Smart mobility and work: the transition is an environmental challenge and, at the same time, a matter of industrial, employment and social policy
PRESS RELEASE
Smart mobility and work: the transition is an environmental challenge and, at the same time, a matter of industrial, employment and social policy
Smart mobility cannot be regarded merely as the introduction of digital technologies into transport. Its development marks a paradigm shift affecting four dimensions: technological, environmental, behavioural and institutional-organisational. For Italy in particular, the transition towards sustainable, connected and digital mobility is an environmental challenge and, at the same time, a matter of industrial, employment and social policy. These are some of the findings of the study carried out by Eurispes, entitled “Smart mobility e trasformazione del lavoro. Impatto economico ed occupazionale in Italia” (Smart mobility and the transformation of work: economic and employment impact in Italy).
Competition in electric vehicles involves the entire ecosystem: batteries, semiconductors, charging networks, software and energy supply chains. China is the world’s largest car market, with more than 25 million registrations a year, and holds over 50% of global patents on lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries. In 2023, more than 22% of the electric cars sold in Europe were built in China. In Europe, transport accounts for around a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions. To address this situation, the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, presented in December 2020, is built around three pillars: sustainability, smart mobility, and resilience and competitiveness. The question of the competitive resilience of the European production system nevertheless remains open, with the risk of an “asymmetric green transition”.
With 45.4 million vehicles and 674 vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants, Italy remains a highly motorised country. The private car accounts for more than 63% of daily journeys and around 75% of kilometres travelled. Since the pandemic, however, mobility has changed: the average number of daily journeys per capita fell from 2.55 to 2.41 between 2019 and 2024, and active mobility has exceeded 21% of the total. In 2024 there were just over 3.5 million remote workers, compared with 570,000 in 2019.
The opportunities are significant. Components for electric and hybrid vehicles alone could generate around €20 billion in additional turnover and more than 45,000 new skilled jobs by 2030. As at 30 June 2025, there were 67,561 public charging points in Italy (up 19% on 2024). The transport, automotive and related digital services sector is worth around €220 billion, equivalent to 11% of GDP, and employs more than 3 million people.
The other side of the coin is the skills mismatch. Sustainable mobility is short of around 45,000 skilled workers. In Europe, 35% of current skills in the automotive industry will be obsolete within ten years, and 40% of emerging job profiles are not matched by adequate training provision. While large companies are tackling the problem by setting up in-house academies offering specialised training courses, small and medium-sized enterprises lack the resources needed to retrain their staff quickly. It should also be borne in mind that the gap between the North and the Mezzogiorno, Italy’s South, remains wide.
Innovation does not automatically bring inclusion; on the contrary, it very often fuels new vulnerabilities. The groups most exposed include older people, those living in inland and rural areas, and low-income workers, who are at risk of “mobility poverty”. Suffice it to say that 25% of the adult population does not use mobility apps or online services and 16% does not own a smartphone.
The Eurispes study also identifies Italian and European case studies, among them Turin (ToMove, €280 million in NRRP funding), Bologna (Climate City Contract, more than €450 million from the NRRP) and Milan (MaaS and integrated fares), which demonstrate the decisive role of public governance and of cooperation between institutions, businesses and research. Comparison with Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark shows that there is no single European model: industrial policy, data governance, fiscal instruments and vocational retraining can be combined in different configurations. What the most advanced experiences have in common is the ability to approach mobility as an ecosystem, moving beyond sector-specific and fragmented measures.
The challenge. Smart mobility can be a lever for competitiveness, sustainability and social cohesion only if technological innovation, industrial policy, training and inclusion advance in a coordinated manner. The success of the transition will depend not only on the speed with which new technologies are introduced, but also on the ability of the country as a whole to manage their economic and social effects and to distribute the resulting opportunities fairly.
