Decoding the news. SMEs account for half of Italy’s exports and show above-average resilience. For Washington, at a time of reshoring and restructuring global supply chains, Italy offers a pool of companies with industrial and technical expertise that is hard to replicate.
The mission, led by Intesa Sanpaolo’s Banca dei Territori, involved 12 firms with an average of 150 employees and €40 million in annual revenue.
- Meetings were held at Innovit, the Italian Innovation and Culture Hub in San Francisco, and focused on innovation, technology transfer, and industrial networking
- “The United States are and remains the most interesting geography regarding innovation pathways,” noted Stefano Barrese, head of Banca dei Territori.
The view. In an interview with Il Messaggero, Barrese explained: “The companies we brought to Silicon Valley are, not by chance, interested in technologies — for instance AI — to be applied to their traditional productions.”
- The Italian manager states, that the theme of small and medium-sized enterprises is strategic for the country: they produce half of exports and have a strong degree of resilience in responding to market demands.
The big picture. The initiative highlights how U.S. interest is no longer confined to the big names of Made in Italy, but increasingly directed toward SMEs able to merge industrial tradition with technological innovation.
- Intesa acts as a facilitator in this sense, but the message extends beyond the bank: Italy’s competitiveness rests on its medium-sized companies, which are now drawing Washington’s attention.
