The “Eccellenze in Digitale” project, organized by Google and Unioncamere, has allowed SMEs to increase revenues from online exports
Italian SMEs want to grow and train in the digital field. This is stated by the “Eccellenze in Digitale” project, carried out by Google in partnership with Unioncamere. 96% of participating companies say that in the future they would take part in new training events on the subject.
And the results after participation in the project are also positive. 67% of the SMEs that took part in the project declared a growth in their business, 18% an increase in turnover and 29% an increase in exports. In addition, one in ten companies have already hired people with increased digital skills as a result of the project, and one in four intend to do so within six months. All these numbers have emerged thanks to research by the Applied Statistics Laboratory (Lsa) of the Catholic University of Milan which studied the effects had by the “Eccellenze in Digitale” project in 2016 in Italy.
Eccellenze in Digitale
For those not familiar with the Eccellenze in Digitale project, it is a path built on meetings at the Chambers of Commerce assisted by a free program to be followed online to increase one’s digital skills. Over the last year, more than 16,000 Italian companies have participated in the project of Google and Unioncamere. 74% of the companies surveyed said they participated in Eccellenze in Digitale with the intention of learning generic skills on digital tools, while 62% said they participated to learn how to advertise on the web. The assessment of the program is positive for 95% of the companies. 92% of participating SMEs would recommend other companies to take part in Eccellenze in Digitale.
Internationalization
Participating in the Eccellenze in Digitale project has allowed many Italian companies to go international. In fact, 29% of participating companies claim to have increased their market share attributable to the international market. And 67% of SMEs claim to have achieved clear growth results already in the short term. 34% of companies are confident that they have increased the number of customers, 21% have entered new markets, 18% of companies have increased turnover, 9% have increased e-commerce sales.
The second edition of Eccellenze in Digitale
At the European Commission’s Digital Day in Rome, Matt Brittin, President Emea of Google, announced the new edition of Eccellenze in Digitale. For 2017, there are more than 500 training meetings in the Chambers of Commerce of 83 provinces, with expert digitisers who will tell businesses about the skills they need in e-commerce, digital promotion strategies and Industry 4.0.