del Fante, CEO and GM, Poste Italiane.

The new datacenter region in Milan will provide companies with access to Microsoft’s enterprise-grade cloud services.

Featured image credit: Unsplash