Job Digital Lab in Perugia with the Chamber of Commerce and Punto Impresa Digitale
With over 90,000 active businesses in the region, 56.2% of which are sole proprietorships, Umbria remains a region with a strong entrepreneurial spirit. However, during 2024, there was a 2% decline in the total number of active companies, equal to 1,573 fewer businesses than the previous year, ranking third in terms of decline at national level.
In terms of innovation, the gap with the rest of the country remains evident: between 2019 and 2023, investment in intangible assets by Umbrian companies (including training, digital technologies and software) grew by 34.1%, compared to a national average of 39.8%, with a further decline in 2023 (Umbria Chamber of Commerce data).
In a context where micro and small businesses represent the majority of the local productive fabric, supporting the digital transition and promoting cybersecurity becomes a priority to ensure growth and competitiveness.
The training event
It is in this context that Job Digital Lab, the programme promoted by Fondazione Mondo Digitale ETS and ING Italia to develop and enhance digital skills, arrived yesterday in Perugia with a training event dedicated to the new frontiers of digital innovation for small and medium-sized enterprises, in collaboration with the Umbria Chamber of Commerce and the Punto di Impresa Digitale.
The training session, entitled “Innovating safely: Generative AI and Cybersecurity for the future of businesses”, was dedicated to generative artificial intelligence for small and medium-sized enterprises as a tool for improving productivity, customer service and communication, without losing sight of data security and the protection of company information. A successful local entrepreneur, Giacomo Paolo Barnocchi of www.edotto.com, then told his story as a source of inspiration and role model.
ING's “People Insight Lab” research to understand the motivation and needs of freelancers
In order to identify changes in the world of work and its needs, it is also necessary to look at the growing number of professionals with VAT numbers: according to data from the VAT Number Observatory of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, in the first quarter of 2025, 187,300 VAT numbers were opened, an increase, albeit slight (0.7%), compared to the same period in 2024.
To learn more about the expectations and needs of freelancers, at the beginning of the meeting, Filippo Stefanelli, Head of Brand, Marketing & Communications, ING Italia, presented the new ING “People Insight Lab” survey, carried out in collaboration with YouGov, which captured the challenges, motivations and moods of VAT-registered professionals in Italy.
It is a mature professional world, with 48% having started their own business more than ten years ago, but one that is undergoing significant change, where the drive towards autonomy coexists with structural obstacles and daily tensions.
Among the data that emerged:
- Only 1 in 3 self-employed people would recommend others to register for VAT today, due to bureaucracy and complexity.
- Fifty-three per cent started their business out of necessity, but the number of those who did so to find a new job or greater professional freedom is growing.
- Economic uncertainty (57%) and tax pressure are among the main sources of anxiety (48%).
- Yet 49% continue to maintain a positive attitude towards their future.
This picture highlights how essential training, simplification and practical digital tools are today to support self-employed people who want to grow.
The Job Digital Lab project
After training over 31,000 people in more than 170 training sessions between 2020 and 2024, the fifth edition of Job Digital Lab is renewing its mission by offering a training programme that not only enables people to get back into the world of work, but also feel secure in a constantly evolving m
