The government accelerates major European projects of common interest.
Funding for the Ipcei Fund created for microelectronics and extended by the 2020 manoeuvre Microelectronics and batteries. And in the next phase hydrogen technologies, self-driving cars, Internet of Things, cybersecurity. Italy, with a bit of a delay, is trying to finance participation in major projects of common European interest (Ipcei), a good opportunity to promote made-in-Italy supply chains in the most innovative technologies by aggregating several companies around a team leader. After a few empty attempts, the Ministry of Economic Development managed to obtain 950 million within the August decree. Probably not enough, but they unlock some of the work that has been started. Let us go in order. In 2014, a European Commission Communication created a special lane for this type of project, with the possibility for participating states to see substantial state aid authorised in support of private investment. It took more than a few years for France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom to notify the first joint project, in the field of microelectronics, in 2018. For Italy in particular, the aid authorised was 800 million. With the 2019 budget law, however, the government allocated only part of it, 410 million later fully committed to initiatives in five fields entrusted to STMicroelectronics and Fondazione Bruno Kessler: energy-efficient chips, power semiconductors, smart sensors, advanced optical equipment, composite materials.
The European Commission then approved, in December 2019, the first Ipcei on technologies related to the development of innovative batteries, which entails 572 million in state aid for Italy. A second Ipcei on batteries, worth a further EUR 600 million for Italy, should also be approved by 2020. In both cases, Brussels is aiming for a technological leap forward in order to gain a leading position in the production of electrically driven vehicles and the storage of energy from renewable sources. These significant accelerations on the European front prompted the government, with the 2020 Budget Law, to extend the scope of the Fund, which was initially created only for microelectronics, to future Ipcei. But there, Mise only obtained 100 million against an initial request of 1.2 billion for the 2020-2027 period. This brings us to the August decree and the 950 million allocated, which, on balance, might be enough to complete the endowment on microelectronics and partially finance the Batterie 1 project, while it will then be necessary to find new resources for Batterie 2 and for future projects concerning the other strategic value chains identified by Brussels, i.e. hydrogen technologies and systems, 'green' and autonomous cars, smart health, low-carbon industry, the Internet of Things in industry, and cybersecurity. Italy, with a call for expressions of interest by submitting private investment projects, has already collected numerous potential adhesions. For Batteries 1, for example, Mise had mentioned Fca, Enel, Terna, Seri group, among others. For Batteries 2 there would already be a dozen interested companies. The problem, explains one of the technicians working on the dossier, is that, as has already happened in other European countries, it cannot be ruled out that those who apply on the wave of enthusiasm will withdraw, getting bogged down in procedures that are too onerous both in economic terms and in terms of preparatory work. This is especially true for small and medium-sized enterprises, which should be hooked onto the technological supply chain train but run the risk of having neither the structure nor the means to tackle particularly complex programmes even in the management and organisational phase.
Official source: https://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/a-chip-batterie-e-idrogeno-1-miliardo-dl-agosto-ADSLN8j
