Robiglio and Manzella in the USA for the SME’s National Day eleventh edition opening, organized by Piccola Industria Confindustria
Since this year all the initiatives took place online, a different but equally engaging edition has been made in compliance with the Covid-19 emergency rules. Despite the situation, many associations and companies wanted to partecipate, and many students connected to the event online.
The PMI DAY 2020 edition has also arrived in the United States where for the fifth consecutive year, the Miami Scientific Italian Community has organized several events in collaboration with the Embassy of Italy in Washington, ABROAD TO (The Community of Italian Companies) MAYAC, ODLI (The Organization for the Development of Italian Studies), ORGOGLIO BRESCIA and, for the first time also with the Texas Scientific Italian Community.
The president of Piccola Industria of Confindustria Carlo Robiglio and the Undersecretary of the State of Italian Ministry of Economic Development Gian Paolo Manzella attended the Miami stage at G. W. Carver Middle School and the Dallas stage at Southern Methodist University. An important opportunity for the American students to get to know the Italian companies that operate in the United States and proudly support our country’s industry.
Resilience and counterfeiting were the focus of the PMI DAY 2020 events. Small and medium-sized enterprises wanted to explain to young people that the key of success is knowing how to face and react to change. Italian SMEs have always great at evolving and adapting to a world in continuous and fast evolution, a challenge that goes far beyond the Covid-19 emergency and on which the survival of our production system depends.
The patronage of Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Cooperation, for the third consecutive year, has further characterized the international footprint of the event. This year, moreover, the PMI DAY 2020 recorded a significant innovation with the partecipation of Confindustria Moda, the Federation that brings together companies and associations in the textile, fashion and accessories sector, the great excellences of Italian manufacturing. Partnerships with 4 MANAGER and Confagricoltura reconfirmed.
“Our SMEs wanted to send an important message to the country”, stated Carlo Robiglio, president of Piccola Industria Confindustria. “We are on the front line with territories and communities to react together to the pandemic and reaffirm the social role of businesses. The PMI DAY 2020 heart is precisely the desire to demonstrate that the school-business bridge must be supported and must remain firm especially during an emergency. Together with them and for them we must commit ourselves to create opportunities of development and build a new Italy capable of transforming the energies of young people into projects, actions, and visions ”
“The PMI DAY is a very important initiative of Confindustria”, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Economic Development Gian Paolo Manzella explained. “A day where tens of thousands of young people experience first-hand what a company, a production and what ‘doing business’ is. This year the PMI DAY will also be virtual, but I am sure it will be able to stimulate interest and curiosity for the world of the SMEs, it will be able to open new perspectives to our children, and it will be able to plant the seeds of change “
“We bring young people into direct contact with the real Business World, to show them that our work is made of concrete commitment and passion, always alongside our collaborators, and ready to face the new and change”, Fabio De Furia, president of the Miami Scientific Italian Community, commented. “We want to encourage young American students to look to the future with optimism, show them that we make the best products in the world and that, with our product and process innovations, we will help them become protagonists of the globalized economy”
The initiative by Stefano Zapponini, national coordinator of the PMI Day, and with the support of a working group, is included in the XIX Business Culture Week, organized by Confindustria and in the European Week of SMEs promoted by European Commission. Zapponini stated: “This year more than ever, it’s essential to keep the link with schools alive, by making boys and girls and their families feel that businesses are close and do not give up on a precious meeting moment for the communities and territories. An eleventh edition virtual but full of meaning”.
