SUPPORTING THE INNOVATIVE AND RESEARCH ACTIVITIES OF EARTHQUAKE-AFFECTED COMPANIES

 

The selection of projects is complete for contributions from the Fund set up with Confindustria Emilia-Romagna to support the innovative and research activities of SMEs affected by the earthquakes which struck in May 2012.

The Fund, totalling € 300,000, was established using the donation from Marposs SpA, which benefitted from economic resources linked to the moratorium on bank loans made available to companies operating in the earthquake-hit area. Since it was not damaged, Marposs decided to channel those resources into innovation projects by SMEs in the territory.

The initiative was made possible thanks to the cooperation of BNL Gruppo BNP Paribas, the bank with which the company has a solid relationship.

The projects were selected by an independent evaluation panel coordinated by Confindustria Emilia-Romagna Ricerca (regional Confederation of Italian Industry, Research area), Centro per l'innovazione della Rete Regionale Alta Tecnologia (Centre for Innovation of the Regional High Technology Network).
The winning projects were selected based on the competition criteria "project excellence, project impact, quality and efficiency of implementation" - the same used by the European Union for the 2020 Horizon Programme. Companies which will benefit from the fund:

- Retinae Srl (Funo di Argelato, Bologna province)
- Nevicolor SpA (Luzzara, Reggio Emilia province)
- Akkutrack Srl (Crevalcore, Bologna province)
- Methodo Chemicals Srl (Novellara, Reggio Emilia province)
- Open1 Srl (Ferrara).

The competition was open to SMEs, individually or in groups, operating in one of the Emilia-Romagna municipalities affected by the earthquake. The announcement of competition was published on 10 February 2014 and the deadline was 14 April.

14 proposals were submitted, from which the five companies were selected, which will receive a contribution of between € 50,000 and € 70,000 to implement the projects.

The individual agreements for the start of the projects and granting of financing are being signed with the beneficiary companies.