The push from industry associations
The recent annual assemblies of Assolombarda and Unione Industriali di Torino, the first- and third-largest territorial associations of Confindustria, placed physical AI at the center — that is, artificial intelligence that enables machines and systems to perceive their environment, decide and act in the physical world. According to Assolombarda President Alvise Biffi, the true European AI contest is being played out in the real economy, and the goal is to be first to reach the new frontier of Physical AI by leveraging the characteristics of Italian industry. Unione Industriali di Torino President Marco Gay stressed that AI is moving off screens and into matter, and that Italy's contest is not about volume with the United States and China but about quality: robotics for complex environments, tailored solutions and intelligence embedded in products — elements that form the basis of strategic autonomy.
A solid robotics base but still-limited AI adoption
Italy is the second European country by investment in industrial robotics, and Turin ranks third among European cities. In 2025, new industrial robot installations totaled almost 25,000 in Germany, about 7,800 in Italy, 4,500 in France and 4,300 in Spain. These are largely robots that are not yet intelligent, but this base constitutes a starting point for the transition to physical AI, where Italy follows Germany but precedes the other European countries.
However, the lag in AI adoption remains. According to the latest Report on next-generation networks and services by the Institute for Competitiveness (I-Com), AI adoption among Italian SMEs doubled from 8.2% to 16.4%, but remains 3.6 points below the EU average. The gap between SMEs (15.7%) and large enterprises (53.1%) rose in 2025 to 37.4 points from 24.8 in 2024. I-Com projections indicate that, extrapolating the trend of the past five years, the adoption rate in 2030 would stall at around 27%, against a target of 60% that would be reached only in 2043 at the current pace. I-Com nonetheless hopes that the doubling observed in the last year can accelerate the path.
Manufacturing and the signs of acceleration
The manufacturing sector is among the most lagging: AI adoption in industry stands at just 17.3% in the EU and falls to 14.7% in Italy. However, interest in physical AI is growing strongly. According to a paper by Johannes Stübinger and Fabio Merz of the German University of Coburg, the number of scientific articles dedicated to Physical AI in 2025 alone is more than quadruple that of the previous four years, and the first half of 2026 has already almost doubled the entire previous year. Google searches also show an explosion of interest in 2026.
On the investment front, a report by the Mitsui & Co. Global Strategic Studies Institute estimates that venture capital in physical AI and robotics reached $26 billion in 2025, an increase of more than 80% over the previous year, and forecasts more than €65 billion in the current year. The same study identifies manufacturing as the sector most ready to adopt physical AI, driven by technological maturity and the relocation of value chains for reasons of strategic autonomy and demographic decline. It remains to be seen whether AI adoption projections for Italy will translate into real acceleration and whether public policies will be able to support demand and innovation.
