Presentation of the FVG Digital Report 2024

The fourth edition of the annual report, created by DITEDI in collaboration with scientific partners Area Science Park (Enrico Longato, Innovation Intelligence FVG), the University of Trieste (Guido Bortoluzzi and Lorenzo Porta) and the University of Udine (Maria Chiarvesio and Martina Tomasetig), with the collaboration of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, was presented at the new P. Maurensig immersive theatre in Tavagnacco.

The FVG Digital Report 2024 entitled “Business Strategies in the Era of AI: How IT Companies Face and Change the Market” analyses and describes how the numerous small and medium-sized companies within the FVG digital landscape are creating new product and service offerings linked to Artificial Intelligence and how they use it to customise solutions that can impact their clients’ products and production processes, either independently or by using collaborative forms, including business networks, to bring this technology into the regional production fabric.

The 2024 data shows consistent and steady growth of ICT companies becoming established across the region, totalling 2,908, an increase of 2.4% compared to 2022, with a total of 2,214 companies in Friuli Venezia Giulia operating in the ICT sector, marking a 0.9% increase compared to 2022. The province of Udine represents the area of reference for regional ICT businesses, as it contains nearly half of those identified.

Corporations (1,056 entities) represent the dominant company structure, accounting for 47.7% of the total, up 1.7% since 2022. These are followed by sole proprietorships (812 entities, 36.7%), which show a more significant nominal increase, with 31 additional businesses compared to 2022.

The regional digital sector serves as a strong driver of innovation for the economy and the regional business system. In fact, the ICT sector currently includes 102 innovative startups, operating mainly in software development and representing 52% of all regional startups, demonstrating the importance of the sector in driving innovation. Other similar signs can be seen in the innovation propensity indicator, which reveals that 13% of regional ICT companies exhibit at least one sign of innovation. These companies account for 9% of all regional businesses with an objective propensity for innovation.

Alongside the analysis of economic data and the growth dynamics of the sector, with insights into creditworthiness (ratings), the report features 12 significant business cases illustrating how regional companies are integrating AI to develop products, optimise processes and expand their markets (companies represented: AI4IV, Aindo, Datamantix, Datamind, Evoseed, eXact Lab, Eye-Tech, Infostar, Motion Analytica, NT Nuove Tecnologie, Visiofy and Visup).

The FVG digital ecosystem thus appears to be growing and ready for the AI challenge, and the innovative drive not only affects products and services but also business models and relationships.

The full report is available here.