Investing in new technologies and being able to continuously innovate thecompany become objectives no longer optional but mandatory to remain on themarket, both for large and small. But if the first ones have the resources andthe structures to move autonomously, the small companies need in many cases tobe accompanied towards this new form of competitiveness. Mariano Rigotto,president of Apindustria Confimi Vicenza, whose association is focusedprecisely on the answers to be given to the needs of SMEs in the field oftechnological transformation, is convinced of this.
How are you moving to bringdigitization issues to businesses?
Support for innovation in the area's SMEs is a commitment that we pursue onseveral fronts: on the one hand, initiatives to update and provide in-depthinformation to entrepreneurs, and on the other, more long-term projects. On thefirst front, we should mention the information and awareness-raising activitieswe carry out with "Entrepreneurs' Wednesdays". These are necessarilywebinars, which for this reason we also call "WEBnesday", which takeplace precisely on Wednesday afternoons on various topics of interest to thosewho do business: those that we will deal with in the next meetings will concernSmart Manufacturing, funded calls for business and information security.
A service that we have activated to promote the spread of 4.0 technologies,on the basis of an agreement with the Order of Experts of Vicenza, concerns therealization of the reports that are used to benefit from incentives oninvestments made.
Then there is the second aspect, that linked to more long-term projects.Last year, together with the CPV, the Universities of Padua, Bolzano andKlagenfurt and other Italian and Austrian partners, we signed an agreement forthe creation of a Reference Center on the theme of mass customization withinthe project "Mass Customization 4.0" with a total value of about 1million euros, funded by the European Regional Development Fund and InterregV-A Italy-Austria 2014-2020.
What is the target audienceyou are addressing?
The target is SMEs active in the production of systems and products for thebuilding and smart living supply chain, providing training and support servicesfor the development of MC 4.0 technologies. This activity will continue evenafter the formal conclusion of the project, as a center of competence able toaggregate further companies interested in the topic.
Is this a way of providing innovation responses to companies that, due totheir size, may not always be able to equip themselves with the necessaryskills and resources?
Yes. The ability to innovate is essential to remain competitive, butcertain innovations require skills and capital that are difficult forindividual companies to reach: this project will therefore allow us to open upnew horizons for those small and medium-sized companies that are sensitive toinnovation, but to develop it they need to work in a network with othercompanies and structures that already have the necessary skills.
Digitization is also an issuethat needs specific skills and professionalism. It's about finding them...
Supporting innovation also means favoring the growth of workers who possessadequate skills. In this sense, in the medium and long term, there is also aproject of orientation towards scientific and technological subjects, promotedby the Women's Group of our association and strongly supported by PresidentAlice Borsetto. The recipients are girls of the second and fourth year of somehigh schools in Vicenza, to which will be proposed practical activities: theywill participate in experiential laboratories, they will touch tools andequipment, they will do experiments, they will confront with researchers,experts and mentors, they will take up a "challenge" that will belaunched to them, they will organize themselves into small groups and proposesolutions that they will have to expose to a jury of experts and companies.
An opportunity to develop thedialogue between schools, universities and businesses?
Of course. After all, the ability to innovate also depends on the skillsavailable in the area. Hence the special attention paid to school orientation.On this front, we have launched the project, "Girls&Science",which aims to bring together two current and priority themes: the developmentof the local economic system in the field of scientific-technologicalinnovation and the increase in female employment in scientific-technologicalfields. This is in addition to the many other activities that we carry out inschool guidance and school-business partnership.
Issues that, I understand, yousee going in parallel for the future....
These issues are closely intertwined. Today, companies are alreadystruggling to find personnel with highly specialized technical skills, and thisdifficulty is likely to become even more acute in the future. Hence the needfor an increase in the involvement of women in technical roles in companies,roles that are still primarily a male prerogative. This involvement would alsohave great social value, as many of the jobs we will find in 2030 will havesignificant digital-technical-scientific content, and the failure to involvewomen risks further increasing gender inequality in the labor market.
