The Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso signed the decree that determines how the 350 million provided by the PNRR will be used to finance the centers dedicated to technology transfer.
The measure serves to finance the Competence Centers and the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH or European Digital Innovation Poles).
The investment 2.3 of the M4C2
The provision is therefore an act linked to the implementation of investment 2.3 within the scope of Mission 4, Component 2 of the PNRR “Enhancement and thematic and territorial extension of technology transfer centres”.
This measure is aimed at “strengthening the Italian technology transfer system, also through a process of reorganization and rationalization of existing centres, to offer advanced technological services to businesses. The project aims to strengthen the 8 existing competence centres, refinancing them according to a funding gap logic, and to finance at least 42 new centres”.
The decree establishes the resources, procedures and criteria for refinancing the eight Competence Centers already active in Italy and for financing the European Digital Innovation Hubs.
There are three targets established in the PNRR for this investment, all to be achieved by 2025:
- 42 new hubs to create
- 600 million euro of services to be provided to businesses
- 4,500 PMI reached
How resources are allocated
The 350 million were divided as follows:
- 113.4 million euros are earmarked for the refinancing of the 8 Competence Centers
- 33.6 million euros are for the Italian share of the co-financing of the 13 European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) selected in the European tender part of the Digital Europe program
- 114.5 million euros are instead intended to finance the 24 European digital innovation poles that have received the “Seal of Excellence” from the European Commission, but which are not funded by the EU.
The sum of these detailed figures, as you can see, is equal to 261.5 million. Another 88.5 million are missing, the destination of which we will only be able to know once we have the opportunity to read the text of the decree, currently being registered with the Court of Auditors and therefore not yet published by the Ministry.
I Competence Center
The Competence Centers are public-private partnerships whose purpose is to offer business guidance services, training and to issue tenders for the co-financing of innovative projects with a high TRL, i.e. close to completion.
After the first loan of 72 million, which was used to set up the structures and to provide services for the first three years, this second loan tranche should largely be used to finance tenders for businesses.
We remind you that the eight Competence Centers, all of national importance, are the following:
- CIM 4.0 – Competence Industry Manufacturing 4.0
- MADE – Competence Center Industria 4.0
- BI-REX – Big data Innovation-Research EXcellence
- ARTES 4.0 – Industry 4.0 Competence Center on Advanced Robotics and enabling digital TEchnologies & Systems 4.0
- SMACT Competence Center
- MedITech Competence Center I 4.0
- START 4.0– Security and optimization of Strategic Infrastructures Industry 4.0
- CYBER 4.0 – Cybersecurity Competence Center
Marco Taisch, President of MADE Competence Center Industry 4.0, commented on the news of the decree signed by the minister as follows: “It is excellent news that we have been waiting for. The financing of the Competence Centers represents not only the recognition of the role they play, but it is also the confirmation of the very high quality of the work that has been provided in these four years in which they have been established. Competence centers are the driving forces of Made in Italy in the digital industry: to be competitive we need to continue on this path. The funding disbursed by the ministry underlines the importance of investing in digital transformation not only through the provision of tax funding but also by supporting the opportunity to implement corporate culture 4.0. It is our hope that in the future there will be a further revision of tax incentives and Training 4.0.”
Gli EDIH – European Digital Innovation Hub
The EDIHs – European Digital Innovation Hubs are structures under formation envisaged by the Digital Europe program of the European Commission. These are centers that will have the task of ensuring the digital transition of industry, with particular reference to SMEs, and of public administration through the adoption of advanced digital technologies, Artificial Intelligence, High Performance Calculation, Information Security.
While some EDIH are national in stature, most are born with a regional accent.
During a selection process, 13 proposals were identified which will be financed with a total of 67 million euros, half of which by the EU and half by Italy (about 5.16 million for EDIH on average). These are the following projects
- DIHcube – is the EDIH promoted by Ance and therefore focused on the building sector, with national significance.
- Cetma DihSme – is the national EDIH coordinated by Cetma with a focus on materials engineering and addressed to the Center South (Puglia and Basilicata)
- ER2digit is the EDIH of Emilia Romagna headed by the Region
- MicroCyber is the EDIH headed by the National Microcredit Agency, with a focus on Southern Italy (Sicily, Calabria, Campania, Basilicata, Sardinia, Puglia, Molise)
- HSL (Heritage SmartLab) is the project led by Basilicata Creativa (cultural and creative industries)
- Dante is the EDIH promoted by the National Technology Cluster “Smart Living Technologies” SMILE
- EDIH4Marche is the initiative led by the DIH Marche of Confindustria and most of the local associations aimed at businesses
- Chedih – Circular Health European Digital Innovation Hub is the project focused on the Health and Agri-Food sectors promoted by the University of Turin and dedicated to Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta
- i-NEST is a national telecommunications project promoted by the CNIT
- Toscana X.0 is the Tuscan territorial EDIH led by GATE4.0 Tuscan Regional District which includes, among others, the DIH of Confindustria
- PRIDE – Regional Center for Evolved Digital Innovation is the Campania EDIH whose promoter is the Campania Digital Innovation Hub (we recommend reading our in-depth analysis here)
- Artes 5.0 is a national project led by the Artes 4.0 Competence Center with a focus on Industry and PA
- Expand is the manufacturing project led by the CIM 4.0 Competence Center and referring to the territories of Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta
These projects will operate for 36 months with the possibility, following an evaluation by the Commission itself, of extending the activity for a further 48 months.
Also during this evaluation procedure, the “Seal of Excellence” was then awarded to 17 other centres. The seal of excellence is the recognition by the EU of the validity of the project, even if the structures, for budgetary reasons, were not included among those financed. To these 17 structures were then added another 7 that participated in a second selection. Overall, therefore, the EDIHs with the Seal of Excellence are the following 24:
- AI Magister is a national project led by the consultancy firm Profima
- Edih L, the Lombardy project with the MADE Competence Center inside
- HD-Motion, national project focused on Transportation
- UDD, Umbria’s proposal
- Birex ++, the national proposal on sustainable manufacturing led by the Competence Center Bi-Rex
- Edih4DT, the Edih for the public sector of Southern Italy
- DMH, the proposal for coastal Italy and the maritime sector
- DIS-HUB, the South Tyrolean project
- AI-Pact, national project dedicated to the public sector.
- SharD-Hub, the Sardinian proposal
- Innova, national project for the PA
- Pics2, Apulian project for various sectors (Steel, Shipbuilding, Petrochemistry, Aerospace, Agrifood, Logistics) with a focus on cyber security
- EDIHAMo, proposed by Abruzzo and Molise
- ROME Digital Hub, Edih Lazio
- Dips, Trento’s proposal on health
- Ap-Edih, another proposal for Puglia
- Damas, national project for Automotive and Aerospace.
- PAI – Public Administration Intelligence
- NEURAL – veNEto hUb foR Advanced digital technoLogies
- InnovAction – InnovAction: Italian Network of Centers for Technological Innovation
- IP4FVG – EDIH – IP4FVG EDIH – Industrial Platform for Friuli Venezia Giulia EDIH
- CATCH atMIND – advanCed digitAl TeChnology Hub for the Life Sciences at MIND
- MAXXI Foundation – CURE – Creativity for Urban Rebirth
- NEST – Network for European Security and Trust
European funding will not go to these projects, but only that of Italy. The 114.5 million provided for by the decree mean an average loan of 4.7 million each.
