In the era of Covid, 34% of Italians discovered online shopping during the lockdown period for non-essential goods and 32% discovered e-banking

We have all noticed this. But everyone. In the era of Covid-19, technology has become a valuable ally, as demonstrated by the significant push towards digitalization. But it is already time for a new perspective, as emerged from the data of the study that Deloitte presented at theInnovation Summit 2020. The research, carried out on a sample of over 6,000 Italian and European citizens,revealed that the innovation we have known so far – exponential, centered on technological performance rather than on the ability to be useful for people – is useful but improvable.

The innovation of the future must be guided by an approach that puts man at the center of innovation processes.

More in detail, with the covid-19 crisis, many Italians are changing their behavior, experimenting with new digital solutions, as emerges from the numbers of the study: innovation has been perceived, and continues to be, as a support for everyday life. The trend is certified by several data: 59% of pensioners have understood, following the health emergency, that digital innovations are not difficult to use and 87% of Italians are comfortable using digital technologies:this is a figure higher than the United Kingdom and France, where the percentage is 77%.

In addition, if innovation has helped to manage an unexpected crisis situation, also enabling structural changes, it has also emerged that it is hindered in its functioning by some infrastructural gaps. During the lockdown, the most deficient factors wereaccess to fast connectivity (according to 50%) and digital accessibility of school services (49%). In third place (46%) is the sharing of data between healthcare facilities. In addition, 44% of Italians believe that the population monitoring systems set up to contain the contagion must be improved.

Finally, the current crisis has brought out several areas on which it is necessary to intervene quickly to cope with the health emergency in our country. Among all, Health & Wellness is among those that most need to be rethought in an anthropocentric perspective. At present, for example, 38% of Italians believe that waiting times related to health services are too long, while 43% would like research and innovation in the next five years to focus on developing faster and more effective care.

According to the study, 9 out of 10 Italians recognize the importance of innovation and research in the field of health and well-being,both to continue to manage more efficiently the health needs of all time (eg care of the chronically ill), and to respond to new needs and new challenges (eg telemedicine, telematic acceptance and remote monitoring).

However, only 6% believe that the level of innovation and research in the field of health and well-being in Italy is excellent (compared to 16% at European level).

“If on the one hand digital innovation has been able to help us in the emergency and to evolve our behaviors by managing the crisis, on the other it is also evident that a more conscious and out-of-fashion approach of innovation driven only by trends and technology performance is necessary.

To better understand the potential and value that innovation can provide us, it is necessary to read it through a new perspective, which we can define as anthropocentric, which therefore puts man at the center in all its dimensions”, comments Andrea Poggi, Innovation Leader Deloitte North South Europe.