The Artificial Intelligence is increasingly entering the radar of Italian small and medium-sized businesses., but for many companies the transition from curiosity to concrete application remains complex. To reduce this gap, Unioncamere and the Italian Institute of Artificial Intelligence (AI4I) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding which aims to build a real national ecosystem for the adoption of AI by SMEs, leveraging the network of Chambers of Commerce.
The agreement transforms the initial experiments carried out at the local level into a model potentially applicable to the entire country. The system assigns the Digital Enterprise Points (PID) the role of gateway for companies interested in new technologies, while AI4I will provide scientific expertise, evaluation tools and a network of qualified suppliers.
The goal is to support companies throughout the entire process, from understanding their needs to choosing and implementing the most suitable Artificial Intelligence solutions.
Digital Business Points also open to Artificial Intelligence
At the heart of the collaboration will be the network of PID of the Chambers of Commerce, which in recent years has already supported over a million businesses through information and training activities on digitalization issues. "Thanks to the collaboration and expertise of the Italian Institute of Artificial Intelligence, in the coming months the Digital Business Points of the Chambers of Commerce will also support SMEs in the adoption of AI," explained Andrea Prete, president of UnioncamereAccording to Prete, the agreement will further expand the work carried out by PIDs with the aim of making AI accessible to even the smallest and least technologically organized companies. "Our goal is to make this technology accessible to the entire manufacturing sector, allowing even the least structured companies to fully seize its opportunities," he added.
The collaboration will be multi-year and will include training, assessments of companies' technological maturity, local initiatives to bring companies and suppliers together, as well as co-design and development programs.
Suk, the platform that connects companies and AI providers
One of the main instruments of the agreement will be SUK, System for User Knowledge, the platform developed by AI4I to connect the needs of companies with the technologies available on the market. Suk currently collects approximately 140 qualified providers and 186 Artificial Intelligence solutions, developed by small Italian manufacturers and applicable to different stages of the corporate value chain. Suppliers are selected based on technical and industrial criteria, while companies are advised on the partners deemed most consistent with the objectives of individual projects. "AI Match has confirmed to us that the adoption of Artificial Intelligence by SMEs can be supported with a structured, scalable, and replicable process," stated Fabio Pammolli, president of AI4I.
According to Pammolli, Suk represents the heart of a system in which AI4I acts as a bridge between scientific and engineering expertise, evaluation and training activities, and a network of qualified technology operators. "The agreement with Unioncamere, which is developing the pilot project designed in collaboration with the Turin Chamber of Commerce on a national scale, now allows us to make this model available to the chamber system," emphasized the AI4I president.
The new Protocol also arises from the experience of AI Match Torino, a project promoted by AI4I together with the Turin Chamber of Commerce and implemented with the Fondazione Piemonte Innova. The initiative is currently reaching its final stage with the selection of 20 projects set to move to implementation, after having tested a structured method in the area to connect the innovation needs of companies with a qualified technological offering.
The next step will be to replicate this model across the national chamber of commerce system. The model can be adapted to the economic characteristics of individual regions, while maintaining a common methodology and tools.
A national supply chain to bring AI to small businesses
The strategy focuses above all on the complementarity between the two organizations. AI4I will provide applied research, scientific expertise, technology assessment and access to the Suk marketplace. Unioncamere, together with the Chambers of Commerce, Dintec and the PID network, will instead have the task of directly intercepting companies and accompanying them in the adoption process.
One should be born national technology transfer chain capable of connecting research, solution providers and user companies, reducing one of the main obstacles encountered by SMEs when they have to choose which technologies to adopt and which operators to rely on.
The challenge is to bring Artificial Intelligence out of laboratories and large companies and transform it into a tool that can be effectively used even by the most fragmented manufacturing sectors. The Unioncamere-AI4I agreement thus seeks to build a common infrastructure that can accelerate the diffusion of AI in Italian businesses and, according to the promoters, strengthen their productivity and competitiveness.
