PARALLEL TEXTS
Il vicepresidente Tajani in visita in Sicilia per sostenere le PMI locali
Inglese tratto da:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-14-242_en.htm
Italiano tratto da:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-14-242_it.htm
Data documento: 27-03-2014
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VP Tajani visits Italy's Sicily region to jump-start the recovery of local SMEs
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Il vicepresidente Tajani in visita in Sicilia per sostenere le PMI locali
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Like in many regions in the European Union, companies in Sicily have suffered a lot from the economic crisis over the last years.
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Come in molte altre regioni dell’Unione europea, le imprese in Sicilia hanno risentito molto della crisi economica negli ultimi anni.
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To help SMEs in Sicily emerge from the downturn and help them participate in the next economic growth cycle, the European Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani is travelling to Palermo today.
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Il vicepresidente della Commissione europea Antonio Tajani, responsabile per l’industria e l’imprenditoria, si sta recando oggi a Palermo proprio per aiutare le piccole e medie imprese (PMI) siciliane a uscire dalla recessione e facilitare la loro partecipazione al prossimo ciclo di crescita economica.
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They will be accompanied by representatives of about 600 European companies, who will participate in more than 1300 bilateral meetings with SMEs from Sicily to form new partnerships and discuss opportunities for collaboration in key sectors active in the region such as aerospace, agro food, biotechnology and fashion industries.
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Sarà accompagnato dai rappresentanti di circa 600 aziende europee, che parteciperanno in più di 1300 incontri bilaterali con le PMI della Sicilia, al fine di costituire nuovi partenariati e discutere le possibilità di collaborazione nei settori chiave presenti nella regione, come l’agroalimentare, le biotecnologie, il turismo e l’industria della moda.
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This meeting follows on from a similar trip by Vice President Tajani in early March to Campania.
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Questa missione fa seguito a un viaggio analogo compiuto dal vicepresidente Tajani in Campania ai primi di marzo.
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New markets mean greater business opportunities
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Nuovi mercati implicano maggiori opportunità imprenditoriali
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The adoption of internationalization strategies is a crucial factor for companies successfully addressing the crisis in Sicily.
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L’adozione di strategie di internazionalizzazione è un fattore fondamentale per le imprese che affrontano con successo la crisi in Sicilia.
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Businesses entering into new markets, while still recording significant reductions in revenue and investment, have shown more favourable performance than the others:
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Le aziende che accedono a nuovi mercati, pur continuando a registrare notevoli riduzioni delle entrate e degli investimenti, hanno mostrato una performance più favorevole rispetto alle altre:
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while 40% of Sicilian companies registered a decrease in production in the first months of 2013, this trend was less negative for exporting companies.
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mentre il 40 % delle aziende siciliane ha registrato un calo della produzione nei primi mesi del 2013, questa tendenza è risultata meno negativa per le imprese esportatrici.
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It is important that SMEs receive advice on how to export, since it is not uncommon for first export experiences to be unprofitable.
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È importante che le PMI ricevano indicazioni su come esportare, visto che non è raro che le prime esperienze in questo campo risultino infruttuose.
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A central focus of this visit is a therefore a business to business networking event on 28 March.
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Un elemento cardine di questa visita è dunque un evento di networking Business to Business che si terrà il 28 marzo.
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Partnerships will be generated between both companies in Sicily and other EU regions and countries, and also between Sicilian companies and those from non-European countries.
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Saranno stabiliti partenariati sia fra le imprese in Sicilia e in altre regioni e Paesi dell’UE, sia tra le imprese siciliane e quelle provenienti da Paesi extra europei.
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The event aims to promote partnerships in sectors identified as key contributors to achieving growth in the region, including:
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L’evento mira a promuovere i partenariati imprenditoriali in quei settori che possono dare un contributo fondamentale alla crescita nella regione, tra cui:
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Agrifood
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Agroalimentare
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Maritime industry and fisheries
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Industria marittima e della pesca
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Intelligent energy
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Energia intelligente
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Tourism and cultural heritage
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Turismo e patrimonio culturale
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Arts and ceramics
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Arti e ceramica
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Textile, clothing, fashion
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Tessile, abbigliamento, moda
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ICT
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TIC
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Biotechnology, biomedical
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Biotecnologie, biomedicale
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Construction, green building
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Costruzioni, bioedilizia
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Creative Industries
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Settori creativi
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Strategy for growth conference
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Conferenza sulla strategia per la crescita
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An important part of this visit will be the Europe 2020 strategy for growth conference, which Vice President Tajani will open together with the president of the Sicilian region, Rosario Crocetta.
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Una parte importante di questa visita sarà la conferenza sulla strategia Europa 2020 per la crescita, che il vicepresidente Tajani inaugurerà insieme al Presidente della regione Sicilia, Rosario Crocetta.
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Issues discussed will include EU financing for business as well as supporting SME competitiveness and innovation.
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I temi discussi comprenderanno i finanziamenti dell’UE per le imprese e il sostegno alla competitività e all’innovazione delle PMI.
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Structural and rural funds in Sicily
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Fondi strutturali e rurali in Sicilia
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From 2007-2013, between EU and national funds, Sicily had access to €8.54 billion.
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Dal 2007-2013, tra i fondi UE e i fondi nazionali, la Sicilia ha avuto accesso a 8.54 miliardi di euro.
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But the last report available (from mid- 2012) highlighted a serious delay in Sicily in the use of EU funds in particular.
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Tuttavia, l’ultima relazione disponibile (della metà del 2012) ha evidenziato un notevole ritardo in Sicilia nell’utilizzo dei fondi UE in particolare.
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Payments were only made for just over 17 % of the available funds.
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I pagamenti sono stati effettuati solo per poco più del 17 % dei fondi disponibili.
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The shortcomings identified in the management of funds included the excessive fragmentation of interventions, the dispersion of resources in small projects and lack of strategic importance given to the overall development of the island, deficiencies in the system of checks and the fragmentation of competences.
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Le carenze individuate nella gestione dei fondi comprendono: l’eccessiva frammentazione degli interventi, la dispersione delle risorse nei piccoli progetti e la mancanza di importanza strategica per lo sviluppo globale dell’isola, carenze nel sistema dei controlli e la frammentazione delle competenze.
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However in 2011 measures were taken at national level to accelerate the implementation of the funding programmes.
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Tuttavia, nel 2011 sono state adottate delle misure a livello nazionale per accelerare l’attuazione dei programmi di finanziamento.
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These resulted in a concentration of assistance in the following areas:
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Queste misure hanno avuto come risultato una concentrazione dell’assistenza nei seguenti settori:
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education, the digital agenda, employment and transport.
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istruzione, agenda digitale, occupazione e trasporti.
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In Sicily, €350 million are now invested in measures for education and €65 million for tax credits for employment. The latter amount represents more than 45 % of the total budget available for this aspect in the south of Italy.
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In Sicilia, 350 milioni di euro sono destinati a interventi per l’istruzione e a 65 milioni di euro per i crediti d’imposta per l’occupazione, importo che rappresenta più del 45% del bilancio totale disponibile nel Sud Italia per questo aspetto.
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During the next round of EU Structural Funds, the “Convergence” objective regions, which includes Sicily, will benefit from a European contribution of €20.33 billion.
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Nel corso del prossimo ciclo di Fondi Strutturali UE, le regioni dell’obiettivo “convergenza”, che comprendono la Sicilia, beneficeranno di un contributo europeo di 20.33 miliardi di euro.
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The Italian Government is currently deciding on the breakdown of this amount among the regions.
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Il governo italiano sta al momento decidendo in merito alla ripartizione di tale importo tra le regioni.
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The Sicilian rural development plan includes a budget of approximately €2 billion, mainly for improving the competitiveness of the agricultural and forestry sectors (42 % of the total) and improving environmental and rural development (42 % of the total).
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Il piano di sviluppo rurale della Regione Sicilia prevede un bilancio di circa 2 miliardi di euro, finalizzato principalmente a migliorare la competitività dei settori agricolo e forestale (42% del totale) e a migliorare lo sviluppo ambientale e rurale (42 % del totale).
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Use of EU Funds for businesses in Italy
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Utilizzo dei fondi UE per le imprese in Italia
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In Italy the Commission, together with the European Investment Bank group, is already working with over 100 financial intermediaries to help Italian businesses access financing.
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In Italia la Commissione, in collaborazione con il gruppo della Banca Europea per gli Investimenti, che sta già lavorando con più di 100 intermediari finanziari per aiutare le imprese ad avere accesso ai finanziamenti.
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From 2007-2012, EU resources helped to mobilise over €3.5 billion of guarantees and €1.4 billion of equity to businesses in Italy.This included loan guarantees for around 40 000 SMEs.
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Nel periodo 2007-2012, le risorse dell’UE hanno contribuito a mobilitare oltre 3.5 miliardi di euro di garanzie e 1.4 miliardi di euro di capitale azionario per le imprese in Italia, incluse garanzie sui prestiti per circa 40 000 PMI.
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During today's Europe 2020 Strategy for Growth conference the Vice President will highlight the new €2.3 billion funding program created specifically for SMEs.
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Durante la conferenza sulla strategia Europa 2020 per la crescita di oggi, il vicepresidente metterà in evidenza il nuovo programma di finanziamento da 2.3 miliardi di euro creato specificamente per le PMI.
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COSME, in operation since the start of 2014, aims to address the main challenges they are currently facing, such as access to finance, access to foreign markets, improvement of the business environment and lack of support for entrepreneurs.
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COSME, in vigore dall’inizio del 2014, mira ad affrontare le principali sfide che le PMI si trovano oggi a sostenere, come l’accesso ai finanziamenti, l’accesso ai mercati stranieri, il miglioramento del contesto imprenditoriale e la mancanza di sostegno agli imprenditori.
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Among other things, this program will help EU enterprises, including those in Sicily, better deal with the current credit crunch by improving access to bank financing and venture capital (IP/13/1135).
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Tra le altre cose, questo programma aiuterà le imprese dell’UE, incluse quelle in Sicilia, ad affrontare in modo più efficace l’attuale crisi del credito migliorando l’accesso ai finanziamenti bancari e al capitale di rischio (IP/13/1135).
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Innovation in Sicily
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Innovazione in Sicilia
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Sicily is - like most Italian regions – a moderate innovator with an innovation performance below EU average.
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La Sicilia è — come la maggior parte delle regioni italiane — un innovatore moderato con una resa innovativa al di sotto della media dell’UE.
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Its innovation performance has improved in recent years, but it is consistently placed in the category of moderate innovators.
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Anche se la sua capacità di innovazione è migliorata negli ultimi anni, la Sicilia è comunque collocata nella categoria degli innovatori moderati.
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Weaknesses include low business expenditures on research and development (R&D) - less than 40% of that of Piemonte; a low share of population with a higher education and a low number of patent applications.
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Le carenze comprendono: un basso livello di spesa da parte delle imprese in attività di ricerca e sviluppo (R&S) — meno del 40 % di quello del Piemonte, una bassa percentuale di popolazione con un livello di istruzione superiore e un basso numero di domande di brevetto.
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Sicily's relative strengths include marketing and organisational innovations in SMEs and the sales of innovations;
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I punti di forza relativi della Sicilia comprendono le innovazioni nelle PMI nel campo del marketing e dell’organizzazione e le vendite di innovazioni.
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in both categories Sicily's performance is around the EU average.
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Per entrambe le categorie, la performance della Sicilia si colloca intorno alla media UE.
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Against this background, the Vice President will also use this visit to point out funding opportunities which will come out of the new Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
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In questo contesto, il vicepresidente sfrutterà questa visita anche per sottolineare le opportunità di finanziamento che emergeranno dal nuovo programma di ricerca e innovazione Orizzonte 2020.
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For example, a new "SME Instrument" (with the help of the Enterprise Europe Network) will support innovative SMEs, during an entire innovation cycle:
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Per esempio, un nuovo “strumento per le PMI” (con l’aiuto dell’Enterprise Europe Network) sosterrà le PMI innovative, nel corso di un intero ciclo di innovazione:
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from the conception of the innovative idea, to the final creation of the new product or service.
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dalla concezione dell’idea innovativa fino alla realizzazione finale del nuovo prodotto o servizio.
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Companies will then have the responsibility to commercialize their innovations using existing mechanisms of access to finance.
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Sarà poi responsabilità delle imprese commercializzare le loro innovazioni utilizzando i meccanismi esistenti di accesso ai finanziamenti.
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Potential of clusters in Sicily
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Il potenziale dei cluster in Sicilia
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Clusters represent the major centres of specialisation across Europe, and 38% of European employment.
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I cluster rappresentano i maggiori centri di specializzazione in Europa, e forniscono il 38 % dell’occupazione europea.
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A few clusters are active in Sicily notably in the fields of information and communication technologies (e.g. il distretto technologico of the Etna Valley), ceramic, agro-food and fishing products.
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Alcuni cluster sono attivi in Sicilia, in particolare nei settori delle tecnologie dell’informazione e della comunicazione (ad esempio il distretto tecnologico dell’Etna Valley), della ceramica, dell’agroalimentare e dei prodotti della pesca.
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But Sicily can better exploit the potential of clusters to support its economic growth and exports.
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Tuttavia, la Sicilia può sfruttare meglio il potenziale dei cluster per sostenere la sua crescita economica e le sue esportazioni.
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Clusters have the ability to create innovation-friendly ecosystems, facilitating a smooth collaboration between research centres, large enterprises and SMEs.
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I cluster hanno la capacità di creare ecosistemi favorevoli all’innovazione, facilitando una buona collaborazione tra centri di ricerca, grandi imprese e PMI.
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Growth of companies in a cluster is statistically proven to be higher, particularly when there is sound management of the cluster.
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È statisticamente dimostrato che la crescita delle imprese in un cluster è maggiore, in particolare quando è affiancata da una solida gestione.
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Clusters can also facilitate the integration of SMEs in trans-European and cross-sectoral value chains, helping them to find partners not only in their region of origin, but across Europe, in order to develop sophisticated products with a high added value and high export potential.
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I cluster possono inoltre facilitare l’integrazione delle PMI nelle catene di valore trans europee e intersettoriali, aiutandole a trovare partner non solo nella loro regione di origine, ma in tutta Europa, al fine di sviluppare prodotti sofisticati con un elevato valore aggiunto e un elevato potenziale di esportazione.
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By working together, clusters can also multiply individual company offers and therefore the potential of their trade missions in non-EU countries.
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Lavorando insieme, i cluster possono inoltre moltiplicare le offerte delle singole imprese e quindi il potenziale delle loro missioni commerciali in paesi extra UE.
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Using COSME and Horizon 2020 the Commission has put in place various measures to encourage the development of potential cluster organisations and facilitate the bringing together of SMEs who wish to integrate in world-class clusters.
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Utilizzando COSME e Orizzonte 2020, la Commissione ha messo in essere diverse misure per incoraggiare lo sviluppo di potenziali cluster e facilitare l’incontro tra PMI che desiderano integrarsi in cluster di livello mondiale.
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To encourage export collaboration, COSME will be used to encourage clusters to participate in cross-sectoral “European Strategic Cluster partnerships”.
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Per incoraggiare la collaborazione di esportazione, COSME sarà utilizzato per incentivare i cluster a partecipare ai “partenariati strategici europei dei cluster” intersettoriali.
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From 2015 Horizon 2020 will also finance “cluster-facilitated projects for new industrial value chains”.
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A partire dal 2015, Orizzonte 2020 finanzierà anche “progetti di facilitazione dei cluster per nuove catene di valore industriali”.
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While clusters are a fundamental element of the economic ecosystem of EU regions, they do not represent the entire ecosystem.
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I cluster sono un elemento fondamentale dell’ecosistema economico delle regioni dell’UE, ma non rappresentano l’intero ecosistema.
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They need support and integration in the political and strategic development of the regions, and especially in the trans-regional cooperation, in order to be able to fully contribute to the reindustrialisation of Europe.
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Hanno bisogno di sostegno e integrazione nella politica e nello sviluppo strategico delle regioni, e in particolare nella cooperazione transregionale, per essere pienamente in grado di contribuire alla re-industrializzazione dell’Europa.
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Growth and employment issues in Sicily
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Crescita e occupazione in Sicilia
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In 2012 GDP in the Sicilian region decreased by 4.3%, compared to an average of 2.4% for Italy as a whole.
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Nel 2012 il PIL della regione siciliana è diminuito del 4.3 %, rispetto ad una media del 2.4 % per l’Italia nel suo insieme.
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Estimates for first 9 months of 2013 also show a worrying picture for employment:
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Le stime per primi 9 mesi del 2013 evidenziano inoltre un quadro preoccupante per l’occupazione:
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-4.7% of employment in all sectors, and a decrease of 65 000 jobs.
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-4.7 % di occupazione in tutti i settori, e una riduzione di 65 000 posti di lavoro.
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The worst scenario is for young people, as 55.5% of young Sicilians do not have work.
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Il peggiore scenario è quello che interessa i giovani, visto che il 55.5 % dei giovani siciliani non ha lavoro.
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Trade is the most important sector of the economy, with 33% of the total from firms followed by agriculture (23%) and construction (12%).
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Il commercio è il più importante settore dell’economia, con il 33 % del totale delle aziende, seguito dall’agricoltura (23 %) e dall’edilizia (12 %).
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Tourism represents only 5% of farms (?) but it is a growing sector.
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Il turismo rappresenta soltanto il 5 % delle aziende, ma si tratta di un settore in crescita.
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The number of registered businesses in Sicily in 2012 remained broadly stable at around 464 000.
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Nel 2012, il numero delle imprese registrate in Sicilia è rimasto sostanzialmente stabile intorno alle 464 000.
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The first nine months of 2013 showed a decrease in the turnover of the industrial enterprises:
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I primi nove mesi del 2013 hanno registrato una diminuzione del fatturato delle imprese industriali:
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around 40 % of the Sicilian firms had decreased turnover in the first three quarters of 2013, compared to less than 20% reporting an increase.
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il 40 % circa delle aziende siciliane ha registrato una contrazione del fatturato nei primi tre trimestri del 2013, mentre meno del 20 % ha segnalato un aumento.
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However exports increased by 14 %, a better than average dynamic in Italy as a whole (0.6%) and, in particular, in comparison with the Mezzogiorno (- 3.9%).
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Tuttavia le esportazioni sono aumentate del 14 %, una dinamica migliore rispetto alla media italiana (0.6 %) e, in particolare, rispetto al Mezzogiorno (-3.9%).
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Italy’s current internationalisation policies are strongly export-oriented, comprising a wide range of conventional policy instruments (e.g.) export credits, export guarantees, export insurances, grants and soft loans for market feasibility studies or promotional activities, etc.) and support organisations.
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Le attuali politiche per l’internazionalizzazione in Italia sono fortemente orientate all’esportazione, e comprendono un’ampia gamma di politiche tradizionali (ad esempio i crediti all’esportazione, le garanzie e le assicurazioni all’esportazione, sovvenzioni e prestiti agevolati per studi di fattibilità commerciali e attività promozionali, ecc.) e organizzazioni di supporto.
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Overall, the negative economic trends registered in Sicily in 2012, continued into 2013.
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Nel complesso, la tendenza economica negativa riscontrata in Sicilia nel 2012 è proseguita nel 2013.
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However, some positive signals appeared in the latest months of 2013 so it is possible that the situation will improve in 2014.
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Tuttavia, alcuni segnali positivi sono apparsi negli ultimi mesi del 2013. È quindi possibile che la situazione migliori nel 2014.
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The Commission is working hard, via the Missions for Growth and other initiatives, to encourage these faint positive signs and help Sicily's businesses overcome the crisis.
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La Commissione si è impegnata attivamente, mediante le Missioni per la Crescita e altre iniziative, a incoraggiare questi deboli segnali positivi e aiutare le imprese della Sicilia a superare la crisi.
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Missions for Growth
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Missioni per la Crescita
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This mission is part of the series of "Missions for Growth" to help European enterprises, in particular small and medium sized enterprises, to better profit from fast growing international markets.
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La presente missione si inserisce nella serie di “Missioni per la Crescita” volte ad aiutare le imprese europee, in particolare le piccole e medie imprese, a trarre maggiori vantaggi dai mercati internazionali in rapida crescita.
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85 |
The Mission’s overall objective is the enhancement of the growth and competitiveness of European industry by better exploiting growth potential in non-EU countries via the reinforcement of economic co-operation and reforms, helping EU companies to access the Chinese market, as well as deepening of bilateral policy co-operation in various policy fields. |
L’obiettivo generale della Missione è migliorare la crescita e la competitività dell’industria europea, sfruttando meglio il potenziale di crescita dei Paesi terzi mediante il rafforzamento della cooperazione economica e le riforme, aiutando le imprese dell’UE ad accedere al mercato cinese e ad approfondire la cooperazione sulle politiche bilaterali in vari settori strategici. |
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LISTEN WITH READSPEAKER
••
VP Tajani visits Italy's Sicily region to jump-start the recovery of local
SMEs
Like in many regions in the European Union, companies in Sicily have suffered
a lot from the economic crisis over the last years.
To help SMEs in Sicily emerge from the downturn and help them participate in
the next economic growth cycle, the European Commission Vice President Antonio
Tajani is travelling to Palermo today.
They will be accompanied by representatives of about 600 European companies,
who will participate in more than 1300 bilateral meetings with SMEs from Sicily
to form new partnerships and discuss opportunities for collaboration in key
sectors active in the region such as aerospace, agro food, biotechnology and
fashion industries.
This meeting follows on from a similar trip by Vice President Tajani in early
March to Campania.
New markets mean greater business opportunities
The adoption of internationalization strategies is a crucial factor for
companies successfully addressing the crisis in Sicily.
Businesses entering into new markets, while still recording significant
reductions in revenue and investment, have shown more favourable performance
than the others:
while 40% of Sicilian companies registered a decrease in production in the
first months of 2013, this trend was less negative for exporting companies.
It is important that SMEs receive advice on how to export, since it is not
uncommon for first export experiences to be unprofitable.
A central focus of this visit is a therefore a business to business
networking event on 28 March.
Partnerships will be generated between both companies in Sicily and other EU
regions and countries, and also between Sicilian companies and those from
non-European countries.
The event aims to promote partnerships in sectors identified as key
contributors to achieving growth in the region, including:
Agrifood
Maritime industry and fisheries
Intelligent energy
Tourism and cultural heritage
Arts and ceramics
Textile, clothing, fashion
ICT
Biotechnology, biomedical
Construction, green building
Creative Industries
Strategy for growth conference
An important part of this visit will be the Europe 2020 strategy for growth
conference, which Vice President Tajani will open together with the president of
the Sicilian region, Rosario Crocetta.
Issues discussed will include EU financing for business as well as supporting
SME competitiveness and innovation.
Structural and rural funds in Sicily
From 2007-2013, between EU and national funds, Sicily had access to €8.54
billion.
But the last report available (from mid- 2012) highlighted a serious delay in
Sicily in the use of EU funds in particular.
Payments were only made for just over 17 % of the available funds.
The shortcomings identified in the management of funds included the excessive
fragmentation of interventions, the dispersion of resources in small projects
and lack of strategic importance given to the overall development of the island,
deficiencies in the system of checks and the fragmentation of competences.
However in 2011 measures were taken at national level to accelerate the
implementation of the funding programmes.
These resulted in a concentration of assistance in the following areas:
education, the digital agenda, employment and transport.
In Sicily, €350 million are now invested in measures for education and €65
million for tax credits for employment. The latter amount represents more than
45 % of the total budget available for this aspect in the south of Italy.
During the next round of EU Structural Funds, the "Convergence" objective
regions, which includes Sicily, will benefit from a European contribution of
€20.33 billion.
The Italian Government is currently deciding on the breakdown of this amount
among the regions.
The Sicilian rural development plan includes a budget of approximately €2
billion, mainly for improving the competitiveness of the agricultural and
forestry sectors (42 % of the total) and improving environmental and rural
development (42 % of the total).
Use of EU Funds for businesses in Italy
In Italy the Commission, together with the European Investment Bank group, is
already working with over 100 financial intermediaries to help Italian
businesses access financing.
From 2007-2012, EU resources helped to mobilise over €3.5 billion of
guarantees and €1.4 billion of equity to businesses in Italy.This included loan
guarantees for around 40 000 SMEs.
During today's Europe 2020 Strategy for Growth conference the Vice President
will highlight the new €2.3 billion funding program created specifically for
SMEs.
COSME, in operation since the start of 2014, aims to address the main
challenges they are currently facing, such as access to finance, access to
foreign markets, improvement of the business environment and lack of support for
entrepreneurs.
Among other things, this program will help EU enterprises, including those in
Sicily, better deal with the current credit crunch by improving access to bank
financing and venture capital (IP/13/1135).
Innovation in Sicily
Sicily is - like most Italian regions – a moderate innovator with an
innovation performance below EU average.
Its innovation performance has improved in recent years, but it is
consistently placed in the category of moderate innovators.
Weaknesses include low business expenditures on research and development
(R&D) - less than 40% of that of Piemonte; a low share of population with a
higher education and a low number of patent applications.
Sicily's relative strengths include marketing and organisational innovations
in SMEs and the sales of innovations;
in both categories Sicily's performance is around the EU average.
Against this background, the Vice President will also use this visit to point
out funding opportunities which will come out of the new Horizon 2020 research
and innovation programme.
For example, a new "SME Instrument" (with the help of the Enterprise Europe
Network) will support innovative SMEs, during an entire innovation cycle:
from the conception of the innovative idea, to the final creation of the new
product or service.
Companies will then have the responsibility to commercialize their
innovations using existing mechanisms of access to finance.
Potential of clusters in Sicily
Clusters represent the major centres of specialisation across Europe, and 38%
of European employment.
A few clusters are active in Sicily notably in the fields of information and
communication technologies (e.g. il distretto technologico of the Etna Valley),
ceramic, agro-food and fishing products.
But Sicily can better exploit the potential of clusters to support its
economic growth and exports.
Clusters have the ability to create innovation-friendly ecosystems,
facilitating a smooth collaboration between research centres, large enterprises
and SMEs.
Growth of companies in a cluster is statistically proven to be higher,
particularly when there is sound management of the cluster.
Clusters can also facilitate the integration of SMEs in trans-European and
cross-sectoral value chains, helping them to find partners not only in their
region of origin, but across Europe, in order to develop sophisticated products
with a high added value and high export potential.
By working together, clusters can also multiply individual company offers and
therefore the potential of their trade missions in non-EU countries.
Using COSME and Horizon 2020 the Commission has put in place various measures
to encourage the development of potential cluster organisations and facilitate
the bringing together of SMEs who wish to integrate in world-class clusters.
To encourage export collaboration, COSME will be used to encourage clusters
to participate in cross-sectoral "European Strategic Cluster partnerships".
From 2015 Horizon 2020 will also finance "cluster-facilitated projects for
new industrial value chains".
While clusters are a fundamental element of the economic ecosystem of EU
regions, they do not represent the entire ecosystem.
They need support and integration in the political and strategic development
of the regions, and especially in the trans-regional cooperation, in order to be
able to fully contribute to the reindustrialisation of Europe.
Growth and employment issues in Sicily
In 2012 GDP in the Sicilian region decreased by 4.3%, compared to an average
of 2.4% for Italy as a whole.
Estimates for first 9 months of 2013 also show a worrying picture for
employment:
-4.7% of employment in all sectors, and a decrease of 65 000 jobs.
The worst scenario is for young people, as 55.5% of young Sicilians do not
have work.
Trade is the most important sector of the economy, with 33% of the total from
firms followed by agriculture (23%) and construction (12%).
Tourism represents only 5% of farms (?) but it is a growing sector.
The number of registered businesses in Sicily in 2012 remained broadly stable
at around 464 000.
The first nine months of 2013 showed a decrease in the turnover of the
industrial enterprises:
around 40 % of the Sicilian firms had decreased turnover in the first three
quarters of 2013, compared to less than 20% reporting an increase.
However exports increased by 14 %, a better than average dynamic in Italy as
a whole (0.6%) and, in particular, in comparison with the Mezzogiorno (- 3.9%).
Italy’s current internationalisation policies are strongly export-oriented,
comprising a wide range of conventional policy instruments (e.g.) export
credits, export guarantees, export insurances, grants and soft loans for market
feasibility studies or promotional activities, etc.) and support organisations.
Overall, the negative economic trends registered in Sicily in 2012, continued
into 2013.
However, some positive signals appeared in the latest months of 2013 so it is
possible that the situation will improve in 2014.
The Commission is working hard, via the Missions for Growth and other
initiatives, to encourage these faint positive signs and help Sicily's
businesses overcome the crisis.
Missions for Growth
This mission is part of the series of "Missions for Growth" to help European
enterprises, in particular small and medium sized enterprises, to better profit
from fast growing international markets.
The Mission’s overall objective is the enhancement of the growth and
competitiveness of European industry by better exploiting growth potential in
non-EU countries via the reinforcement of economic co-operation and reforms,
helping EU companies to access the Chinese market, as well as deepening of
bilateral policy co-operation in various policy fields.
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