Support initiatives for micro, small and medium enterprises implemented in Italy in 2014 and in the first half of 2015
The SBA Report is made annually with the purpose of analysing the actions undertaken by the Italian Government to foster the Micro-SMEs’ economic activity.
This Report is a reference document for public and private entities that deal with policies in favour of Micro-SMEs and it is also a useful knowledge source that indicates intervention strategies coherent with their needs.
This Report is made up of several chapters: the first one gives an overview of the main measures implemented in 2014 and, for the first time in this edition, of those approved during the first half of the current year. By close examination of the several implemented policies, a well-defined Government strategy emerges, mainly aimed at rewarding successful enterprises (“picking the winners”), and trying to strengthen them in their innovation and internationalization strategies.
The second chapter includes some in-depth analysis of the Network contracts, the Guarantee Fund for SMEs and the “New Sabatini Law”: three important instruments of industrial policy successfully welcomed by Italian enterprises. The chapter also focuses on Sustainable Growth Fund for financing interventions that provide for a significant impact on national economic competitiveness.
There is a chapter about innovation in the 2015 edition, with a particular focus on innovative start-ups, due to the growing importance of technological innovation as a fundamental driver for the growth of an economy. Beyond the numbers that indicate the considerable increase of new innovative enterprises from the beginning of 2013 up to now, the analysis shows how the implementation of the several cuts on red tape is contributing to create a more and more widespread and visible ecosystem, in which several parts (innovative start-ups, incubators, universities, research centres, etc.) are gaining a better self-awareness and understanding of the need to create a network of relations and cooperation agreements.
The fourth chapter shows the main outcomes of the survey carried out in March 2014 by the MISE on a representative sample of 1,000 Micro-SMEs. The survey is aimed at underlining the understanding of enterprises on the main measures of industrial policy, their liquidity, and access to credit conditions, as well as the corporate welfare strategies adopted in the period of 2011-2013. The need to carry out a survey - for the third consecutive year - comes from the growing interest in and request for information about the measures’ effects in implementing the SBA on the enterprises, as well as the need to explore and examine in-depth those phenomena that are not easily noticeable by a mere quantitative approach.
In the end, the main measures put in place by the Government, during the period under consideration, are in Attachment 1. There, the correspondence between each measure and one or more of the 10 SBA principles has been highlighted. In closing, Attachment 2, by the Commission on “Productive Activities” of the Conference of Regions and the Autonomous Provinces, shows, with the same per principle structure, a series of best practices implemented by Italian regions in supporting Micro-SMEs during 2014.
Small Business Act - Report 2015 (pdf, 7 Mb)