Digital Health: Trentino invests in skills to support the transformation of the healthcare system
In recent days, a training initiative promoted by the Province, ASUIT, FBK, and TrentinoSalute4.0 has taken place.
(Source: PAT Press Office)
The digital transformation of healthcare begins with people, their skills, and the ability of organizations to support change. With this in mind, the Autonomous Province of Trento, together with ASUIT, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, and TrentinoSalute4.0, organized an event focused on the future of healthcare innovation and the training strategies being developed across the region in line with national and European guidelines. The event took place on May 8 at the Franco Demarchi Foundation in Trento.
The initiative is part of the broader healthcare digitalization effort supported by Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and focused on one of the sector’s most pressing challenges: supporting technological evolution through a long-term investment in skills. The rapid digital transformation of the National Health Service in recent years has made it increasingly important to bridge the digital divide, foster new professional competencies, and promote a culture of innovation capable of engaging healthcare and social care professionals across the board.
During the meeting, leaders of the Trentino healthcare system strongly reaffirmed that technology alone cannot drive innovation without a parallel development of skills and organizational models. “Strengthening digital skills is now a key condition for supporting the ongoing transition,” said Andrea Ziglio, Director General of the Health Department of the Autonomous Province of Trento. “The challenge is not simply learning to use new tools, but developing the ability to rethink care processes in a more integrated, efficient, and patient-centered way, ensuring that technology becomes a concrete support for clinical decision-making and the relationship with citizens.”
The organizational dimension of change was highlighted by Rosa Magnoni, Administrative Director of ASUIT, who emphasized the role of institutions in creating favorable conditions for innovation: “Digital transformation is not simply the introduction of new tools, but the ability of organizations to support professionals through a continuous process of growth, collaboration, and learning. Our task is to create stable conditions that allow innovation to become part of everyday practice, simplifying processes, reducing administrative burdens, and concretely improving the quality of both administrative and healthcare work.”
The meeting also showcased the path developed by the Trentino system through the collaboration between the Province, ASUIT, and Fondazione Bruno Kessler, in alignment with the European and national regulatory framework presented by Lisa Leonardini, coordinator of the ProMIS Program.
“The National Strategy for Strengthening the Digital Skills of Healthcare Personnel,” Lisa Leonardini noted, “aims to build a permanent digital health education system capable of structurally supporting the transformation of the National Health Service.” The model provides for the definition of a national skills portfolio, personalized training pathways based on profession, role, and experience, and a continuous cycle of planning, implementation, and monitoring, with the goal of enabling professionals to become increasingly confident, skilled, and effective in their use of digital technologies.
The event also provided an opportunity to review ongoing projects and the results achieved so far, beginning with EUVECA, a European initiative dedicated to developing the skills of healthcare professionals, and continuing with the Skills Operational Plan under Mission 6 of the PNRR, which has already contributed to strengthening the digital capabilities of local personnel.
Particular attention was given to FormLab, the laboratory developed by ASUIT, FBK, and TrentinoSalute4.0 according to the R-ECM model, which has enabled the integration of training and clinical practice through learning-by-doing methodologies and the use of artificial intelligence tools applied to real-world cases. This ability to connect research, training, and experimentation represents one of the defining features of the “Trentino model,” a synergy that contributes both to improving the quality of services and care and to generating new knowledge, strengthening the region’s position as a center of excellence in the national and European digital health landscape.
At the end of the morning, following a final discussion involving healthcare professionals and representatives of the participating organizations, Diego Conforti, Director of the Innovation and Research Office of the Autonomous Province of Trento, who moderated the event, summarized the key themes that emerged from the debate, clearly identifying a strategic priority for the Trentino healthcare system: structurally integrating the development of digital skills into healthcare planning processes.
“The adoption of the national strategy on digital skills, already being tested in several regional contexts, represents a concrete opportunity to provide continuity and strategic direction to the experiences that Trentino has developed in recent years,” said Conforti. “Thanks to the work carried out with TrentinoSalute4.0, collaboration with the research community, and initiatives such as FormLab, we have built a valuable foundation of skills, methodologies, and experimentation that must now be fully integrated into healthcare system planning. Making this effort structural means transforming innovation from a project-based experience into a permanent driver of organizational and professional development.”
One shared conclusion emerged from the discussion: the digital transformation of healthcare can only deliver meaningful change through a long-term, system-wide vision that places professionals at the center, values their skills, and enables them to become active drivers of innovation and the continuous improvement of care quality.
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