“The changes that await us in the next 10 years will be more important than the changes that have occurred in the last 30 years. They will be more disruptive in both positive and negative ways, but, because I am optimistic, I think the positive changes will be greater.” As Alec Ross, distinguished professor at Bologna Business Schoolspeak first “Modern Distribution Forum 2025 – Retail in the country’s economy. Markets, technology and society” which takes place in Milan and focuses on the future of retail between global challenges and innovation. Social change and changes in Italian consumption behavior, technological transformation and the future of the sector.
“Previously the raw material for work was earth, then iron. Now it is data – explains Ross – Ten years ago there were 15 billion devices connected to the network, today we have 75 billion. This is because we are digitalizing processes and sectors that were not traditionally considered digital. This growth will continue with the birth of mass artificial intelligence”.
In terms of digitalization, Italy must accelerate: “In terms of GDP compound growth, Italy is ranked 182nd out of 396 sovereign countries. There are various reasons, including the slow pace of digitalization, we are ranked 26th out of 27 countries in the European Union”. Finally Ross talks about artificial intelligence: “There are four types of artificial intelligence, not just generative AI and ChatGpt. In Italy we only talk about the least relevant generative intelligence. The others are: perceptive artificial intelligence that interprets images, sounds and texts, agent artificial intelligence that has the ability to think, plan and act independently, finally, physical artificial intelligence that deals with the real world, examples of which are represented by drones and autonomous vehicles”.
