Space, because the government must not neglect SMEs. Asas’ appeal
What emerged from the webinar "Proposals for guidelines for a national strategy for the positioning and development of SMEs in the space sector" organized by Asas
We need an industrial policy for Italian space SMEs.
This is the appeal of Asas, the Association for ICT Services, Applications and Technologies for Space, founded in 2004 to enhance applications and services based on space technologies.
“Today, in the New Space ecosystem which has radically changed the structure of supply and demand for space products and services in the world, many of the large traditional companies still appear tied to obsolete schemes of industrial vision and proposal, due to innate and structural myopia of strategic perception, lack of propensity for enterprise risk as well as for process innovation (except that subsidized by the State) and business”, warns the Asas dossier. “They are no longer able to autonomously adapt to the new world ecosystem of space: they are therefore destined in any case, even in the face of requests for substantial injections of public funds, to succumb to the dynamics prevailing today on international markets”, adds the relationship.
Therefore it will be necessary "to completely rethink the public procurement model as well as that of public support to accompany the overall national ecosystem towards new, more daring and challenging development objectives".
This is what emerged from the webinar "Proposals for guidelines for a national strategy for the positioning and development of SMEs in the space sector" organized by Asas.
All the details.
ASAS: PMI 83% OF THE ITALIAN SPACE INDUSTRIAL SECTOR
"The composition of the industrial space sector in Italy sees a total of 143 companies, 83% represented by SMEs, including a component equal to 8% of start-ups", notes the Asas report. "The percentage of SMEs is increasing compared to previous surveys, as is that of start-ups".
"On the other hand, numerous studies have highlighted how SMEs are the weak segment – warns the Asas dossier – on which the repercussions of the pandemic crisis and the ongoing war crisis could be more adverse, due to the inherent fragility deriving from the greater difficulty, in Italy, of access to credit and private financing, as well as the prevailing subordinate position in which they are placed in the Italian public product chains, which typically makes them the priority victims of any programmatic contractions or concentrations of public financing in the sector".
THE ROLE OF COMPANIES WITH FOREIGN HOLDINGS
"We need to create an ecosystem favorable to the attraction of capital so that we change the way we make space increasingly in line with the new space", highlighted Veronica La Regina, CEO of Nanoracks Europe, owned by a US company.
“Cooperation with companies with foreign participation but located in Italy should be allowed in national programmes. Italy has a very long tradition of alliance with the United States so all of this can be renewed in the new activities that our country is starting to undertake”, explained La Regina.
NECESSARY STRATEGIC SUPPORT FOR SMES, FUNDAMENTAL ROLE OF ASSOCIATIONS (SUCH AS ASAS) AND CLUSTER
“Relationships are crucial in this market,” said Guido Arista, general manager of Elital and president of the SPARC Cluster. As regards the transition from the supply chain to the ecosystem, "the decisive role of large companies is not in question, but the consideration of small and medium-sized enterprises".
"In this case, every single company is called to take a step forward, the role of associations (such as Asas) and clusters is fundamental, because SMEs are part of an evolving market". In all of this, the national strategy is decisive, therefore it is necessary for the institutions to understand the importance of SMEs and for the latter to be in contact with the institutions”.
"We are not asking for economic support, but of a strategic nature" Arista pointed out, or rather "streamlining of bureaucracy".
SMEs MUST ENTER THE ECOSYSTEM WITH THE BIG (LIKE LEONARDO)
“We talk about the space economy but more and more often we hear about fast, speed is discriminating”, highlighted Davide Rossetti, manager of Nurjana Technologies. “In Italy and in Europe we must be ever faster in trying to react to the demand for the implementation of new space services”.
We need to create alliances in Europe to present ourselves stronger and more competitive, according to Rossetti.
“As regards cooperation with large companies (such as Leonardo in Italy), there must be greater sponsorship by governments to set up clear engagement mechanisms, in order to be able to support large companies in the path of innovation. We must not find ourselves in competition with the larger company, rather enter an ecosystem with them”, Rossetti hoped.
Therefore, "what we ask is to give SMEs confidence in such a complicated but important sector", exhorts Roberto Tartaglia, CEO of MapSAT.
"It is essential that the government adopt a policy of aid to SMEs, but not in terms of resources (of course there were those too, it would be better) but by simplifying procedures, to become suppliers of the Italian state, reducing bureaucratic aspects that no longer have reason to be applied to space activities”, concluded the president of Asas, Silvano Casini.
ATTENTION FROM THE ARMED FORCES
Furthermore, “our armed forces should have a much more important role in space”, Casini hoped. “That space of the future, where living will require innovative techniques that large industries are not always able to develop with the speed required by the circumstances” he added.
"There is attention from the armed forces, as evidenced by the constitution at the Defense General Staff and at the Joint Operational Command (COVI) which deal precisely with space", replied General Franco Federici, military adviser to the Presidency of the Council. According to Federici, "The entry of private players into the space sector is a fact that we must absolutely take into account", "we must then be quick, so as not to be overtaken by countries that can play a critical role".
USE OF PNRR FUNDS TO SUPPORT SMEs
Finally, "public funds play a guarantee seal role for the market", underlines Asas, recalling that now there is the Pnrr which provides for 2.3 billion to be dedicated to the space sector. "Here therefore it becomes absolutely critical and decisive to accelerate the preparation of specific more modern and innovative spatial industrial policy guidelines, which must be binding for the use of the PNRR funds dedicated to the recovery and development of the sector in the post-pandemic phase, to support, promote, expand, accompany the growth and internationalization of SMEs in the national space sector".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/spazio-perche-il-governo-non-deve-trascurare-le-pmi-lappello-di-asas/ on Thu, 16 Feb 2023 06:52:50 +0000.