In the roadshow on the use of Artificial Intelligence, held in Caserta, shows that the Mezzogiorno does better than the Italian average for SMEs with at least 10 employees: 7.6%, close to the EU average of 8%. "This is a figure that should not come as a surprise if one thinks of the cluster of SMEs in the aerospace sector in Campania, which have a high technological value. And it is precisely Campania, which still has a lower level of digitalisation than the national average, that recorded the greatest increase between 2022 and 2021: +13.3% compared to +9.6% for the Italian figure. They are numbers certainly interesting but still modest overall, in the North as in the Southproof that there is still a long way ahead of us"thus in an interview in Il Mattino the President of Small Industry Giovanni Baroni engaged with Anitec-Assinform to travel around Italy to explore the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence with local companies.

And on the risks related to AI, Baroni said: 'we do not perceive any signs of alarm or concern from our entrepreneurs: on the contrary, there is a lot of curiosity and the numbers of participants in our roadshow prove it. We bring more than 150 Campania entrepreneurs to Caserta. There is no doubt that the use of artificial intelligence must be regulated. But at the same time I do not believe that in a globalised world we can think of blocking certain processes. Think of nuclear energy, which can lend itself to both positive and negative uses, but whose applicability is now recognised in all energy policies. It is true that for some categories of workers there may be doubts of an employment nature, and indeed in every age automation and new technologies have led to the disappearance of many professional figures: but many others have emerged and economic growth still allowed a general improvement of working conditions".

While on the latest Istat data on declining industrial production, he emphasised: 'industrial growth is down, it is true, but the quarterly figures are still above expectations. And the same, by the way, can be said about the 2023 GDP forecast: things are going better than expected also due to the less negative than feared impact of energy prices'.

Baroni then reiterated President Bonomi's position on the desirability of allocate unspent funds from the NRP to enterprisesis the private sector to ensure the country's best success in unloading investments on the ground and in implementing the projects. So either the unspent money has to be paid back or it is better for companies to invest it: let us not forget that more than 50% of the money received from the EU is a loan that will have to be paid back. To think of spending investment resources without having a return in terms of growth is absurd.

Regarding the alarm on the increase in the cost of money decided by the ECB, the President of Small Industry explained: 'it is definitely a major problem. After years of money at zero rates, the continued rises in recent months worry us. Not only because reduce companies' margins, but also because they curb new investmentsIf some states, such as the US, have taken steps to avoid this risk for their companies, we must also move in this direction. Because if we accept the rise in rates without putting in place initiatives to stimulate private investment, the problem will become much worse, and we risk jeopardising the implementation of the NRP. I recall that the support for 4.0 investments also included incentives for 150% and the results of the last two years confirm that this measure was functional for companies that renovated factories and invested in further innovation. Now, however, it has been de-emphasised and in this scenario this is certainly not good news. For companies and for the country'.