ROMA (ITALPRESS) – The Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy, on the indication of Minister Adolfo Urso, has set up a fund of 50 million at a loss to support the training of staff of SMEs in the Mezzogiorno, in particular, on processes of technological, digital and green transition. They can draw on the resources, which fall within the National Plan “Research, Innovation and Competitiveness for the green and digital transition 2021-2027”, the enterprises of the regions Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Sardinia and Sicily.
As provided for by the Governing Decree of 10 February 2026, applications for incentives must be sent from 21 April to 23 May 2026 to the Invitalia online counter. Training projects, which can also be overregional, will have to be part of the following industrial sectors: aerospace and defence; health, nutrition, quality of life; smart and sustainable industry, energy and environment; tourism, cultural heritage and creative industry; digital agenda, smart communities, smart mobility systems; digital technologies; clean and resource-efficient technologies; biotechnology; green and digital transition processes. A 40% share is intended for automotive, fashion and furniture industries.
The benefits will cover 50% of the eligible expenses to companies registered in the business register – not in voluntary liquidation or subject to competition procedures – which have at least one approved and deposited budget and which are in accordance with the requirements laid down by the Decree-Law on “Emergency measures on catastrophic risk insurance”.
The training courses of staff, lasting a maximum of one year, will have to take place at the company offices of the Mezzogiorno and will have to be taken care of qualified and independent subjects with a proven experience in the field of National Strategy of Intelligent Specialization, Digitization and Ecological Transition.
The eligible costs for the incentive must be between 10,000 and 60,000 euros. Any supraregional projects, which will involve up to ten enterprises of at least two different regions, will benefit from a greater facilitation of 20 points for micro and small enterprises and 10 points for medium-sized enterprises.
The eligible costs include those relating to trainers for hours of participation in training, travel, housing, materials and supplies, depreciation of instruments and equipment, counselling services and, finally, those relating to training participants for hours during which they followed training.
The applications submitted will be evaluated with a ranking of merit based on the score obtained by each project in relation to the number of employees, the proportion of the staff involved, the fields and the training themes, the membership of the enterprises to a network contract that has as object the development and strengthening of the chain of belonging.
-Photo IPA Agency-
(ITALPRESS).
