by Maximiliano Crocamo
Artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly important part of Italy’s business landscape, but experts say its success will depend less on access to the technology than on companies’ ability to integrate it into their day-to-day operations.
That was the message at “L’AI entra in azienda: strumenti e risorse per le PMI” (“AI Comes to Business: Tools and Resources for SMEs”), an event held in Trieste on July 2 by A2A and Confindustria Alto Adriatico. The meeting marked the third stop of a seven-city national roadshow aimed at helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) adopt artificial intelligence. The initiative will continue across Italy through November 2026.
Opening the event, Confindustria Alto Adriatico President Michelangelo Agrusti said that artificial intelligence represents a strategic opportunity for businesses, provided it is accompanied by the skills needed to use it effectively.
“Competitiveness will not depend on the simple availability of artificial intelligence, but on the ability to govern it and integrate it into production and organisational processes,” Agrusti said, highlighting Friuli Venezia Giulia’s network of businesses, research centres, educational institutions and public bodies as a competitive advantage.
A2A Vice President Flavio Pasotti described AI adoption as both a technological and cultural challenge, noting that relatively few Italian SMEs have so far integrated artificial intelligence into their operations.
“We decided to promote these meetings by making the expertise developed in our sector available,” Pasotti said, describing the roadshow as a way to bridge that gap and help companies understand the practical applications of AI.
The event also introduced a new training programme developed by LEF and Polo Tecnologico Alto Adriatico, based on the recently published UNI 11621-8:2026 standard. Issued in April by Italy’s national standards organisation, the framework is the first in Europe to define professional roles in artificial intelligence, outlining 12 AI-related positions—from Chief AI Officer to AI Research Scientist—along with their required skills, responsibilities and certification pathways.
The standard supports Article 4 of the European Union’s AI Act, which requires organisations developing or deploying AI systems to ensure employees have adequate AI literacy.
LEF General Manager Marco Olivotto and Polo Tecnologico Alto Adriatico Director Franco Scolari presented what they described as Italy’s first training programme designed to prepare professionals for certification under the new standard.
The conference also featured presentations by Gianluca Fabbri of Luiss Business School, while Alice Guerini, Head of AI Factory at A2A Life Ventures, delivered the closing remarks, focusing on how businesses can turn artificial intelligence from an emerging technology into a practical tool for growth and innovation.
