The number of businesses is growing Noon: in June, +0,7% compared to 2021 (-0,1% for Italy). In addition, over 170 are active youth businesses, 40% of the national figure, with a youth entrepreneurship rate higher than the national average (9,8% against 8,3%). L' export is in strong recovery: in the first quarter of the year, a +26,3% is highlighted (Italian average +22,6%). In the South there are over 15 "innovative" businesses, 17% of the national figure. Compared to 2014, the number of companies innovative it grew by around 52% compared to the 34% of the national average and expenditure per employee increased by 1.800 euros (Italian average +2.800 euros).
These are the main data of the “Midsummer economic panorama of the Mezzogiorno" published by SRM, Study Center connected to the group Intesa Sanpaolo, which provides a different narration of a South that offers innovative realities and growth prospects, identifying unexpected numbers regarding the southern economic and productive reality and providing food for thought and guidelines for the restart of the country.
Noon: the challenges for the future
"Competences, Connections and Competitiveness”. According to SRM, the 3 Cs represent the challenges for the future of the productive and economic fabric of the South. The strengthening of these three dimensions, also favored by the allocation of European funds and by PNRR, represents an obligatory way for Southern Italy to make the definitive leap in quality.
The future growth path is therefore hand-in-hand with the ability of the country and the South to make the best use of the available resources (over 200 billion until 2030) and which will have to be spent efficiently and with quality planning, underlines the study. To achieve the objectives set, the emphasis must be placed on the fundamental levers for development: training, sustainability, innovation, digitization ed social economy. Those sectors in which the Mezzogiorno highlights important areas for improvement and challenging growth objectives.
The starting point is its endogenous forces linked primarily to the prevailing sectors (Sea, Energy, Tourism, Environment) which can contribute decisively to the restart of the area.
Sea, Energy, Tourism, Environment: the strengths of the South
Ports, logistics and shipping are the elements that move theeconomy of the sea and which can favor the country's competitiveness in the Mediterranean. The logistic potential of the South is great: the southern ports serve 47% of the country's freight traffic equal to 224 million tons of goods managed in 2021 (+7,1%; in Italy +8,4%). In the South there are also 36.500 transport and logistics companies (1/3 of Italy).
From the point of view ofthe energy the South is confirmed as strategic due to the significant potential for electricity generation from green sources. The area accounts for 40% of the total in terms of accumulated power installed by RES.
Looking at the sector of , the South accounted for around 2021% of national tourist flows in 20 with over 15,4 million arrivals. The recovery compared to 2020 was considerable: +43% compared to a +41,2% national average. The foreign component grew by 107,5% in the South (in Italy +62,9%).
For the environment , sustainability, in the South the bioeconomic footprint is greater than the national average: 24,9 billion VA were produced (7% of the total economy of the area. In Italy it is 6,4%), with 715 employees (10,4 7,9% of the total employed compared to 24,1% of the national total). This is respectively 35,5% and XNUMX% of the national figure.
Furthermore, out of a sample of 700 manufacturing companies interviewed by SRM, in the South 49% declare that they have made investments in the last three years (15% compared to the three-year period 20182020-XNUMX).
Looking to the future, the desire for digital is growing (62% of the companies that will invest in it) and there is greater attention to relations with the world of research (57% of the investing companies).
Scudieri (SRM president): "It's time to take advantage of all the opportunities"
“The data show that there is a South that despite everything is able to contribute to the growth of the country – he said Paul Scudieri, president of SRM –. The current economic and political phase highlights growing opportunities and threats, making it even more necessary to implement reforms and be able to effectively invest the available resources. It's time to take advantage of all the opportunities that exist so that the South can really begin a process of recovering the historic gap with the rest of Italy and contribute to the relaunch of the entire country".
Deandreis (Dg SRM): "The South that innovates, produces and knows how to be competitive"
Massimo Deandreis, General Manager of SRM, underlined that the South can contribute to the growth of the country. “With this study we want to offer a different interpretation, aimed at looking at the South as an area with ample development potential and rich in human and entrepreneurial resources that must be supported and relaunched. And the numbers show that despite the many and well-known difficulties, there is also a South that innovates, produces and knows how to be competitive”, concluded Deandreis.
