The local dimension to SME and entrepreneurship policy in Italy

Italy exhibits strong regional disparities, especially between the economically advanced North and the less developed South, and a decentralised governance structure, where most economic development competences are shared by the national and regional governments. The co-ordination of policy between national and regional authorities and the responsiveness of national programmes to differing local conditions are therefore very important in Italy. The State-Region Conference has proven to be a useful tool to coordinate national and regional programmes co-financed by the EU. However, there needs to be greater coordination among national and regional initiatives which aim at the same groups of enterprises. Some national programmes are also unequally distributed across regions, calling for mechanisms to distribute resources in better proportion to the target firm base. Regional authorities also have important responsibilities for business regulation, and the best strategies for administrative simplification should be rolled out at this level.