Structural Funds support technological innovation in Italy
SMEs in Southern Italy will benefit from four grants and a technical assistance programme recently approved by the Commission under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This Community assistance, which totals ECU 83 million, will support technological innovation in SMEs, by providing them with services, modernising their information and management control systems and building infrastructure. The four grants are allocated as follows: - A total of ECU 57 million for development around the port of Gioia Tauro, of which ECU 20 million is from the ERDF, ECU 20 million from national funding and ECU 17 million from private funding, will assist service-sector initiatives linked to industrial, port or import or export activities; - The second project totals ECU 25 million, half of which will come from the ERDF and the other half from private sources, and will fund 600 audits and 334 direct measures to assist SMEs in technological innovation throughout the Mezzogiorno; - A third project for the eight Mezzogiorno regions will support SMEs in the clothing and food sectors, ECU 17 million coming from the ERDF and ECU 8.5 million from private sources; - The fourth project amounts to ECU 22.3 million, of which ECU 12.9 million comes from the ERDF and ECU 9.4 million from private funding, will aid crisis-hit farming and industrial areas in Sicily. The Commission has also adopted a technical assistance programme, costing around ECU 30.7 million in total, of which ECU 21.5 million will come from the ERDF. This will be implemented by the Italian government and will aim to: - Improve the way the Italian Objective 1 Community support framework 1994-1999 is managed and monitored; - Carry out the information and publicity measures needed to heighten awareness of Structural Funds assistance in Italy; - Prepare the next Community support framework (post 1999); - Carry out a census of public infrastructure works completed in the Mezzogiorno; - Increase the transparency of public funding flows by improving the public accounts system.
Countries
Italy