Southern Italy, earthquake, innovation: the one presented today, and valid for the three-year period 360-2015, by Invitalia is a 17-degree industrial plan, the national agency – owned by the Ministry of the Economy – for the attraction of investments and business development, which manages all national incentives, finances large and small projects especially in innovative sectors, accelerates the expenditure of European funds and is the central purchasing body and contracting station - in some cases unique, such as for the reconstruction of public works in the affected areas from the earthquake – for the realization of strategic interventions on the territory.
Already today Invitalia boasts loans disbursed for 8,8 billion, with 18,7 billion in total investments activated, and almost half a billion interventions for the development of the territory. "The priority is to create added value - explains the managing director Domenico Arcuri - by supporting growth and employment: one of the important figures is that 60 jobs have been created over the years through our loans".
The employment impact, together with the support of Industry 4.0 and foreign investment, will be one of the key objectives of the new plan: "If there is one or more of these requirements - continues Arcuri - the financing times will be even faster, as well as our support will be greater". On a certain condition: "The companies we support must have the capital to invest: the era in which people invest because they receive a loan is over, now if anything, they receive a loan because they invest".
The first intervention tool, in terms of importance, of Invitalia is the Development Agreement, which through incentives supports large-scale investments in the industrial, tourism and environmental protection sectors. The minimum total investment required is 20 million euros: as at 1 February 2017 they were 87 programs financed with 3,1 billion euros, creating almost 47 thousand jobs in the country. The instrument used is law 181/89, the one that regulates the incentive for the revitalization of areas affected by industrial and sector crises. "This law - explained Arcuri - is very useful: it was set aside by the Monti government but taken up by subsequent governments and reformed in 2015: it will only be applied to some territories, those most in need, and to complex crisis areas, identified by a precise Government-Regions agreement”.
EARTHQUAKE
These areas, according to the provisions of the Earthquake Decree, also include those of the 4 regions of Central Italy affected by various seismic phenomena in recent months: "In Amatrice we are the only central in collaboration with the National Anti-Corruption Authority (Anac), for the reconstruction of public works and places of worship. We also manage incentives for companies, making use of law 181 but not only”, specifies the managing director of Invitalia.
NOON
Among the most interesting novelties of the plan is the Development Bank, a project that will materialize once the Bank of Italy gives the go-ahead to the agreement, finalized in the last few hours, with Poste Italiane to take over the entire share package of Banca del Mezzogiorno-Medio Credito Centrale (a transaction worth 390 million EUR). “The goal – explains Arcuri – is to facilitate access to credit for SMEs in the South, with compatible costs. In the South, only 22% of the companies that apply for financing obtain it, and only 4% obtain it for the entire sum requested: the difficulty of accessing credit is a brake on the development of the South, which has also started to grow again over the recent years, more than the country average". Arcuri also guaranteed that the bank will not carry out branch activities: "It will remain a second-level bank, which will act only through networks of ordinary banks".
BAGNOLI
In the South there is also Bagnoli, one of the most important interventions implemented by Invitalia: on behalf of the Government, it is the implementing body of the program for the reclamation and revitalization of the former industrial area on the outskirts of Naples. "We have been operational since last year and we have already returned a first piece to the citizens, that of the Arenile Nord beach, as well as unlocking the tenders for 8 tenders that had been pending for 23 years". For the rest, the project is in the reclamation and safety phase, waiting for the judiciary to release part of the area, still under bankruptcy receivership: "There is the risk of a double Bagnoli, i.e. that the project will go ahead only in area owned by us, but I believe that the Public Prosecutor's Office will soon give us the green light". The go-ahead has now been reached from an institutional point of view, after the tensions between the mayor of Naples Luigi De Magistris and the former premier Matteo Renzi at the time of the presentation of the project: "The institutional agreement is in the process of being resolved", guarantees Arcuri.
INNOVATION
The other novelty of the plan is the creation of a Development Fund, in the form of an asset management company, which supports medium and long-term development projects and further accelerates the use of EU funds, anticipating the sums arriving from Brussels only after works have been completed. A sort of encore on a larger scale of the Venture fund that Invitalia launched last year for the co-financing of innovative startups. This fund, which had an initial target of 100 million euros, is stuck at 70: “The European Investment Fund has already approved an allocation for the remaining 30 million – replies Arcuri -. There are some technical problems that are slowing down the closure a bit”.
ASSIGNMENTS
Finally, the plan also provides for a slimming cure: Invitalia intends to get rid of some activities no longer considered central by the agency, a legacy of its thousand transformations over the years. This is the case in particular of Italia Turismo, the company that deals with strategic investments in the hospitality sector and which owns real estate properties in various regions of the South. "By the first half of the year, Invitalia should activate the public procedure for the sale," said Arcuri.
