Unioncamere, through Dintec, is committed to the creation of a platform called Matching Impresa Ricerca – MIR, that will allow companies “meet” and be profiled by the Chambers of Commerce, to be accompanied to more targeted consulting services, and activated, through a platform, which bridges collaboration channels between the PID network (PID - Punto impresa digitale) of the Chambers of Commerce and the main research institutions that have joined the initiative. The initiative is not exclusively targeted to tourism SMEs. Thanks to the platform, the Chambers of Commerce will help companies to whose transformation needs will directly respond all the departments of the CNR and ENEA (the two main Italian research institutions) through their research teams that will take charge of the SMEs’demands.

The tools are the starting point of activities aimed at supporting digitalisation of SMEs in the tourism ecosystem. Their use is not finalised at awareness raising but rather as an initial assessment to implement further tailored support.

We plan to extend participation to the platform to other laboratories and research institutions, and universities in Italy. The platform will be in testing end of 2022 and is scheduled for launch in 2023. In the pilot phase expected impact is difficult to assess and usually redefined using data a year from launch. With current information, we expect to support for tailored counseling at least 15 companies in the tourism sector to be involved by 2025 and 65 by 2030.