FOR THE FIRST TIME, GOOGLE IS INVESTING IN PROMOTING THE TOP PRODUCTS OF A COUNTRY: ITALY. HERE IS "MADE IN ITALY DIGITAL EXCELLENCES" PROJECT WITH SYMBOLA, MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURAL, UNIONCAMERE AND CA’ FOSCARI UNIVERSITY

For the first time in its history Google will invest resources in the promotion of a country’s top products, and due to its merits and some luck, it is Italy. So, here is “Made in Italy: digital excellences”, the project Google created together with the Symbola Foundation, the Ministry for Agriculture and Unioncamere, with the goal of bringing Made in Italy businesses to the network and its large economic potential also for exports, to make the excellence of Italy’s products known the world over via a digital platform (http://google.it/madeinitaly e www.eccellenzeindigitale.it) designed by the Google Cultural Institute, and to help young people develop as promoters for the transition of the Italian economy to digital.
It all started in 2013 when research related to Made in Italy products grew 12% on the search engine. Fashion was the most searched category, while tourism and agro-food categories marked the most significant growth. The Italian production model is able to respond to the needs of high quality and high level of customizing and this makes it ideal to be successful on the Internet. Thanks to the Internet, you can reach customers all over the world, and there is a great potential for exports. Niche products are no longer forced into niche markets.
Made in Italy products, however, are still not much on the web, only 34% of SMEs have their own website, and only 13% use it for e-commerce.
Users from around the world will discover Italy’s excellent food system and the quality of Italian craftsmanship, their history and their link with the territory through a hundred digital displays, made of stories, pictures, videos, and historical documents. From the most famous products, such as Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano, Prosciutto di San Daniele or Parma, or Murano glass, to lesser-known specialties like the accordion of Vercelli, Ascoli Piceno lace or carrots from Ispica.
Google has also decided to implement, together with the Symbola Foundation and the scientific coordination of Prof. Stefano Micelli of University Ca' Foscari in Venice, an online training course to provide entrepreneurs with ideas and practical references to use the web as a means to develop their business.
There is more: Google, together with Unioncamere has implemented 20 scholarships for young "digitizers" that for 6 months will help small and medium enterprises in different regions of Italy to put Made in Italy online. The selected "digitizers" will take a training course and then begin their journey of teaching digital to Italian SMEs in the various Chambers of Commerce of the areas participating in the initiative. Notice of the selection and territories involved in the initiative will be announced during the month of February.
"The challenge for the future of Made in Italy is to open further to international markets and become a ever more important driving force of economic growth for Italy”, said Carlo D'Asaro Biondo, President of Southern and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa at Google. “We believe that digital technology can play an important role in this process and have decided to make a substantial contribution to spread the excellence of Italian products starting from crafts and food and wine around the world. “Made in Italy: excellence in digital” is an initiative designed and built especially for Italy, which we hope will help to increase the capacity of Italian companies to export and further promote the culture of Made in Italy throughout the world”.
Ermete Realacci, president of Symbola Foundation, said, "Italy’s vocation, to quote Cipolla, is to produce Italian objects that everyone all around the world likes. The web is an extraordinary springboard to the rest of the world and as Google data say, the desire for things Italian, our beauty and our products continues to grow. Eric Schmidt, here in Rome, said it effectively- in a globalized world, a niche product no longer has a niche market. And this is also thanks to the web. The Google, Symbola and Ca' Foscari project will give our economy and the myriad of excellent niches, an edge, thanks to the digital challenge, which we joined with great conviction. It is an opportunity that Italian entrepreneurs, thanks to this new educational tool Made in Italy excellence in digital, will not overlook. Italy, we must not forget, is strong when it does the things that make it unique: its beauty, quality, landscape, traditions, social cohesion and bonding with the territories. And if he does it with the new technology, the web and the tools offered today, no one can beat us ".
" Global challenges are won with global weapons”, - adds Dardanello Ferruccio, president of Unioncamere, - “and the project with Google will give our businesses the weapons to peacefully invade the web with our quality products. In order to stand up in the winds of recovery that have been announced, Italy must make its strong points the agricultural and crafts worlds, betting on the enhancement of this enormous wealth, through the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises. In 2014 the GDP of Italy should return to a growth of 0.7%, but we already know that, as in recent years, the impetus will come from almost exclusively the increased foreign demand for our exports, which we assess at +3.7%.
Coming out of the recession will involve first those productions that are more stable on the international markets and among these, enterprises in the agro-food system and quality craftsmanship have a central role”, added the president of Unioncamere. "The chamber system, in particular with the branch network for internationalization Worldpass, aims to grow the opportunities for export of our businesses, especially the smaller and less structured ones. The alliance with Google is an important part of this strategy and will permit us to take our quality products to consumers that are farther away, through greater visibility on the web".
"Until now, small and medium-sized Italian businesses were not very visible in the web world and the largest e-commerce platforms “, said Stefano Micelli, Professor of Business at the Ca 'Foscari University in Venice, “nationally and internationally. It is therefore necessary to create support for the promotion and spreading of culture through innovative tools that deliver the right amount of space to the success stories of many innovators who have already shown how to go down this road. The learning platform developed by Google, Ca 'Foscari and Symbola highlights the main Italian protagonists on the web, giving them the opportunity to tell their own stories and to promote an interesting lesson on communication and e-commerce levels”.