The complex model of the Italian sports system sees at its top the CONI (Italian National Olympic Committee), an emanation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Confederation of National Sports Federations, which also acts as a public body responsible for the organization and strengthening of national sport and the promotion of the maximum diffusion of sporting practice. CONI operates under the supervision of the Sports Department of the Council of Ministers and with the operational support of the public company Sport e salute S.p.A.

The health crisis of the last two years has shown how important it is, even in the world of sport, to experiment with more flexible organizational models, to find new forms of fruition and offer of activities, essentially causing a strong acceleration in the process of innovation and digitalization for years in place in the world of sport as in the rest of society.

According to the “Sport e salute” survey on the impacts of the Covid-19 health emergency on the sports sector, carried out in collaboration with SWG between 14 and 25 July 2020 with the involvement of 2,546 Italian sports organizations, digital skills are among the top three skills to be strengthened to overcome the crisis. International reports also tell us that some of the most in-demand professionals in the coming years will be linked to the field of technology and innovation such as data analysts, artificial intelligence and machine learning experts and digital transformation specialists. This trend will also affect the sports industry which will necessarily have to engage in an evolutionary process.

On this front it is therefore necessary a common commitment of sports organizations in synergy with academic research and the business world. Therefore, initiatives such as the Digital Innovation Observatories of the Politecnico di Milano or the National Digital and Sport Observatory set up by Assosport (National Association of Sporting Goods Manufacturers) and the Digital enterprise Lab of the

Ca' Foscari University of Venice, which allow to periodically photograph the state of "digital maturity" on issues such as digital strategies, fan experience management, performance measurement and the role of startups.

With regard to CONI, the point of reference for the Technical Departments and Study Centers of the National Sports Federations is its School of Sports which offers a continuous training offer for technicians and managers constantly in line with the transformations taking place.

We can mention, because they are particularly in line with the needs of the Digi-Sporting project, the "Innovation & Digital Transformation in Sports Management" course, which took place in 2021 with the participation of national and international experts, divided into the following eight modules:

- Business principles and future trends in the sports sector

- The digital transformation in the sports world

- Digital business strategies

- New media: tools, actors and technologies

- Fans, sponsors and technology

- Innovations in operational sports activities

- Innovation strategy in sport

- E-sports and new channels

And the very recent "Data Analyst: Numbers and performance: collection and monitoring", created in collaboration with the Digital Innovation Observatory in the Sports Industry, Politecnico di Milano, divided into three modules with the following content:

The data behind the strategies: measurement

- The data revolution in the knowledge society: The role and skills of the Data

- Analyst in the era of Big data.

- Collecting data: research and data mining methods and techniques.

- Manage data: select, verify and organize information.

- Making the data talk: the contribution of statistics and the main methods of analysis.

- The numbers in the sports and health sectors: orienting oneself between sources, recognizing limits and developing information potential.

- Applying the data: how to exploit existing information at the service of the professions in the world of sport and health.

Sharing, communication and cloud computing

- Risks and opportunities in data digitization.

- The development of critical awareness in the analysis and communication of data: accessibility, consistency and transparency.

- Systems, Applications and Products in data processing, analysis of results with SAP.

- The usability of the data.

Numbers and performance: collection and monitoring

- High performance and self-managed sport.

- The data supporting the performance increase.

There is no doubt that the importance of these issues will only increase in the near future and an experience such as the DIGI-SPORTING project, which intercepts the different national priorities in a broader European context, represents an important step in this process. We hope that exemplary and fruitful collaborations like this one just ended will soon have a sequel.