ITALIAN AUTHORITIES WILL ALLOCATE 1 BILLION EUROS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF BLOCKCHAIN, AI AND VR

Deputy Prime Minister of Italy said that the government will allocate 1 billion euros to support startups working in the areas of blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), as well as virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR). According to the official, the volume of investment in innovation in Italy is at a low level.

The venture capital fund for startups will receive funding in the amount of 1 billion euros and will begin work in February 2019. This is with reference to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of economic development Luigi Di Maio, local media reported.

Di Maio noted that the government intends to help the participants of the Italian market to develop the directions of blockchain, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR).

It is noted that the venture capital fund will unite all state programs to support innovation.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio noted that the level of investment in startups in Italy is at a low level — 130 million euros per year, while in France this figure is about 3 billion euros.

Note that in October, the President of the World Bank Jim Yong Kim said that the technology of the distributed register has “great potential”.

In turn, recently, the President of German financial regulator Felix Hufeld said that the German authorities, together with the representatives of other European Union countries, are developing a legal framework for the ICO procedure.