Support the creation of new innovative businesses promoted by young people and women, especially in the regions of the South, making use first of all of the opportunities offered by the "Resto al Sud" programme. This is the objective of the strategic collaboration launched by Anci and Invitalia and sanctioned in a protocol signed on 14 February 2018 in Rome in the monumental hall of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, by the president of the National Council of Anci and mayor of Catania Enzo Bianco and by CEO of Invitalia Domenico Arcuri, in the presence of the Minister for Territorial Cohesion and Southern Italy Claudio De Vincenti.
As a result of the agreement, a common program of information, promotion and entrepreneurial support actions will be launched, enhancing the incentives managed by Invitalia, which will guarantee the dissemination of all the information necessary to the Italian Municipalities, also through specific meetings, training, support and accompaniment to the implementation of projects.
On the other hand, it will be the task of Anci to make the Municipalities aware of informing young people in their area about the opportunities offered by "Resto al Sud". Precisely with regard to the new loans aimed at the under 36s of the South, Invitalia has already approved the first 11 projects after less than a month from the start. Meanwhile, the questions are increasing: there are more than 5.400, between those already sent and those being compiled on the Agency's web platform.
According to the president of ANCI Antonio Decaro, “intervening on the gap that still keeps the South well away from the rest of the country is a priority. We've heard it a million times. But this time we say it to complete the sentence in a different spirit: we mayors, all Italian municipalities, are working with the government so that resources, measures, intentions are truly transformed into possibilities, into opportunities for those who live in South and wants to stay there. For those who, even in the difficult panorama of the South, experience the particular disadvantage of entering the labor market with less certainty than in the past: young people. Resto al Sud is this: a system of concessions for citizens aged between 18 and 35 in six southern regions, which invests in their creativity and sensitivity to innovation. Anci proposes itself as a partner who responsibly, aware of the strength of representing all the Municipalities, will inform, solicit and accompany the implementation of the measure. We mayors can do it. We demonstrated it: in Milan, where 157 innovative start-ups were born from the “Resources in the suburbs”, “Welcome business”, “Tira su la cler” and “Startupper” measures; in Cosenza with the residences for young artists "Bocs art"; in Naples with Gardenet's shared gardens and social agriculture; in Perugia, with the tutoring and mentoring activities of the Officine Fratti; in Bari, with two programs, "Ba29" and "Urbis", which invest three million to activate internships and create individuals who operate in the private social sector in the suburbs. Lack of work creates insecurity and insecurity distrust. We therefore perceive the issue of work and youth work and of women in particular as a great responsibility. With the signing of this protocol, today, we mayors are taking on a piece of it".
“The initiative taken by Invitalia and Anci – says the president of the National Council of Anci Enzo Bianco – addresses one of the great issues of change in the country: the development of the South is an opportunity for the new generations. The direction is the right one, not welfare but growth of entrepreneurial ability, imagination, capacity for innovation. The Municipalities will be at the forefront to establish this opportunity throughout the territory, they will play an active part not only in making the facilities and incentives known, but also in providing opportunities, solidarity and services. We mayors believe in it and will commit ourselves with all our strength. Invitalia has the ability and sensitivity to be a suitable partner and Minister De Vincenti has operated in recent months with particular competence and seriousness, for this we thank him from the bottom of our hearts".
"Among the main novelties of 'Resto al Sud' - declares the managing director of Invitalia, Domenico Arcuri - there is also the construction of a network of accredited public entities that support the promotion of the incentive and its dissemination to homes of southern youth A network that will support Invitalia in moments of meeting and discussion on the territory, accompanying young people in the development of business plans, without asking any consideration for this activity. In short: the exact opposite of what happened in previous decades, when a network of professionals, in exchange for a fee, developed the projects which were then presented to Invitalia. The protocol with the Anci therefore allows to intensify in the southern territory, through the network of Municipalities, this effort of transparency and coherence, multiplying the opportunities for meeting between the offer of incentives and the demand for qualified work of young southerners . We are therefore particularly grateful to President Decaro for having given us the possibility, less than a month after the launch of the incentive strongly desired by Minister Claudio De Vincenti, to be here to sign this important agreement”.
For Minister De Vincenti, “the protocol signed today represents a further important step in making an ever-increasing number of young people aware of the opportunities offered by the Rest in the South measure which is already enjoying great success. The high number of applications presented in these first weeks since the opening of the branch testifies to how this measure has hit the mark of the dreams and needs of young southerners".
