With a nominal GDP of over 400 billion dollars and a per capita income of more than 37,000 dollars, the United Arab Emirates represents one of the most dynamic markets for Italian companies. This is illustrated by the exponentially increasing trade exchanges (worth 8.4 billion euros in 2020). Italy is the eighth largest trading partner of the UAE and the first among EU Member States.

Expo 2020 Dubai will be held from October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022. It will be the first World Expo to take place in the ME.NA.SA. region (Middle East, North Africa and South Asia). For six months Dubai will become a major international showcase with 25 million visitors expected and 192 participating countries which will present their innovative projects, solutions and companies.

In order to foster the internationalization of Campania’s innovative system, the Campania Region is offering incentives to support events and initiatives for the international promotion of micro and small and medium-sized enterprises from Campania on the occasion of the Expo.

In this context, SPICI is pleased to announce the launch of an information desk designed to provide services of support, promotion and internationalization to the United Arab Emirates on the occasion of the Expo.

Below is a summary of the Call (in Italian) published by Campania Region.

Contact us now to discuss your needs, the organization of dedicated promotional activities and for any other information regarding Expo 2020 Dubai and the UAE market.

Email: startup@spici.eu

Office: +39 081 2530260

Direct Contact: +39 338 2668433

Opening Times: Monday to Friday, 9.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.

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Summary of the Call:

An incentive is offered to micro and small and medium sized-enterprises (MSMEs) from Campania Region to support events and international promotion initiatives within Expo 2020 Dubai.

Target

The Call targets MSMEs in single or associated form (consortiums or networks of companies with legal personality). The Call is addressed in priority to MSMEs which are in line with the RIS3 of the Campania Region and which operate in the following sectors:

  • Aerospace
  • Cultural heritage, tourism, sustainable construction
  • Biotechnology, Human Health, Agri-food
  • Energy and Environment
  • Advanced Materials and Nanotechnologies
  • Surface transport, Logistics
  • Textiles, Clothing, Footwear

Eligible expenses

The eligible expenses depend on the modality of participation.

> In case of events and initiatives in presence:

  • rental of the location, exclusively in the UAE;
  • rental of equipment and instrumentation functional to the implementation of the initiative, for the time strictly necessary for the implementation of the initiative itself;
  • services for the transport of products and materials necessary for the initiative (including any insurance charges);

> In the case of both offline and online events and initiatives:

  • production of corporate videos exclusively in English;
  • creation of multimedia brochures and / or multimedia or interactive catalogs, exclusively in English;
  • consultancy for the search for specialized operators belonging to the UAE market, as well as, possibly, to other countries in the ME.NA.SA. area, to be invited to the event, to an extent not exceeding 10% of the total eligible expenses.

Amount of the incentive

The incentive is granted under the de minimis Regulation and consists of a grant covering the eligible expenses as indicated below:

  • projects presented by MSMEs as single entities: Grant equal to 70% of the expenses admitted to financing and in any case up to a maximum of Euro 50,000;
  • projects presented by aggregations: Grant equal to 70% of the expenses admitted to financing and in any case up to a maximum of Euro 80,000.

Application

Application for the incentive must be done exclusively electronically, using the dedicated platform – available at http://simricerca.regione.campania.it/ – in the manner indicated below:

  • from June 28, 2021, SMEs can register in the appropriate section of the web platform;
  • from 12 July 2021, already registered applicants, can fill out the application form online, available on the same web platform, also signing digitally, and upload the attachments;
  • starting from 11:00 on 15 July 2021 and until 15:00 on 29 July 2021, the SMEs proceed with the electronic submission of the form, using the web platform.