2023 SME COUNTRY FACT SHEET
ITALY
Brief introduction
• In 2022, SMEs in Italy continued their recovery, with SME valued added growing by 4.9%
and SME employment increasing by 2.2%. However, as value added growth is not
adjusted for inflation, in the high-inflation environment of 2022, growth in real terms has
been lower.
• The construction ecosystem, for instance, is one of the few ecosystems that generated
positive growth in SME employment in both 2021 and 2022 in Italy, growing by 3.4% and
4.4%, respectively. Italian SMEs in this industrial ecosystem generated also the strongest
growth in value added amongst all ecosystems, with a growth rate of 7.9% in 2022,
following an even higher growth of 13.4% in 2021. Please note that value added growth
is not adjusted for inflation.
• In 2023, it is expected that SME value added in Italy will continue to grow by 1.0%, but
SME employment is expected to shrink by 0.7%. Please note that value added growth
forecasts are not adjusted for inflation.
ENTERPRISES
ENTERPRISES
NUMBER SHARE
SMEs 3 743 650 99.9%
(0 -249 persons employed)
LAR GE EN T ER PRI S E S
3 789 0.1%
(250+ pers ons em pl oy ed)
SME-RELATED STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES
SME-RELATED STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES
KEY STRENGTHS
• Italian SMEs perform comparatively well in terms of
internationalisation: 16.67% of Italian industrial SMEs benefit from the
EU Single Market by exporting to other Member States, thus above the
EU average of 15.9%. When looking at SMEs that export outside the
EU, Italy performs even better, with over 15% of Italian industrial SMEs
exporting extra-EU compared to 9.55% on average in the EU
(Eurostat).
• Italian SMEs are also above-average performers in a number of
innovation indexes: for instance, the share of SMEs introducing
product and process innovation is well above the EU average, while
in-house innovation is also more widespread among Italian SMEs
(38.7%) than among their EU peers (28.6%) (Eurostat).
• While Italian SMEs are generally not among the best performers in
terms of digitalisation, when it comes to e-invoicing the country largely
outperforms the EU average, with 95% of Italian SMEs issuing e-
invoices, vs. an EU average of only 32% (Eurostat).
OTHER KEY SME-RELATED BRIEF INSIGHTS
When it comes to access to finance, Italian SMEs are
faced with a comparatively good situation concerning bank
loans, while non-traditional forms of finance remain largely
underdeveloped. For instance, Italy performs better than
the EU average in banks’ willingness to offer loans and in
loan rejections (SAFE survey). Equity and venture capital,
however, remain underdeveloped.
SMEs in Italy continue benefiting from integration into the
EU Single Market, as well as from Italy’s above-average
transposition of Single Market directives. However, for
overdue directives the delay in transposition is longer in
Italy than the EU average (Single Market Scoreboard).
The number of SMEs for which the majority of turnover is
generated by green products is higher in Italy than in the
EU, and the take up of energy efficiency measures is also
above average (Eurobarometer).
The SME Performance Review monitors SME-related developments across the EU. For more information, please see: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/sme-strategy/performance-review_en
SME DEVELOPMENT 2021-2022
NUMBER OF
ENTERPRISES +2.4%
NUMBER OF
PERSONS
EMPLOYED
+2.2%
VALUE ADDED +4.9%
SMEs in the ‘non-financial business sector’. Estimates produced by JRC.
PERSONS
PERSONS EMPLOYED
EMPLOYED VALUE ADDED
VALUE ADDED
NUMBER SHARE € BILLION SHARE
11 584 618 75.7% 501.4 62.9%
24.3% 37.1%
3 716 277 296.2
The data for 2022 are estimates produced by JRC, based on 2008-2020 figures from national and Eurostat databases.
KEY CHALLENGES
• The business environment in Italy remains broadly unsupportive of SME
growth. Starting a business is more costly and requires more procedures
(7 vs. EU average of 5.37) in Italy than in the EU, while the complexity of
administrative procedures is considered a problem by 82.4% of surveyed
firms. When it comes to paying taxes, Italy performs much worse than EU
peers, with businesses needing 238 hours per year to pay taxes (vs. EU
average of 173.7) (World Bank). The fast-changing regulatory framework
and the comparatively high cost of enforcing contracts also constitute
challenges for Italian SMEs (Eurobarometer).
• Delays in payments by the public administration (PA) are also a relevant
challenge for all firms, and particularly for SMEs, which have less
resources to cope with cash flow disruptions. According to Intrum, in 2022
the gap between agreed payment times and the actual time firms needed
to get paid by the PA was 22 days (vs. an EU average of 15 days).
• Italian SMEs also comparatively lag behind in the use of digital tools for
their activities, with online sales and purchases both well below EU
averages (Eurostat).
There is room for improvement when it comes to
investment in greener technology, with below-average
investment levels in both clean technologies and
specific pollution-control tools (Eurostat). Public
support is comparatively high for production of green
products but low for resource-efficiency actions.
SME participation in public procurement is low in Italy
in comparison with the EU average. The percentage
of awards where the winner is a SME is ca. 20
percentage points lower in Italy than in the EU, and
SMEs account for a much lower share of the total
value of contracts than in the EU average (Single
Market Scoreboard).
Although Italian SMEs invest in training for their
employees, more attention could be devoted to ICT
skills training, where Italy lags EU peers (Eurostat).