Good practice:

Manufacturing and Work 4.0 call.

With this call, the Marche Region intended to promote processes of technological and digital innovation with a view to Industry 4.0 of MSMEs supporting new tangible and intangible investments capable of producing an impact on their value chain and strengthening the competitiveness of the regional production system.
The process of technological and digital innovation in MSMEs has been closely linked to the enhancement of the companies’ personnel expertise and resources. The aim was to put at the centre of the Industry 4.0 strategy not only technologies but, above all, people.
The intervention provided for the granting of capital grants to companies for the implementation of investment programs aimed at the application of new digital technologies; they were closely connected to support measures for employment and training policies. To this end, the call provided that the submission of the application should be subsequent to the activation of at least one internship for insertion or reintegration into work.
In addition, the companies have been granted a contribution for the staff costs related to the interns hosted equal to 60% of their total cost and an additional grant in the event of transformation of the internship into a subordinate work contract or hiring additional workers. “Additional” means with respect to the staff resulting at the time of the application and with professional profiles consistent with the investment program presented.

For the implementation of the "Manufacturing and Work 4.0" call, the Marche Region made available a total amount of 9.5 million euros from the Marche Regional Operational Program, European Regional Development Fund 2014/2020 Axis 1 - SO 1 - Action 1.3 and Action 21.1

The Marche Region believes that the regional dimension is the most suitable for the implementation of the Industry 4.0 model.
This call wants to indicate its approach and the need to combine the traditional skills with digital technologies.
Results achieved:
Applications received:107
Beneficiaries:90
Financing granted (€) 9.427.393
Total investments (€) 30.720.823
Average financial support granted (€) 107.748
Average investment cost (€) 341.342
Internship started:120
New employees:190

The learning and transfer potential of this practice is mainly related to the following aspects:
- The regional call was immediately integrated with the objectives of the National Industry 4.0 Plan, also giving the possibility to combine tax incentives (national) with financial ones (regional).
- With the launch of the call, the Marche Region wanted to point out its regional approach to Industry 4.0 in order to adapt its production system to the innovative approach represented by the "smart factory”.
- The selection of the applications was carried out with the "Just in Time" method: the Commission proceeded to evaluate the applications received in chronological order and this step was promptly followed by the concession decrees, avoiding the traditional and time consuming method of final ranking which would have provided for a longer concession time to beneficiaries.