Support for Digital Transformation of Public Administration
Leonardo and Microsoft are joining forces and know-how to address Italy’s digital development in innovation and cyber security, the companies announced on 26 May. They will continue developing new solutions for the digital transformation of public administration, as well as for critical national infrastructure, focusing on data protection and advanced, cloud-based technologies.
Included under the agreement is development of key elements of Italy’s Polo Strategico Nazionale (PSN – National Strategic Hub), which will manage technologies enabling the most critical services. Based on future government requirements, the joint initiative could be extended to all Italian mission-critical infrastructure.
The partnership will combine Leonardo’s experience in cybersecurity and in public sector markets with Microsoft’s advanced know-how and cloud-based technologies and solutions, widely used in both public and private sectors. The only Italian multinational company leading key strategic technologies for national security, Leonardo will act as system integrator and be responsible for cybersecurity services, digital transformation and public sector data centre consolidation programmes. Microsoft will offer the technological platforms and cloud services used today by thousands of companies and public organizations for their digital transformation projects. The partnership also includes activities related to High Performance Computing (HPC) in cloud solutions, in both the application and architecture areas, focusing particularly on the digital transformation of national health.
“With this partnership, Leonardo strengthens its contribution to the institutions within Italy’s relaunch journey, putting its skills and innovative technologies at the service of a widespread and inclusive digitalisation of the country’s essential services […] Our commitment, enriched by the most advanced technological capabilities offered by Microsoft, consolidates Leonardo’s role as a leading reference for the protection and inviolability of Italians and public administration’s data, in the name of national sovereignty, a fundamental requirement to support digital citizenship and open government,” commented Leonardo CEO, Alessandro Profumo.
“With this collaboration, we’re adding another milestone in the long-term partnership with Leonardo. We’re committed to sustain the country’s recovery, defining new resources and technological platforms to support the innovation of the public sector and critical services, by heading towards the utmost security of services and data […] We have always been committed in promoting collaboration with key market players, merging expertise and solutions to enhance new digital transformation scenarios, especially in the public sector, a key lever for Italian growth,” added Silvia Candiani, General Manager of Microsoft Italy.
In its strategic plan, Be Tomorrow 2030, Leonardo has identified digital innovation as a key growth asset over the next ten years, combining a vision of sustainable development with the objective of generating new technologies and applications. A year ago, Microsoft kicked off a five-year investment plan for Italy, confirming its commitment to support Italian innovation and growth and launching the first Microsoft Data Centre Region in Italy. The ‘Ambizione Italia #DigitalRestart’ plan creates new opportunities to empower people and organisations, and to support economic development, through access to local cloud services, digital education programmes and support for smart working. The initiative enhances the development and adoption by companies of AI solutions, and fosters digital transition themes through a Sustainability Alliance, creating an open innovation ecosystem focused on green topics.
