The Regional Council approves the Law on Open Innovation and Artificial Intelligence

The Regional Council approves the Law on Open Innovation and Artificial Intelligence

The Regional Council has approved the Bill on "Promotion Measures for Open Innovation and Artificial Intelligence."

The bill contains thirteen articles to support the development and technological innovation of the regional production system, promote collaboration between businesses and the external environment, particularly startups, universities, research organizations, and other institutions, and create synergies that accelerate and improve production processes. Puglia is one of the first Italian regions to legislate on Artificial Intelligence, within its scope of competence and in accordance with EU Regulation 2024/1689. The bill outlines guidelines for action and potential support initiatives for public administrations, businesses—with particular reference to the micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises that characterize the regional ecosystem—and individual citizens.

On the one hand, therefore, an Open Innovation platform in Puglia, which fosters the exchange of knowledge between production and research stakeholders and stimulates the convergence of innovation demand and innovation supply; on the other, Artificial Intelligence as a tool capable of facilitating the adoption of innovative practices and solutions.

"The development of innovation depends on Open Innovation," stated Alessandro Delli Noci, Councilor for Economic Development, "which is also a new paradigm, a way of conceiving research and development activities in the information and globalization era based on openness to external resources, participation, and collaboration between stakeholders. Strengthening this virtuous cycle and the exchange of knowledge and skills between different stakeholders—startups, innovators, digital nomads, students, universities, businesses, technology districts, and research centers—is one of the objectives of this Law, which aims to foster encounters and cross-fertilization, and to enable economic and employment development through the exchange of ideas. Puglia is also one of the first Italian regions to legislate on Artificial Intelligence, in accordance with the European regulatory framework, in order to manage the challenges of the future and avoid being overwhelmed by them. The Law also provides for the promotion of initiatives to support facilitation programs for all citizens, so that Puglia as a whole is ready to face this challenge with awareness." already underway.”

“At the end of May,” Delli Noci continues, “we will hold a first event on innovation, where we will seek to give life and shape to open innovation by connecting startuppers with established companies, research centers, universities, and so on. We believe that only through openness to participation and the circulation of ideas and resources can we design a competitive and sustainable Apulian development model, capable of leveraging regional talent and expertise, but with a global and international perspective. All of this is in line with the regional development strategy “Mareasinistra,” aimed at attracting the best creative and technological talent internationally. The primary goal is to develop, engage, and collaborate with students, digital nomads, startuppers, returning Apulians, new investors, top scientists, and artists in highly innovative sectors.”

Among the actions envisaged by the Law are the three-year strategic agenda for open innovation, which identifies the areas and priorities for regional intervention to promote its diffusion throughout Puglia. It also includes the Digital Innovation Platform, an online tool designed to facilitate and stimulate relationships between all innovation process actors (businesses, universities and research centers, technical and technical institutions, public administrations, the non-profit sector, citizens, and any other stakeholders) who wish to play an active role in process and product research and development policies. The platform will serve as a meeting place for innovation demands from large companies, public administrations, and other institutions or organizations, and solutions from innovators, small and medium-sized enterprises, startups, and spin-offs. It will also serve as a showcase for innovation proposals, new products, and innovative services from the ecosystem. It will also serve as an environment for cooperative work, support for research and innovation projects, and the management of working groups.

The establishment of territorial Open Innovation Hubs is also envisaged, innovation centres intended to host high-tech activities, also in the form of "experience centres", with the aim of promoting knowledge and technology transfer to the production system, through the creation of digital manufacturing laboratories, incubation paths and other support services the development of entrepreneurial ideas.

To accelerate innovation processes through dialogue and collaboration among all stakeholders, this Law also provides for the creation of calls for proposals—one of which, the "Fabisogni" call, is already active—for startups, SMEs, associations, professionals, or even individuals, to promote innovative ideas and solutions in specific market sectors.

Finally, the Regional Competence Center for Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration will be responsible for defining the strategy and interventions regarding artificial intelligence in regional public administration, investigating, monitoring, and evaluating all implications (ethical, regulatory, infrastructural, economic) and the sustainability of applications, systems, and tools.