Applications are now open for the Open Innovative PMI Award

The first national award dedicated exclusively to innovative SMEs, devised and organised by Grant Thornton. Applications open until 30 September 2020.

Milan, 1 September 2020 – Applications are now open to take part in the fourth edition of the Open Innovative PMI Award, the first national award exclusively dedicated to innovative SMEs, devised and organised by Grant Thornton, the Italian member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd, a global network of firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services, with more than 56,000 people in over 140 countries.

The Award is part of the wider Open Innovative PMI multidisciplinary project, aimed at promoting the best Italian innovation and giving greater visibility to SMEs, as a specific type of company.

The project is intended to spread a culture of innovation and, thus, is also aimed at bigger companies, investors and to the Italian innovation ecosystem as a whole, of which it wants to represent a meeting point. To this end, the Open Innovative PMI project is based on a dedicated web platform, www.openinnovativepmi.it, consisting of six different but interconnected sections: the Award, the Conference, the Observatory, the Academy, the Incubator and the News.

Applications to the award are free of charge. All SMEs recorded in the dedicated section of the Companies Register held at the Italian Chamber of Commerce can submit their applications, as well as those SMEs in the process of registering, provided that - as at 20 October 2020 - they meet all the conditions required by the Law to be considered Innovative SMEs.

The Award comprises three categories:

• Research, innovation and digital: dedicated to all SMEs whose economic and/or operational component is mainly dependent on their Research & Development activity and/or from technological applications;
• Covid-19 resilience: exclusively dedicated to innovative SMEs which managed to face the Covid-19 emergency by adapting their organisation and possibly by reshaping it in order to safeguard their people’s health, strengthen their production capacity or the capacity to render their services and manage their finances;
• Environmental sustainability: exclusively dedicated to innovative SMEs which adopted sustainable development practices, keeping into account the link existing between the organisation and the environment (through the use renewable energy sources, the improvement of the internal working environment, the enhancement of the employees’ wellbeing and the diffusion of safe and reliable working conditions and methodologies).

Applications will be examined by an independent panel of experts, made up of representative of the Italian academic world and business community, which will identify the finalist businesses. The winner in each category will receive from Grant Thornton services for a value of ten thousand Euros, to be used within one year.

Applications are to be submitted by filling in the online form on the dedicated website by 30 September 2020. The awarding ceremony will be held on 11 November 2020 in Rome at the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) (national research council).

For further information on the regulation please contact:

direzionepremio@bgt.it.gt.com