Abstract
Sostenibilità digitale come condizione dell’autonomia. Visione, dati e strategie per un digitale che non produca dipendenza
La resilienza dei sistemi digitali non è un fine: è una condizione necessaria ma non sufficiente. Un sistema può essere robusto, ridondante, continuamente operativo — e tuttavia produrre dipendenza strutturale, consumo insostenibile di risorse, cessione progressiva di autonomia decisionale. La sostenibilità digitale, nella definizione che la Fondazione propone dal suo primo Manifesto, non riguarda solo l’impatto ambientale delle infrastrutture: riguarda la capacità di governare le logiche che orientano crescita, allocazione delle risorse e traiettorie di sviluppo. Senza sovranità — tecnologica, digitale, cognitiva — quella capacità di governo non esiste: la sostenibilità resta un’aspirazione priva di leve per realizzarsi. I dati del DiSI 2026, la più ampia rilevazione mai condotta dalla Fondazione su imprese e popolazione, mostrano dove si trova oggi l’Italia su questo asse: solo il 21% delle imprese ha sviluppato una postura di sostenibilità digitale; la barriera principale non è tecnica né economica, ma cognitiva. Si misura l’adozione, non la consapevolezza; si finanziano le infrastrutture, non la capacità di governarle. L’intervento propone una lettura integrata di questi dati in chiave strategica, con l’obiettivo di identificare le condizioni — normative, culturali, istituzionali — perché la trasformazione digitale produca autonomia invece di sostituirla.
Presentazioni
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Bio
Stefano Epifani is one of Italy’s leading experts in digital transformation. Founder and President of the Digital Transformation Institute, he leads its activities with an approach that combines scientific rigour with civic engagement. A university lecturer, journalist and keynote speaker, in recent years he has taught Internet Studies at Sapienza University of Rome and Digital Sustainability at the University of Pavia. He currently teaches Artificial Intelligence for Corporate Communication. He has also taught abroad at the Grenoble École de Management in France, EAFIT University in Colombia, and the United Nations University. As a columnist, he contributes to leading Italian newspapers and magazines, including Il Sole 24 Ore, la Repubblica and Wired Italia. He has worked with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) as an expert adviser on projects related to digital transformation and sustainable urban development, collaborating with institutions, governments and research centres. He has recently published the book Il teatro delle Macchine Pensanti: 10 falsi miti sull’intelligenza Artificiale e come superarli. He is also the author of Sostenibilità Digitale: perché la sostenibilità non può fare a meno della trasformazione digitale (2020), translated into English and Spanish, with more than 15,000 copies sold. A prominent voice in the Italian debate on innovation, he is active as a speaker both in Italy and internationally, promoting a more aware, inclusive and socially responsible digital culture.
Abstract
Digital sustainability as a condition of autonomy: vision, data and strategies for a digital ecosystem that does not produce dependency
The resilience of digital systems is not an end in itself: it is a necessary but insufficient condition. A system may be robust, redundant and continuously operational, yet still generate structural dependency, unsustainable resource consumption and the gradual erosion of decision-making autonomy. Digital sustainability, as defined by the Foundation since its first Manifesto, extends beyond the environmental impact of infrastructures: it concerns the capacity to govern the logics that shape growth, resource allocation and development trajectories. Without sovereignty — technological, digital and cognitive — that governing capacity cannot exist; sustainability remains an aspiration without the means to achieve it. The findings of DiSI 2026, the most extensive survey ever conducted by the Foundation on businesses and the general population, reveal where Italy currently stands along this axis: only 21% of companies have developed a digital sustainability posture, and the main barrier is neither technical nor economic, but cognitive. Adoption is measured, awareness is not; infrastructure is funded, while the capacity to govern it is neglected. The presentation offers an integrated strategic interpretation of these findings, with the aim of identifying the regulatory, cultural and institutional conditions required for digital transformation to foster autonomy rather than replace it.
Attribuzione 4.0 Internazionale