Digital transition for SMEs: funds are on their way
Digital training for local SMEs: an agreement has been signed by CNA Lombardia, MADE- Industry 4.0 Competence Center and Ecipa Lombardia. In 7 years, companies will be able to count on 9.8 billion euro for research, innovation, development, training, education and social policies and active employment policies.
The digital transition, especially the one related to Industry 4.0 technologies, during the next 7 years could be cost-free for many SMEs in Lombardy. This is what emerges from the estimate carried out by the CNA Lombardia Study Center, which evaluated the combined provisions of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and the Next Generation EU structural funds, which will synergistically cover both investments in research, technology and machinery, thanks to the ERDF, and investments in human capital, thanks to the ESF plus. In brief, over the next 7 years companies in Lombardy will be able to count on aid and support in the area of 4.0 and digital growth amounting to 9.8 billion euros, which is equivalent to 5 times the total amount of structural funds spent in the last 7 years by the Lombardy Region through the ERDF and ESF for research, innovation, development, training, education and social policies and active employment policies.
Support will drive investment in human capital and training
These resources, according to the CNA estimates, will generate two parallel markets. On one hand, the need for experts and external consultants will grow, generating a business volume in Lombardy alone equal to 20% of resources, or 1.98 billion euros. On the other hand, companies are expected to invest in human capital and in particular in continuing education, creating a turnover typically equal to 10% of the investment, or 0.98 billion euros. In this case, the resources of the regional ESF ROP will not be sufficient to cover the needs of continuous training of personnel, but SMEs will be able to use two very important tools: on one hand, the refinancing of the New Skills Fund (the Ministry of Education and Economic Development has secured a billion euros on a national basis), and on the other, access to the resources of interprofessional funds.
This is the direction taken by the agreement signed by CNA Lombardia, the training organization Ecipa Lombardia and MADE, Competence Center for Industry 4.0 for the definition and construction of training programs in favour of the digitization of micro and small businesses in the area.
The initiative aims to finance training programs with the resources of the Lombardy Region based on the Regional Operational Program ESF. Companies will also find training resources hinged on 5 thematic areas: 4.0 product and 4.0 process; 4.0 maintenance; big data 4 small business; automation, robots, cobots and process optimization; sustainable transition and circular economy.
The comments of the key players of the agreement
The regional president of CNA, Daniele Parolo, underlined with satisfaction the prospects opened by the agreement: “We are experiencing first-hand the effectiveness and usefulness of the relationship between organizations such as CNA, which lobby and represent the interests of SMEs, and others such as MADE, which find and accelerate the solution of technological problems starting from an objective analysis of the needs of local businesses. Our task is to find solutions tailored to the microenterprise to make the great ongoing processes of digital transformation and ecological transition truly accessible to all. About 87 billion of the NRRP will be managed by the local government chain. 3.5 billion euros is the volume of ROP resources of the Lombardy Region (1.5 billion more than in past programming, editor’s note.). With this initiative we aim to make these opportunities tangible once again for those who open shop every day and often have little time to study how to seize them. CNA Lombardia, Ecipa Lombardia and our partners at MADE are present and want to lend a concrete hand”.
Marco Taisch, President of MADE – Competence Center Industry 4.0 added: “Lombardy represents 22% of Italian GDP but must maintain its competitive level. This agreement with CNA Lombardia and ECIPA Lombardia provides companies with concrete tools for training and requalification. Training, in fact, is one of the pillars of the Industry 4.0 revolution: without the contribution of qualified personnel, technologies cannot deploy their full potential. MADE, Competence Center for Industry 4.0, reconfirms its commitment to collaborate with the main associations in the area and to promote active policies useful in the local productive structure.” The comment of the President of ECIPA Lombardia, Maria Teresa Azzola, was also positive: “We are very confident in the concrete outcome of this agreement, which allows us to enhance both a partnership which is strategic for us like the one with MADE and the policies and incentives for training put in place by the Lombardy Region. Our task is to put together the most qualified subjects and tools to support micro and small businesses to accompany them in this delicate phase of digital transition towards new competitive horizons”.