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The day opened with the conference "The management of the finance area for the mid-market in the Covid-19 era”During which the opportunities and management risks for companies in this critical phase conditioned by the pandemic were discussed. They discussed itAlessandro Dragonetti, Head of Tax di Grant Thornton eSante Maiolica, partner di Grant Thornton Financial Advisory Services per l’area M&A.

Giulio Greco, professor of the Department of Economics and Management of the University of Pisa presented the report during the appointment 2020 dell’Open Innovative PMI Observatory, created by Grant Thornton in collaboration with theUniversity of Pisa, an analysis that frames the trend of Italian Innovative SMEs.

The winners of this fourth edition of the Prize are:

• Echolight S.p.A. in the category "Search, innovation and digital”. Echolight, based in Lecce, is a high-tech biomedical company established for the development of innovative medical devices for the diagnosis of osteoporosis and related bone diseases.
• Angiodroid Srl in the category "Resilience to Covid-19”. Angiodroid is a Bolognese company that has developed a contrast form injector for angiographs in gaseous rather than liquid form, based on the use of carbon dioxide, the only contrast agent that does not involve an allergic reaction.
• Nanoprom Chemicals Srl in the category "Environmental sustainability”. Entrepreneurial reality based in the province of Reggio Emilia among the first in Italy to believe in research and commercial application of nanomaterials.

The three companies, which have distinguished themselves for their propensity to innovate, for the environmental performance and the excellent economic results achieved in Italy and abroad, have been awarded, in addition to formal recognition, the premium consisting of 10.000 euros to be used in Grant Thornton's professional tax and advisory services.

The applications were evaluated by onefree and independent jury – composed of experts from the business world, university professors and institutional representatives – which took into consideration two parameters in particular: relevance to the registration category and innovative and economic performance. The latter evaluated in the time frame since the company was founded and particularly observing the development dynamics subsequent to the recognition of the status of innovative SME.

Alessandro Dragonetti, Head of Tax di Grant Thornton he has declared: "The significant increase in percentage of Innovative SMEs is an excellent sign of the sector's dynamism; however, we still note the need for greater awareness of the advantages and opportunities that the category within the Register entails. In fact, just under 2 thousand companies registered in the Register out of about 20 thousand that we estimate in Italy have the characteristics to fall into the 'innovative' category. IS, according to law, this category of companies would have access to some of the same regulatory benefits, tax, contributive, bureaucracy provided for Innovative Startups.

Why give up on simplifications and reduction of opening costs, tax relief for companies and investors, facilitated hiring, preferential access to credit?  Certainly, registration in the Register represents an important lever for our small businesses that look to the future in a modern key and with the potential to occupy a strategic role in the Italian economic system. It should therefore be further promoted and supported. And in this context, an important role is played by consultants who are called upon to raise awareness among their customers on the importance of the opportunity offered by the MISE ".

Coming in more detail to the results recorded byObservatory by Grant Thornton and University of Pisa, first of all it emerges thatin the last year the number of Innovative SMEs(1) grew by 40%; they are indeed 567 the "new" companies registered in the appropriate register (between October 2019 and September 2020) against the 432 of the previous period.

However, about five years after the creation of the register, the number of innovative SMEs still appears limited compared to the potential pool: they are in fact little more than 1.700 (1.732(2)) "official" Innovative SMEs, while it is likely that in Italy the SMEs with the required requirements are in the tens of thousands.

The significant growth in the number of SMEs registered in the last year is still to be considered limited if we consider the repeated interventions of the legislator on the benefits that this category of company could enjoy. Among the latest interventions we can mention those of the Decree 7 May 2019 dedicated to incentives for start-ups and innovative SMEs and those provided for in the April relaunch decree 2020. The latter has allocated a venture capital support fund with an endowment of 200 million euros for the exclusive benefit of start-ups and innovative SMEs.

A share equal to 200 million euros from the resources already allocated to the Central Guarantee Fund for SMEs specifically dedicated to the provision of guarantees in favor of innovative startups and innovative SMEs. Finally, capitalization incentives have been provided with important personal income tax deductions for investors up to 50% compared to the amount of the investment.

Moreover, it is worth mentioning how some of the innovation incentive policies, such as the tax credit for research and development activities, the hyper-depreciation "Enterprise 4.0", he Patent Box, o "innovation manager" vouchers, they do not benefit innovative SMEs only, but from a wider audience of companies.

The Innovative SMEs Observatory 2020 shows how most innovative SMEs, about two thirds, are of a size attributable to the category of micro-enterprises, with a turnover below the threshold of 2 million euro. Less than10% of companies is attributable to the category of medium-sized enterprises (turnover exceeding 10 million and less than 50), while the remainder are small businesses (between 2 e i 10 million in turnover).

Average seniority, among the new members is approx9 years. Moreover, for some companies there could be the problem of remaining registered in the register in a few years, in consideration of the more stringent requirements set recently on the permanence among innovative SMEs. Innovative SMEs on the market for more than 7 but less than 10 years may remain in the register, if they have not yet sufficiently demonstrated the potential to generate returns.

At the territorial level, on a regional basis, the Lombardy, with148 almost (beyond the 26% of the total), presents the largest number of companies registered in the Register in the last year. They follow theLazio with 65, l’Emilia Romagna with 57, theCampania with 52, theTuscany with 38 and theVeneto with 36, while all the other regions are at much lower values.

At the provincial level, instead, the largest number of "new Innovative SMEs" is aMilano, with 122 companies registered in the last year (+54% compared to the last survey), followed byRoma with 58 registered companies (+100%) and to followNaples with 26 (+86%).

With reference todemographic characteristics the MISE database highlights that over 80% of New SMEs are mainly composed of adult men and mostly of Italian nationality. Cases of ownership and governance in which there is a prevalence of young people, female or foreign are more limited. As part of the ownership structure, we have, for example, a "prevalence of youth" only in 6,53% of cases, a "female prevalence" of 8.82% and a prevalence of ownership and / or foreign management "only" for 1.94% of the cases examined.

The second part of the Report, dedicated toanalysis of the economic-financial data of Innovative SMEs, it generally shows good results in terms of turnover and economic-financial performance. Innovative SMEs registered aaverage increase in turnover of 15% in the two-year period 2018-2019. If we take into consideration only the innovative SMEs that have had an increase in turnover, the average is +30%.

It is also observed how theaverage shareholders' equity is approximately 1,9 million euro. However, the average is raised by medium-sized companies. Indeed, half of the companies have a net worth of less than one million euros and 85% is less than 1,3 millions.

Instead, it is highlighted as in76,45% in some cases the companies recorded a positive EBITDA, demonstrating the fact that the majority of the sample observed is in economic equilibrium.

Regardingthe business sectors of the "new registered SMEs", the largest groups are those active in the service sector, followed by that of industry / crafts. Against, there are few cases of companies qualified as Innovative SMEs operating in the trade sector.

More in detail, within the service sector, the most "lively" reference segments can be highlighted and those are those that appeal toinformatica, all’electronics, tointermediate products, tochemistry and topharmaceutical and therenon-financial services. These sectors, which together represent about the 90% of the innovative SMEs observed, are among the sectors that could be less affected by the very serious crisis triggered by Covid 19.

By comparing the research data of the Observatory with the estimates of theCerved Industry Forecast (May 2020), relating to the impact of the Covid crisis on company turnover, in uno scenario soft, for the sectors mentioned above, we would see an overall average decline in turnover in 2020 (compared to 2019) of10,4%, with an average rebound of10,3% in 2021 (compared to 2020).

Overall, comparing the estimates, in a soft scenario, the1% about the turnover between 2019 and the 2021. In uno scenario hard, for the sectors mentioned above, we would see an overall average decline in turnover in 2020 (compared to 2019) of14,9%, with an average rebound of15,3% in 2021 (compared to 2020).

Overall, comparing the 2019 and the 2021 in a hard scenario you would lose just under 2% of turnover. In conclusion, innovative SMEs could therefore show a good degree of resilience to the crisis and show themselves ready to exploit opportunities.

The Conference, the Award and the "Open Innovative SMEs" Observatory are part of a broader project that aims to enhance Italian innovation by giving visibility to this specific type of business, protagonist of the Italian entrepreneurial panorama but still little known.The initiative has in fact the objective of supporting and supporting the development and innovative SMEs, facilitating the knowledge of the advantages of a fiscal nature, corporate and financial regulations required by current legislation and exclusively dedicated to innovative SMEs duly registered in the appropriate section of the Business Register held by the Chamber of Commerce.

To consult the report of the Observatory, we recommendclick here.

(1) According to the legislation, to be qualified as an Innovative SME, a company must meet at least two of these three requirements.

1. at least the 3% of the greater between costs and total value of production concerns research and development activities;
2. a team formed for 1/3 by personnel with a master's degree or for 1/5 by PhD students, PhDs or graduates with 3 years of experience in certified research;
3. company that is the custodian or licensee of at least one patent or owner of registered software.

(2) Official data of the Chamber of Commerce, updated to 9 November 2020.http://startup.registroimprese.it/isin/static/pminnovative/index.html?slideJump=31

[Source: www.bgt-grantthornton.it]