Rome, March 2021 – The new Research Report from the Rome Business School – Research Center explores the dynamics of E- Commerce and Industry 4.0. The report has been curated by Valerio Mancini, director of the RBS Research Center and Josuè Prezioso, Researcher and Professor of Law and Economics of Cultural Industries @RBS.
The industrial sector is experiencing a great process of transformation, due to the technological innovation, which is revolutionizing the ways of production of large, medium-sized and small companies. This is the so-called Industry 4.0, or what is defined as the “4th industrial revolution“. A real evolution of economy, in which the production, commercial and logistics systems, integrated with the enormous amount of digital available datas, give life to a new, more efficient and effective production system based on automation and interconnection.
The research report highlights the enormous potential of the “Industrial Revolution 4.0” and, in particular, the unstoppable expansion of e-commerce. The study also analyzes Italy’s performance in the climb to the digital economy, in particular from the point of view of supply chain. In our country, companies with an online presence are increasing, but they are still relatively few compared to most of the European partners. Moreover, the percentage of companies that sell the product directly to a B2C clientele, which is still rather limited is penalized by a lack of confidence in online transactions and the lack of specific know-how.
Last but not least the report aims to analyze the main professional opportunities coming from digital commerce, with a specific analysis on the evolution of some specific sectors today, in an era signed by the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit and the expansion of Artificial Intelligence.
A specific focus is given to the online market of Arts: aesthetic, generational, economic and technological evolutions of a sensitive market that provides a multidisciplinary case study to understand the birth, evolution and trend of market-network hybridization on a global scale. In this regard, it is worth underlining how the technological development underway has ushered in a new era for digital artists and sees creatives, often unknown outside their niche, rise to the headlines, who in a short time have reached dizzying prices in the world equal to the most famous names in contemporary art.
The fourth industrial revolution
Industry 4.0 is a process that stems from the fourth industrial revolution and is leading to a completely automated and interconnected type of production. The new digital technologies will have a profound impact in the context of four development guidelines: the first concerns the use of data, computing power and connectivity, and is divided into Big Data, Open Data, Internet of Things, machine – to – machine and cloud computing for the centralization of information and their conservation …
The digital economy in Italy
In Italy the new technologies revolution has been fundamental to face the Covid19 pandemic. In February 2021, the new Prime Minister Mario Draghi expressed the need to “extend and make a national plan of Transition 4.0 easily usable to accompany companies in the process of technological innovation and environmental sustainability”. In this context, however, it is important to underline that the online commerce, is still representing a challenge in Italy but despite this, it would favor a fast access of small business to international markets, reducing costs with positive effects on competitiveness and propensity to export.
The future of work is increasingly digital
Over 80% of business executives are accelerating plans to digitize internal work processes and implement new technologies; 50% of employers expect to increase the levels of automation of some roles within their companies. 97 million new positions will arise in the assistance economy and in the technological industries of the fourth industrial revolution, such as artificial intelligence. The most relevant skills that employers consider to be on the rise between now and 2025 include critical thinking and analysis as well as transversal competences such as problem solving, self-management, active learning, resilience, stress management and flexibility.
Annus Horribilis? Ecommerce between Brexit, COVID and Artificial Intelligence
In 2018, the most famous auction house in the world, Christie’s sells for the first time in history, a made in Italy piece realized entirely through artificial intelligence (AI). The price is $ 432,500 and its manufacturers, along with new start-ups around the world, lights up the candle in the industry. It is January 31, 2020, after forty-seven years of exchanges and months of intense negotiations, the United Kingdom officially leaves the European Union. Finally, in February 2020, in a confusing and still being defined way, the COVID-19 pandemic breaks out in the world.
The online art market: young, (more) secure, growing and feared
The research highlights, through recent data, that the online art market is more than positive and profitable. From the 1.507 million dollars generated in 2013, it has triplicated the revenues reaching 4.636 after five years. As for other markets, 2019 points its thumbs down and sees a loss of 2%, which, however, compared to the 5% losses of the more general (non-online) art market, is more effective in cushioning the slowdowns. This is what the online art market used to look like before the COVID19 era: in explosive growth until 2018, slowing down in 2019, but nevertheless more ready now to cross downward trends.
Blockchain, Crypto Art and new purchasing models the future of the art market is today.
If on the one hand the network and technology represent a limit of trust and entry for users of the online art market, on the other hand it is the same, the network, that offers concrete solutions to break down the limits. The solution – among others – is called “blockchain,” literally ‘chain of blocks,’ a sophisticated yet elementary system, according to which, to a given lot, an encrypted identification code (hash) is associated – which, in addition to lot itself, includes information about size, buyer history, dates and sales figures…
Read more on the Report:
E-commerce and industry 4.0 between Brexit. COVID and Artificial intelligence.
