Open Innovative PMI Award 2018

The deadline for submitting applications to participate in the 2nd edition of the Open Innovative PMI Award is 7 October 2018. The award, devised and promoted by Bernoni Grant Thornton, is the first initiative in Italy dedicated exclusively to innovative SMEs.

An independent panel of experts including representatives of institutions, academia and the business community will analyse the projects submitted by the applicants and select a winner for each of the three categories: Technology&Research, 10+ years and Young Players.

Each winner will be awarded with Euro 10,000 worth of services by Bernoni Grant Thornton and Grant Thornton Financial Advisory Services. The prize-giving ceremony will take place on 15 November 2018 at Palazzo Mattei di Giove, the seat of Centro Studi Americani in Rome.

The ceremony will be preceded by a conference during which the 2018 report by the dedicated SMEs observatory (Osservatorio PMI Innovative) will be presented, drafted by Bernoni Grant Thornton professionals with the support of the Department of Economics and Management of the University of Pisa.

The Observatory aims to analyse and study the trends of this specific group of businesses, in order to highlight the demographic, economic, assets, organisational and strategic dynamics of Innovative SMEs. The 2017 report showed that 79% of innovative SMEs are limited liability companies (S.r.l.), most of which operating in the services industry and that 59% of them have a value of production lower than one million Euro, whereas only 7.6% exceed 10 million Euros. Significant are instead their investments in research and development: 88% of innovative SMEs invest over 3% in innovation.

Only businesses registered with the dedicated register held at the Italian Chamber of Commerce can submit their applications to take part in the award. At 24 September 2018, the register included total 874 businesses (+35% compared with 30 September 2017).

Alessandro Dragonetti, Co-Managing Partner and Head of Tax of Bernoni Grant Thornton, declared: “We are promoting this award for the second year in a row to help put innovative SMEs in the spotlight, as this particular business structure with a marked propensity to innovation is still little known.

Technological innovation and training of entrepreneurs are key for the valorisation of this Italian excellence, which can be considered as one of the drivers of the development of our Country. Giving visibility to businesses with a high growth potential, promoting a culture of research and fostering collaboration to encourage open innovation processes are just some of the targets we want to reach”.

The award is sponsored by the Department for European Policies, AIFI (Italian Private Equity, Venture Capital and Private Debt Association), ANDAF (Italian Association of CFOs) and CRUI (Conference of Italian University Rectors).

What it takes to be an Innovative SME

In order to qualify as an innovative SME and register with the Chamber of Commerce, businesses need to have some characteristics required by law:

Besides complying with the typical SMEs parameters (less than 250 employees and yearly turnover not exceeding 50 million Euros), businesses must not be listed on regulated markets, their legal form must be that of a joint stock company, they must be resident in Italy or in the European Union and have their financial statements audited.

Furthermore, they need to have at least two of the following requirements:

• at least 3% of the higher between costs and total value of production invested in R&D activities;
• total staff including at least 1/5 of PhD, doctoral students or researchers with 3 year experience, or at least 1/3 of people having a Master’s Degree;
• be the holder, depository or licensee of industrial property rights relevant to their corporate object or holder of rights on a registered software.

Please visit www.openinnovativepmi.it for additional information on the award.