"From industry come the technological innovations that will make us achieve our goals and allow us to be more and more competitive. A challenge in which, the factor that will make the difference, it is in research and new technologies". Thus Francesco De Santis, Confindustria Vice President for Research and Development who, in an interview with Sole24ore, points to industry as the solution to reach the targets set in the PNRR and to tackle the green and digital transitions.
"If we want to win this game, we must preside over the priority areas, participate in the development of technologies, hold the know-how, and have truly competitive products and services," he emphasised, "otherwise the alternative will be to have to buy technologies developed by others and confine the country and its industry to the lowest places in the global strategic value chains. This is why,' he explained, 'we must it is necessary to make certain and strengthen the tax instruments for investments in research and development, also observing what happens in other European countries, our competitors'.
De Santis, an entrepreneur in the pharmaceutical sector, reaffirmed the willingness of companies to play their part, as they have demonstrated over the last ten years, by increasing their investment in research, development and innovation. This is clearly demonstrated by the OECD and Istat data, which the Vice President mentioned: “from 2010 to 2020, the percentage of private companies' investments rose from 0.6% of GDP to 0.93. A commitment and a sprint that the preliminary data also confirm for 2021, with +5.2 over 2020, and for 2022, with +3.9 over 2021, while on the public side the investment trend has remained almost stable".
Francesco De Santis also pointed out how this growth has translated into an increase in business productivity, with a greater ability to generate added value, employment and more competitiveness at a global level, also highlighting the correlation between business investment drive and the presence of effective incentive instruments. "The data show that investments have grown in correspondence with the introduction or strengthening of two important instruments, the R&D tax credit and the Patent box,' he said.
The business world therefore urges the government to speed up this process to support investment, especially at a time when rising interest rates and the geopolitical scenario generate great uncertainty. For De Santis first of all the tax credit should be strengthened: 'from 1 January 2024 the rate should be raised from 10 to 20 per cent. And it would also be appropriate to include investments made by foreign multinationals,' he said, adding that 'it is a matter of a key action to reduce the gap with our competitor countries. For example, in France, the R&D tax credit amounts to more than EUR 6 billion per year and provides for a rate of 30% up to EUR 100 million investment and 5% on investments over EUR 100 million,' he noted.
In addition to percentages, according to the Vice President, It also remains crucial to have simple, automatic, unambiguous instruments with stable rules that protect the taxpayer. For this, it is crucial that the mechanism of certification of research, development, innovation. "The law has been in place since August 2022,' emphasised the Vice President, 'but the implementing decree and guidelines are still missing, defining the rules of the register of certifiers and the contents of certification. It is urgent that they be defined as soon as possible to give certainty to companies.".
To improve the picture, however, the recent final approval of the reform of the Industrial Property Code, which the Vice President comments positively: "The abolition of the professor's priviledge, i.e. the ownership of the invention reverting to the institution or university, and no longer to the researcher, puts us on an equal footing with the rest of Europe and favours the technology transfer of research to companies. This is an important reform envisaged by the NRP and we acknowledge the government for having been able to carry out this intervention which, on the one hand, can strengthen the collaboration between the public research system and companies and, on the other hand, can mobilise the entire public system to make the most of research results for the benefit of the country'.
Finally, at On the R&D interventions foreseen in the NRP, Vice President De Santis stated that "lhe direction is to build an integrated national research, development and innovation system, creating an ecosystem that brings public and private together, making them partners on joint projects, defined and implemented together. A challenge for the country, which requires everyone's commitment'.
