“Sperimentazione Italia” was the first Italian sandbox in Italy, therefore it was unique in its kind at national level. Moreover some of its features are arousing interest in the international community. Two of the peculiarities of Sperimentazione Italia are the horizontal approach of the sandbox and the clear timeline for proposing law amendments (90 days after the positive certification of the experimentation report).

“Sperimentazione Italia” is active and fully operational in promoting at the national and international level the possibilities to experiment innovation in derogation of existing regulations. The Welcome Office plays a crucial role in anticipating potential applications and activate early interactions with the right government bodies. Among the innovations we are supporting with the sandbox, we could mention the experimentation of a fleet of shuttles in Turin and the experimentation of a fleet of droins in Milan for the last mile delivery.

A potential evolution that the horizontal sandbox could enable is the concept of “sandbox as a service”. Potentially an horizontal sandbox could serve all the government bodies, reducing the cost of replicating the model, the time to market and it could promote stricter collaborations between national government bodies on innovation matters. This is in line with the above mentioned principle that boundaries between industry sectors are blurring.

“Sperimentazione Italia” involves the Department for Digital Transformation, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transportation (on aspects related to roadway traffic safety). Other government agencies can be involved in the activities according to the reference sectors of applicants.

• Innovators: companies, universities, research bodies, startups and spin-offs that have technology obstructed by law.
• Local authorities: they could be involved in the authorization process, promotion and facilitation of the experimentation.
• Citizen: often involved in the experimentation phase, for example they could be passengers of the autonomous shuttles.
• Innovation ecosystem: the experimentations enable a real environment test that brings together all the stakeholders and foster innovation.

The initiative is constantly evolving both in terms of openness and involvement of other institutions. Much has also been done to improve the innovator experience. For example, the Welcome Office set up a tool that aims to dialogue and support innovators in the preliminary phase of the application, also promoting a dialogue with the competent ministries.

Sperimentazione Italia has received many requests for experimentation, and others in the process of submission. Currently, the main sector of requested experimentation is mobility. Two concrete examples of ongoing trials are:

• GTT (Gruppo Torinese Trasporti): they are experimenting a self driving fleet of shuttles,
• Yape: the company is experimenting a self-driving droid for more efficient and sustainable last mile deliveries.

We expect in the future to expand the requests for regulatory derogations both in terms of quantity and sectors, promoting a collaborative and synergistic approach with the various administrations.

The main challenges of Sperimentazione Italia are of two kinds, and mainly related to governance. First of all, the initiative requires close collaboration between the ministries involved. Therefore, in the initial phase it was necessary to design all the processes and activities that each administration must carry out. This type of activity certainly paved the way for greater openness and collaboration between administrations in the field of innovation.

Secondly, the support of other ministries is always necessary, both for the need to involve them in the potential legislative amendment proposal, and for identifying the obstacles of the regulations in force through specific consultations and research. Therefore, a lot of actions have been made to enhance the engagement and collaboration on innovation matters with other Ministries.

In order to increase the probability of success of these initiatives, in addition to a political commitment, it is necessary to understand that the sandbox should have a clear process and timeline for both the experimentation phase and the legislative proposal phase. Furthermore, it is essential to regulate the collaboration, responsibilities and supervisory activities between the various administrations.

As boundaries between industry sectors continue to blur, joined programs and initiatives between public administrations are strategic and relevant to foster innovation. Finally, the establishment of a Welcome Office has improved the quality of applications and the success rate. In fact, the Welcome Office is helping innovators in navigating the complex national legal framework, and in identifying the law constraints.

“Sperimentazione Italia” was the first active sandbox in Italy. Subsequently the Fintech sandbox was also launched and the Civil Aviation regulatory body is preparing a regulatory sandbox that, in some aspects, could also create synergies with Sperimentazione Italia.

Recalling the success factors in the previous session:

• It is essential to create clear rules of collaboration and open channels between people working in the field of innovation among the various Ministries if you have an horizontal sandbox;
• It is very important to have a Welcome Office in order to detect innovation opportunities and law constraints;
• It is important to have a clear timeline for proposing law amendments in order not only to experiment, but to change the rules and unlock the market potential.