1. Industry 4.0 a revolution that will be good for SMEs
Precisely that of Industry 4.0 is for Minister Calenda «a fundamental issue in which we suffer a delay more in the construction of policies than in the activity of companies, given that they have already moved. It is an ongoing revolution with a paradigm that is being built. What I don't believe is that Industry 4.0 is penalizing for SMEs, in my opinion it will be just the opposite». As in all revolutions, even in this one, according to the minister, those who fail to innovate and adapt will have the worst, and in this sense "the fourth industrial revolution constitutes both a threat and an opportunity, both for businesses and for the economy of European countries. If Europe fails to take advantage of the digital transformation, the potential losses of non-digitization for EU countries could exceed 60 billion euros by 2020".
2. Open Innovation and the risk of «closed standards»
In his speech to the deputies, the head of the Mise then spoke of open innovation and how the reference standards are very relevant in this respect. «Today the discussion on this issue is in Europe, where we have not been present enough, there is the serious risk of adopting closed standards that define the possibility of a company to enter the supply chain. Among the priorities that I have given myself as minister there is also that of making a rapid recovery on this matter". Calenda has in fact announced that he will be in Berlin at the beginning of July and in August he will meet the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, to discuss possible partnerships and try to bring the Germans onto a sharing scheme. “It's not about doing old things in an innovative way, it's about doing new things in new ways,” added Calenda.
3. Innovation package: 5 areas on which to intervene
The objective of the Mise is to identify a package of measures to be included in the next Stability Law and the areas on which to intervene indicated by the minister are five:
– investments in innovation,
– enabling factors,
– standards of interoperability, security and “internet of things” communication,
– labor relations wages and productivity,
– corporate finance.
According to Calenda, to encourage investments in innovation, a logic is needed «that is not so much tech push but solution driven, which leads companies to invest in big data analytics and in the information they produce and can produce to build new business models, the investment gap is estimated at around 8 billion euros per year over the next 5 years».
The minister then recalled that some efforts have already been made by the government to increase investments in innovation, for example with the Sabatini law, super depreciation, the tax credit for research and development and the Patent Box. «What we will do is continue on this path, concentrating resources on the measures that have been most successful and directing the incentive tools towards the enabling technologies of Industry 4.0 - added Calenda - We need to develop the new innovative entrepreneurship with a view to sector neutrality : the birth of startups and their scale up, access to venture capital and collaboration between new innovative companies and already consolidated companies".
As regards the so-called "enabling factors", the minister explained how it is necessary to strengthen connectivity infrastructures, reduce the digital divide of SMEs by enhancing existing centers of excellence and investing in STEM skills.
4. Guarantee fund: "deep restructuring" is on the way
According to Calenda, it becomes a priority to build corporate finance capable of supporting the investment effort necessary to seize the opportunities of Industry 4.0. For this reason, the minister explained that "considering the difficulties of the banking system to expand the credit multiplier, it is necessary to work towards a greater channeling of national savings towards investments in the real economy and to activate the international capital market by giving visibility to paper issues Italian: private equity, development bonds, central guarantee fund». Precisely on this last instrument, Calenda added that a profound restructuring is underway at the Mise, with an intervention that will significantly shift coverage from the side of working capital to that of investments "this is the common thread that we will carry forward with the measures of the Mise: shifting investments to the side of supply and productivity.
5. Accelerated categories to access the Sabatini law
Pressed by the questions of the parliamentarians, Calenda then explained that the reform proposal of the Guarantee Fund for SMEs is almost ready and will soon be presented in Parliament. «The idea is that today we cover everything with a very high percentage, all the different credit ratings – continued the Minister of Economic Development – This is not good, because in fact the banks benefit from it. We want to cover the banks, otherwise they won't lend the money, but where they have a real risk. Quite frankly, if I cover them where they have a triple A, what's the use?' Calenda then added that accelerated categories could be created for those who must access the Sabatini law or make investments in innovation, this is what the Mise is thinking about, together with the possible extension of the ceiling: "we need to find the resources, but if we do a reasoning on the working capital and on the weakest categories can be done », concluded the minister.
