The Stellantis case was not enough to set Italian economic policy on fire. Transition Plan 5.0 is also now in jeopardy. An industrial plan that responds to Europe’s clear requests for innovation and sustainability, and which Italy has also undertaken to implement at national level to develop and complete. Twin transfer.twin transitions: that Digital And that Energy. That alone, in the face of ruthless competition from other parts of the world – from Asia to Latin America to Arab countries – can ensure competitiveness and growth for the country’s system.
Risks of the 5.0 transition of Italian companies
But, now, the process that should lead Italian companies to Transition 5.0 can stop. The alarm goes off. IsolumbardaWhich he said through his words on the occasion of the Assembly of October 21, 2024 yesterday. President Alessandro Spada Condemned: “Continuing to ignore the three fundamental pillars of transition – technological neutrality, scientific objectivity and gradualism – certainly risks the market exit of core sectors of our industry”.
And it’s not just automotive, he explains, but also, citing Lombardy above all, metallurgy, agri-food, packaging and waste treatment. “Without these industries we will not reach the recycling targets imposed by Europe. Targets that we, more than anyone else, are at the forefront of.”
He praises the “entrepreneurs of this area,” who, he says, “are the real innovators, the pioneers of sustainability. Environmental sustainability, of course, but at the same time economic and social. For us, sustainability is not an obstacle or There’s no legal liability. It’s a real competitive advantage.”
Remember that in Milan, for example, they do it with the first technology to recover any metal, including rare materials, from wastewater. Or even with the first centrifugal pump that turns non-recyclable plastic into bio-oil. In Monza and Brianza, as far as Pavia, they do it with an ecosystem of nature regeneration, “with hectares and hectares of land for biodiversity”. And from Pavia to Lodi, again, with one of the most important national centers for the recovery of used oil and solvents.
Assolombarda: “We need a common European fund for Transition 5.0”
But all this is not enough. According to Spada, to meet the challenges of change and competition with the US and China, First, there is a need for a common fund at the European level. “And then it needs to be equal”. He cited the Chips Act, which aims to increase Europe’s share of global semiconductor production from 10% to 20% by 2030.
“The right direction. But the EU is expected to invest more than $260 billion, which is almost 6 times the amount announced by Brussels and which is largely up to the finances of the member states. President van der Leyen said that in the first 100 days of the new Commission’s mandate, the Clean Industrial Deal will be presented as an integral part of Europe’s green strategy. A truly industrial environmental transition” And he warns: “In this plan, either there will be a realistic and achievable paradigm shift in existing plans, or The threat of industrial desert It will be solid.”
Compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, so before the pandemic, he notes, in the second quarter of this year Italy increased its investment in machinery and plants by 10.1% in real terms. In Spain they fell by 4.5%, in France by 4% and in Germany by 9.9%. Also thanks to the Industry 4.0 plan, Italy has increased its share of investment in machinery and technologies in GDP from 6.1% in 2014 to 7.2% in 2019 and 7.6% in 2023.
“This was the real secret of our industrial potential. A few days ago, the president of France’s digitalization council said that the entrepreneurs in the world who have inspired him the most are from Lombardy. Europe still has a lot to do to become competitive. To be done: Mario Draghi estimates that additional investment of around 800 billion a year is about 5 percent of European GDP and more than a third of Italian GDP.
Spada also aims directly at “European raw material gap“: “Europe, for that matter, is too dependent on imports”, the European Commission has pointed out. 34 CriticismsFrom nickel to silicon to rare earths. More than a third of these materials come from China as the main supplier, at prices that competitors can’t keep up with. “So – before anything else – we must. Reduce requirements through recycling and circulation.which is one of our strengths, rather Providing diversity e As much as possible, increase productivity European”.
Instead, the Minister for Business and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, in the Isolumbrada Assembly, appeared calm and confident to calm things down. “Transition 5.0? This is the only measure that puts two transitions together, the green one and the digital one.” He recalled. “Transition 5.0 was born from a renegotiation with Europe: we negotiated in Europe how to measure, it was not an easy thing. We took 17 billion from chapters that do not bring development. And we transferred them. 9 billion 70 million rupees have come to Lombardy in an Italy that is doing well, a country that, in this historical context, is at war. In an encircled Europe, doing better than other European nations.”
According to Urso The Italian Problem “There’s Only One”: il Energy costVery expensive compared to other European competitors. And they assure that the Maloney government and they are dealing with “our problem” first. “By the end of the year we will create a legislative framework to ensure that they can also be installed in Italy. Advanced third generation and fourth generation reactors“A key promise, binding on many companies in one way or another, if it goes through.
Another very hot topic addressed at the Isolombrada Assembly is nuclear energy. Spada strongly reiterates that nuclear energy “guarantees the highest energy production with the lowest CO2 emissions and allows us to deal with geopolitical risks”. He describes it as “an important priority”: 2/3 of the national energy needs come from northern Italy, which can rely less on some renewable sources, such as wind power.
Remember how 11 new nuclear reactors were approved in China a few weeks ago and their construction is expected to take 5 years. “We appreciate the government’s commitment to reach a legal framework by the end of the year, as well as Mimit’s commitment to build an Italian nuclear with foreign technical partnership for third-generation reactors. However, sound financial and operational planning is also required.”
Nuclear energy as “an essential source along with natural gas, renewables and hydrogen” to ensure the transition strategy. Meanwhile, the study – he adds – says that 20 small modular reactor plants will lead to 50 billion euros of additional GDP, enabling 117 thousand jobs from 2030 to 2050.
Let’s not forget that in recent months we’ve seen announcements from companies like Amazon and Microsoft that they plan to use nuclear energy to power their data centers. Microsoft wants to bet more than 4 billion on Italy. “That means we need to develop a series of permits for construction, infrastructure and energy permits, data centers. The U.S. is doing that.”
“The priority is infrastructure and business, not hyper-regulation” Spada concluded. “The data confirms an impressive delay compared to the US. The three main US cloud operators have more than 65% of the global market, but also the European market. Europe’s largest cloud operator accounts for just 2% of the EU market. For frontier topics, such as quantum technologies, European companies receive only 5% of global private funding, compared to 50% for US companies. Bureaucracy is an unbearable price for technological progress. For large companies, for SMEs, for startups”.
Confindustria has also been asking for a review of Transition Plan 5.0 for some time. Speaking at the Young Entrepreneurs Conference in Capri a few weeks ago, the president of the industrialists, Emmanuel Orsini, called for a simplification of the forced program: to open it up to investments starting in 2023. For Industry 4.0 incentives and haven’t built a plant yet, Transition 5.0 can use incentives, perhaps by changing the plant, paying attention to environmental needs,” he says. “I believe it could be a fast pace. is what helps businesses.”
Tomorrow, Wednesday October 23, Confindustria will meet with Minister Urso to demand clarifications and immediate intervention. Among the issues on the table: the time horizon of investment, strict limits imposed by DNSH, the ban on pooling with other EU-funded incentives, indicating a counterfactual scenario. Difficulties Specific applications also belong to the construction, transport and agro-processing sectors.
