The South bets 3 billion on innovation and strategic technologies

The Italian regions have welcomed with great enthusiasm - judging by the numbers - the EU Commission's proposal to divert up to 15% of the programmes co-financed by the structural funds to the so-called Step platform (Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform) to develop innovative technologies considered strategic at European level. Out of a total of 6 billion diverted to Step from the more than 350 programmes in the entire Union, half comes from nine Italian regions and the national research and innovation programme of the Ministry of Made in Italy. More than two billion came from five southern regions: Sicily (EUR 615 million), Campania (581), Apulia (471), Calabria (264) and Sardinia (166). Also significant is the contribution from the Research and Innovation Pn, which concerns only the seven southern regions and has allocated 558 million euros to Step, 10% of the total endowment. The other regions are Lombardy (120 million), Lazio (109), Emilia-Romagna (61) and Umbria (31). And the contribution may not stop there. Next March, in fact, the second deadline is scheduled and other regions could be added to the list.

The remodulations of six programmes have already been adopted by the Commission, those of Pn Research, Umbria and Emilia Romagna remain to be adopted.

Step, which is compatible with a dozen European programmes and funds, from Horizon to InvestEu, from cohesion funds to the NRPR and the Defence fund, aims to push these programmes to divert resources to the development of critical technologies across the Union, and strengthen their value chains. Three sectors can benefit from the platform rules: (1) digital technologies, including those contributing to the goals of the Strategic Programme for the Digital Decade 2030, multinational projects, and deep tech innovation; (2) clean and resource-efficient technologies, including zero net-emission technologies; and (3) biotechnology, including so-called 'critical' medicines.

The reasons why these regions bet so strongly on Step can be found in the platform's regulations, which have been in force since last March. First of all, Step opens up the European structural funds to large enterprises and stipulates that 100 per cent of the subsidies for enterprises are to be borne by European funds, without national co-financing. This is seen, especially in the South, not only as an opportunity to attract private entities capable of carrying out large projects, but also as a way to speed up the spending of funds, which is still stuck at almost insignificant percentages. In addition, pre-financing of up to 30% is foreseen for programmes joining Step by March 2025, while an amendment to the regional aid charter has raised the share of subsidies in the total project cost by 10%. Finally, joining the platform gives the intermediate objectives of the entire programme as a matter of course, which is thus exempted from the mid-term review.

These are advantages that, according to insiders, make it possible to exploit 'interesting territories' that already exist, technological poles of attraction such as microelectronics in Catania or the ICT district that has grown up around the University of Calabria in Cosenza, where Ntt Data recently announced the construction of a new centre with 500 new employees, including a Lab on artificial intelligence, and Lutech will double its staff from the current 50 employees by next year. Calabria has earmarked more than EUR 264 million for the development of digital technologies, while the other EUR 112 million of the Step programme goes to clean technologies.