Japan Observatory and Expand to strengthen Italia in the world

Exports as the engine of the economy, with industry demonstrating that it knows how to win in the markets, as that +7.4% increase in March proves. But in the face of global uncertainty, it is necessary to work as a team. This was the thread running through the debate at the event 'The challenge of Italia exports in an increasingly unstable world', held at the Trento Festival of Economics. "Our country is maintaining and improving its positions in international trade, thanks to the spirit of sacrifice of entrepreneurs, the government in opening diplomatic relations, and the joint action of the Italia system, Cdp, Sace, Simest and Ice, with the coordination of Mase. Ice is at the side of companies: in 2025 we organised 930 initiatives in 108 markets, accompanying 6,500 companies abroad, bringing over 11,000 strategic operators to Italia, and providing almost 70,000 services,' said the president of Agenzia-Ice, Matteo Zoppas, who is convinced that 'the goal of 700 billion in exports by the end of 2027 is possible.

In order to conquer new markets, especially the more distant ones, stronger companies are needed, and there is a need for information on market prospects and potential. The Il Sole 24 Ore Group has decided to make a structural and wide-ranging commitment in this regard: the Group's managing director, Federico Silvestri, announced the creation of the Japan Observatory, while the Italian ambassador to Tokyo, Mario Vattani, was connected by video.

The Osservatorio Giappone project grew out of the Il Sole 24 Ore Group's experience as media partner of the Italia Pavilion at the Osaka 2025 Expo, for which Vattani was commissioner for our country. It will be, Silvestri explained, a container of information on the Japanese market and Italia's attractiveness, and will have a fixed presence in the newspaper and on the group's other channels. An important action, Vattani said in his speech, stressing that 'there is a lot of potential for growth in trade relations between the two countries, Italia and Japan, which must be explained and told to companies and all stakeholders'.

There is another project in which Il Sole 24 Ore is engaged in collaboration with Confindustria and which, as the confederation's director general, Maurizio Tarquini, recalled, was launched at last year's assembly. This is Expand, the platform that allows one to assess for thousands of product types the degree of penetration in a country and the export potential.

"Expand," explained Silvestri, "is a tool that fits in with the collaboration between the Sole 24 Ore Group and Confindustria, simple to use, a compass to guide entrepreneurs in making decisions. But alongside this, the number of exporting companies in our country must increase. And to do this, they must be strengthened, as Tarquini pointed out. "Italia has an extraordinary strength in exports, the criticality remains the size of the companies. We must encourage aggregations, acquisitions and dimensional growth through finance and tax incentives. We will also insist on this in the next budget law. Italia,' he concluded, 'is a great industrial country, capable of producing excellence, from manufacturing to advanced mechanics. We have an enormous yet unexpressed potential'.