The call for ‘Sustainable Investments 4.0‘-promoted by the Ministry of Economic Development (MiSE) and managed by Invitalia-aims to support the technological and digital business transition, including through financing blockchain technology. (1)
The measure is defined in Ministerial Decree 10.2.22, and the deadlines and procedures for submitting applications are set out in the subsequent Directorial Decree 12.4.22 (2,3). However, references to SMEs appear to be plethoric in the face of the substantial minimum investment required.
Available funds
The total funds provided for the call are €677,875,519.57, divided into:
1) €250,207,123.57 for Central-Northern Regions (Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Marche, Piedmont, Tuscany, Valle d’Aosta, Veneto, Umbria, and the Autonomous Provinces of Bolzano and Trento),
2) €427,668,396 for the regions of the Mezzogiorno (Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Apulia, Sicily and Sardinia regions)
25% is reserved for micro and small enterprises. Beneficiaries are SMEs, defined as follows in Recommendation 2003/361/EC:
Eligible investment thresholds are as follows, with the following facilities:
In both cases, investments must not exceed80 percent of the turnover of the last approved and filed budget. For Zone A only, there is a surcharge on the facility of 5 percent if the programs are completed within 9 months from the date the facilities are granted. Higher amounts may be provided for the submitted programs, but are not covered by the facility. Facilities cannot be combined with other public facilities that qualify as state aid. (6)
Eligible programs
Eligible programs are those that involve the implementation of innovative, sustainable investments with high technological content consistent with the national Transition 4.0 plan, through the use of technologies listed in Annex 1 to the announcement. (7)
Programs characterized by a high level of sustainability will be subject to specific evaluation criteria, allowing the proposing company to obtain additional points. The parameters under specific evaluation are:
– Transition to circular economy, as required in Annex 2,
– Improvement in energy sustainability, as shown in Annex 3, with energy savings for a production unit of not less than 10 percent compared to consumption in the previous year (date of application submission).
Programs adopted to comply with regulatory constraints or administrative requirements are not eligible, except where these do not generate
energy savings
additional up to 20% of the values provided by constraints and prescriptions.
The economic activities to which the funds are allocated are shown in Appendix 4. It is important that investments be directed to one of the following functions in the country:
– Expansion of production capacity,
– Diversification of production functional to obtain products never previously manufactured,
– Fundamental change in the production process of aproduction unit or implementation of a new production unit (taking into consideration aspects on energy saving).
Eligible expenses
Eligible expenses are those functional for the purchase of new tangible and intangible assets, covering:
– machinery, plant and equipment, together with computer programs and licenses for their use (if any),
– Masonry works (maximum 40% of total eligible costs),
– Acquisition of environmental certifications. (8)
Expenditures are not allowed:
– Supported through the leasing system,
– related to internal orders,
– related to second-hand machinery, plant and equipment,
– Relating to the purchase or lease of land and buildings,
– of operation, including those for stocks of raw materials, semi-finished goods, finished goods and consumables of any kind,
– for consultancy and professional services, including notary fees, except as provided on consultancy directed to the establishment of energy diagnostics with the aim of implementing energy-saving solutions,
– related to the training of personnel employed by the proponent, even where strictly related to fixed assets under the program,
– Attributable to taxes and fees,
– pertaining to goods whose installation is not planned at the production unit covered by the program,
– Related to the purchase of license plate vehicles,
– attributable to expenditure titles whose amount is less than 500 (five hundred) euros exclusive of VAT.
Submission of application
Programs must be started after the submission of the application and not provide for a deadline later than 12 months from the date of the order granting the facilities. Program startup is considered in the following cases:
– Date of commencement of construction work related to the investment,
– date of the first legally binding commitment in connection with the acquisition of fixed assets or other commitment that makes the investment irreversible.
Appendix 5 shows the list of scores awarded to proposals. An enterprise may submit only one application for relief unless it has been rejected.
The application for facilitation in Italian language can be submitted exclusively through the IT procedure on Invitalia ‘s website page dedicated to ‘Sustainable Investments 4.0‘-from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday-as of 18.5.22.
The deadlines and procedures for submitting applications for facilitation, along with the documentation to be submitted in support of them, as well as additional elements to define the proper implementation of the facilitation intervention, are contained in a special provision and its annexes. (9)
Sustainable investment 4.0, the blockchain
Blockchain is one of 11 enabling technologies that have been identified in the Transition 4.0 plan to foster the technological and digital transformation of the enterprise. Failure to implement any of these technologies will result in immediate exclusion from the benefits provided by the call. The definition given within it is as follows:
‘Informationtechnologies and protocols that use a shared, distributed, replicable, simultaneously accessible, architecturally decentralized ledger on a cryptographic basis, such that data can be recorded, validated, updated, and stored both in the clear and further protected by encryption that is verifiable by each participant, unalterable, and unchangeable.’
WIISE Chain is the blockchain public that can fully meet the requirements of the notice and fully comply as a technological solution that can make production processes more sustainable and circular, such as strengthening industrial symbiosis for a systemic approach to reduce, recycle and reuse food waste, recycle raw materials, or make the production cycle more efficient (as listed in Annex 2 of the Ministerial Decree Feb. 10, 2022).
Concluding notes
‘Sustainable Investment 4.0‘ is an opportunity not to be missed, to make the transition to new, more efficient and sustainable technologies easier, and to avoid falling behind in a context of recovery and continuous market evolution.
In the food system, blockchain is an innovative, cost-effective and efficient solution that the large pioneer Walmart has been investing in for several years and is now being widely promoted directly by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA, USA) as a new paradigm to ensure food safety and quality. (10)
Andrea Adelmo Della Penna
Notes
(1) Ministry of Economic Development. Sustainable Investment 4.0. https://www.mise.gov.it/index.php/it/incentivi/impresa/investimenti-sostenibili-4-0
(2) Ministry of Economic Development. Decree Feb. 10, 2022 – Establishment of an aid scheme for the support, throughout the country, of innovative and sustainable investments proposed by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, aimed in particular at fostering technological and digital transformation, transition to the circular economy paradigm and energy sustainability. OJ 2.4.22, General Series no. 78, https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/2022/04/02/22A02042/sg
(3) MiSE. Directorial Decree April 12, 2022 – Sustainable Investment 4.0. Deadlines and procedures for submitting applications https://bit.ly/3OtncEi
(4) Regions Molise, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Apulia, Sicily and Sardinia.
(5) Regions Abruzzo, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Marche, Piedmont, Tuscany, Trentino Alto-Adige, Umbria, Valle d’Aosta, and Veneto
(6) Refers to aid notified under Art. 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
(7) See note 2
(8) See Civil Code, Article 2432.
(9) See note 3
(10) Dario Dongo. Blockchain agribusiness, from Walmart to FDA in the US, Wiise Chain in Italy. Toward Web 3. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 9.2.22, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/blockchain-agroalimentare-da-walmart-alla-fda-in-usa-wiise-chain-in-italia-verso-il-web-3
Graduated in Food Technologies and Biotechnologies, qualified food technologist, he follows the research and development area. With particular regard to European research projects (in Horizon 2020, PRIMA) where the FARE division of WIISE Srl, a benefit company, participates.
