More than a thousand new businesses born in Sicily: third quarter data
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Small, artisanal, technological, and innovative: this is the profile of the new Sicilian entrepreneurship that is changing the face of the regional productive fabric, according to the trends highlighted by the Economic Observatory of Unioncamere Sicilia, which has analyzed the Movimprese data for the third quarter of this year. The summer, in fact, has been positive for the Island’s economic fabric, with a balance of almost a thousand new businesses, exactly 980, continuing the very positive trend of the second quarter of 2024, which ended with a surplus of 1,759, and a significant increase compared to the +727 companies in the third quarter of 2023. The details by province show that the growth has been uniform and proportional across almost the entire regional territory, with the exception of Syracuse: Agrigento, +127; Palermo, +296; Caltanissetta, +64; Trapani, +120; Catania, +252; Messina, +135; Ragusa, +73; Enna, +27; Syracuse, -114. The total number of active companies registered with the Chambers of Commerce has thus reached 383,977 units, over a thousand more than in the third quarter of last year, when the balance was 382,764. At the base of this growth are two sectors in significant recovery: construction, which continues to attract entrepreneurs despite the slowdown in building bonuses, with 108 more companies; and craftsmanship, which has been lively for some time and which this summer saw 209 more new registrations. But the most surprising news comes from the sector of the so-called unclassified companies, which includes new technological, innovative, digital, and green activities: the balance of new entries is 1,745, among 2,025 new registrations and just 280 ceased. Innovation, as mentioned, is changing the face of the traditional economy, which is adapting to changes. In fact, despite the overtourism we witnessed this year, from June to September the accommodation and catering activities in Sicily lost 161 companies, as well as 18 fewer companies now operating in the rentals and 49 fewer in the transportation field. As expected, drought has claimed 87 agricultural companies, but what was less predictable is the crisis in commerce, with 1,120 closures compared to just 595 openings and a balance of -525 units; and that of manufacturing, with a negative balance of 76 companies (99 openings compared to 175 closures). “For some time now, Unioncamere Sicilia has been promoting investments in innovation, new technologies, ecological and digital transition,” explains Pino Pace, president of Unioncamere Sicilia, “and the data are proving us right. Innovation, digitalization, technologies, and the circular economy virtuously contaminate the rest of the productive fabric, stimulating traditional sectors to prefer efficiency, quality, and sustainability. This translates into investments, increased productivity, and a higher contribution to GDP, also thanks to substantial incentives and facilitated financial instruments made available by the regional government, in particular by the Regional Department of Productive Activities and by Irfis-FinSicilia, in addition to the Zes Sud tax credit that is beginning to bear fruit. All this inevitably entails a diversification of sectors and a consequent reduction in the number of traditional companies in favor of new innovative productions that offer products with higher added value.”
“The boom in quality craftsmanship,” adds Santa Vaccaro, general secretary of Unioncamere Sicilia, “is also the result of evolutions that push for diversification, shifting interests from one sector to another. If, for example, not all tourism operators are able to guarantee the new and stricter quality and service standards required by regulations and by visitors, especially foreigners, it is reasonable to think that some have converted. Similarly, the difficulty of neighborhood commerce and street vending to compete with large distribution may have led some operators to continue, but in other sectors. But, in addition to diversification, what is appreciated is the attraction of new additional investments to existing activities, as demonstrated by the positive balance for two consecutive quarters in a period of extreme global uncertainty. The analysis of the data for the coming quarters will help us to provide a more in-depth picture of the evolution of the island’s economic fabric.”
Nascono mille imprese in più in Sicilia: i dati del terzo trimestre
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