The Ministry of Economic Development has published, with directorial decree of 23 December 2016, the methods and terms for requesting and granting non-refundable grants in favor of internationalization consortia for the year 2017. The contributions are aimed at supporting the performance of specific promotional activities carried out by the Internationalization Consortia, to support SMEs in foreign markets, promote the international diffusion of their products and services, as well as increase awareness of authentic Italian products among international consumers to counter the phenomenon of Italian sounding and counterfeiting of agri-food products.
The recipients of the support measure must:
- be established pursuant to articles 2602 and 2612 and following of the Civil Code or in the form of a consortium or cooperative company by industrial, artisan, tourist, service, agri-food, agricultural and fishing SMEs based in Italy, as well as by companies in the commercial sector provided to a lesser extent than the others. The participation of public and private entities, banks and large companies is permitted, provided they do not benefit from public contributions. In this case, the appointment of the majority of the directors of the consortia for internationalization is in any case the responsibility of the consortium SMEs, in favor of which the consortia mainly carry out their activity;
- have as its object the international diffusion of the products and services of small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as support for their presence in foreign markets also through collaboration and partnerships with foreign companies;
- be non-profit and not distribute surpluses and operating profits, of any kind and in any form, to consortium or member companies, even in the event of dissolution of the Consortium or of the consortium or cooperative company;
- have a fully subscribed consortium fund, paid up for at least 25%, made up of individual shareholdings of no less than € 1.250,00 and no more than 20% of the fund itself;
- be registered in the commercial register at the time of submitting the application and in a state of business;
- not be in liquidation or subject to insolvency proceedings.
Consortia must meet the requirements continuously from the date of application until the grant is paid: the loss of even just one of them entails the revocation of admission to the grant.
Pursuant to article 4 of the Directorial Decree, the following initiatives can be financed, structured in the form of a project according to Model B attached to the Decree:
- participation in international fairs and exhibitions;
- collateral events at international trade fairs;
- temporary showrooms abroad;
- incoming foreign operators;
- bilateral meetings between foreign operators and abroad;
- workshops and/or seminars in Italy with foreign operators and abroad;
- communication actions on the foreign market;
- specialized training activities for internationalisation, intended exclusively for the companies participating in the project. This activity cannot constitute more than 25% of the total cost of the initiatives;
- creation and registration of the consortium trademark.
The project initiatives must be implemented in the period 1 January-31 December 2017. Furthermore, the project is divided into initiatives:
- it must include an eligible expenditure of no less than €50.000,00 and no more than €400.000,00;
- must involve, in all its phases, at least five consortium SMEs from at least three different Italian regions, belonging to the same sector or to the same supply chain;
- it must include mainly industrial, artisan, tourist, service, agri-food, agricultural and fishing SMEs; companies in the commercial sector can participate, but not in the majority compared to the others;
- it must not include companies that are in liquidation or subject to insolvency proceedings;
- it can also have a single-regional structure, if presented by consortia with registered offices in Sicily made up only of companies with registered offices in the aforementioned region, without prejudice to all the other requirements referred to in the previous points.
For more information see the following link.
