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HIGHLIGHT OF THE MONTH
RICS: The Growth Opportunities and Critical Issues of the Italian Infrastructure Market edited by RICS London - UK
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I
nfrastructure gap, cost beneȴt analysis, and public or private dilemma:
illimity Bank CEO Corrado Passera stated: “Infrastructure is a fundamental
infrastructure is a topic of daily debate in Italy. The state of the art, the
factor of productivity and growth, and therefore of employment, in every
future, and the possible tools to identify shared metrics that can facilitate
country. Italy must make up for its delay. In order to do so, various actions
the recovery and development of the sector were some of the themes
are needed: eliminating unnecessary red tape (gold-plating), discouraging
addressed during the annual RICS conference, held at the premises of
spurious appeals, reducing the resistance of aected communities
Triennale Milano on July, 11.
(NIMBY eect), and promoting adequate upstream involvement (débat publique). The most eective model for strategic infrastructure (or
The event was an occasion for discussing and exploring the growth
essential facilities) is the one implemented by Terna and SNAM, which
potential of the Italian infrastructure market, which is often the subject
should also be applied to telecommunications networks and the rail
of the national public debate. Experts and institutional representatives
network. We need a massive European infrastructure investment plan,
attended the conference. In particular, the debate was animated
funded jointly by all EU member states.”
by Gabriele Buia, President of ANCE (Italy’s National Association of
Another challenge faced by the infrastructure sector is the demographic
Construction Builders); Corrado Passera, the Minister of Infrastructure
expansion of the planet. The world population is expected to exceed 9
and Transport of the Monti Cabinet and the CEO of illimity Bank;
billion people in 2050. It is estimated that over the next 40 years more
National Infrastructure Observatory President Stefano Cianciotta; Marco
will be built than has been the case so far. Therefore, it is essential to
Daviddi, fellow of RICS and a partner of EY as the Mediterranean Leader
immediately start creating a regulated, ethical, and sustainable market
– Transaction Advisory Service; and Umberto Regalia, a Local Public
respecting individuals and the environment.
Transport Agency Past-President.
“Together with other European stakeholders in the building sector
They talked about the undergoing changes in the sector due to the
(European Construction Forum), on June, 12 RICS presented a joint
advent of new technologies, such as Analytics and Big Data, Internet of
initiative to outline the future of the construction sector in Europe: a new
Things, and Artiȴcial Intelligence. This evolution is actually aecting the
normative framework called EU Construction 2050,” said Daniele Levi
design, building, operation, and maintenance of infrastructure and it
Formiggini, Chairman of RICS in Italy. “The role of RICS in this venture will
is calling for new skills and new job roles. Italy seems to be reacting to
be crucial, in particular for the implementation in Europe of international
these developments more slowly and it ranks last compared to France,
standards, such as the International Cost Measurement Standard (ICMS),
Germany, Spain, and the UK (source: EY study Digital in Infrastructure).
which promote globally shared metrics for the assessment, classiȴcation,
EY Mediterranean Leader – Transaction Advisory Service Marco Daviddi,
and cost analysis of major works.”
said: “Connectivity concerns networks and the ȵow of people, goods,
ANCE President Gabriele Buia added: “Infrastructure is useful for
services, data, and capital. All this requires infrastructure in its broadest
the social well-being of the community. ANCE is striving to remove
sense. Without adequate digitalisation, physical infrastructure will have
all bureaucratic obstacles that hinder the expenditure of resources
and create a very limited value. Through the digitalisation resulting from
and lengthen the time required for work completion. In order to be
advances in cloud computing, big data analysis, artiȴcial intelligence, and
competitive, we must be able to carry out the works on time and with the
machine learning, infrastructure can be increasingly eɝcient, ȵexible,
right costs.” ‹
and connected. This can guarantee the rationalisation of Italy’s currently ineɝcient infrastructure system. Rationalisation and identiȴcation of priorities are two complementary aspects. In this country, still with a limited degree of digital penetration, this can be an exceptional opportunity to boost competitiveness.” As a conȴrmation of the low impact of technologies on its territory, Italy ranks 25th out of 28 countries, ahead only of Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania, in the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), assessing the digitalisation level of EU member states.
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