WTI Magazine #51    2015 January, 9
Author : Fondazione Symbola      Translation by:

Fondazione Symbola (www.symbola.net), an Italian think tank born to enhance and promote Italian quality, has published in these very days a report called "L'Italia in 10 selfie" (Italy in 10 selfies). The report is exactly what we need to start this 2015 with hope, courage and trust in our beloved country. Italy is in a bad bad shape, no doubts about it, but we have skills, opportunities and excellence well enough to restart and change in a better way. Let's see these 10 selfies

1) ITALY IS ONE OF ONLY FIVE COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD THAT BOASTS A SURPLUS IN THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR FOR OVER 100 BILLION DOLLARS
With a manufacturing trade surplus (the difference between exports and imports of manufactured finished or semi-finished manufactured goods) of $ 113 billion in 2012, it is confirmed the flagship role of our country in the global market. It is not the same for other countries like France (-34 billion), United Kingdom (-99mld), US (-610mld).

2) ITALIAN COMPANIES ARE AMONG THE MOST COMPETITIVE IN THE WORLD
Of a total of 5,117 products - the highest level of disaggregation in world trade statistics - in 2012 Italy was placed first, second or third in 935 of them as for foreign trade surplus (index Fortis-Corradini, Edison Foundation ©)

3) CONSIDERING THE AGGREGATE DEBT (STATE, FAMILIES, BUSINESSES) ITALY IS ONE OF THE LEAST INDEBTED COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD.
If instead of the heavy public debt we look at the overall debt situation of the country (thus the state debt plus the private one) Italy - despite the crisis is eroding great private wealth of the Italians - is more virtuous (with 261% of GDP) of the United States (264%), United Kingdom (284%), Spain (305%), Japan (412%).

4) IN 77 AGRIBUSINESS PRODUCTS ITALY IS LEADER WORLDWIDE
Among the Italian agro products, as many as 23 are unmatched in international markets. From pasta to tomatoes and other vegetables, vinegar and oil, to beans and cherries: for all these products our country has the greater market share worldwide. And there are other 54 for which we are seconds or thirds. despite the counterfeiting and the unfair competition of the Italian sounding. We are also the strongest country on the planet for "distinctive", with 269 PDO, PGI and TSG (in addition to 4,816 traditional regional specialties), followed at a distance by France with 207 and Spain with 162. In the wine industry, Italy has about 332 PDO, 73 DOCG and 118 IGT. And then there's the biological: we are the first in Europe by number of companies, among the first in the world for the area of biological cultivation and for annual average growth rate.

5) ITALY IS THE SECOND MOST COMPETITIVE COUNTRY IN THE WORLD IN THE MACHINERY SECTOR
In the competitiveness ranking calculated on the basis of the Trade Performance Index (A composite index composite based on five sub-indicators: trade balance; exports per capita; share in world exports; level of diversification in terms of product; level of market diversification), elaborated by the International Trade Centre UNCTAD / WTO, the Italian industry of mechanics is second right after the German one.

6) FROM THE GREEN ECONOMY A BOOST FOR ITALIAN COMPANIES
During the crisis, 341.500 Italian companies (22% of the total, even 33% of the whole manufacturing sector) bet on the green economy (industry worth 101 billion euro of value added, 10.2% of the national economy). A winning choice: in terms of export (between manufacturing enterprises, 44% of those who went green stably export, compared with 24% of those who did not), and innovation (30% of manufacturing companies who went green have developed new products or new services, against 15% of those who did not). "Green jobs" have become protagonists of national innovation, covering 70% of all recruitment intended for research and development in Italian companies. According to the Eurobarometer, by the end of 2014 51% of Italian SMEs have at least one green jobs, far more than Germany (29%), France (32) and the UK (37%).

7) ITALY IS LEADER IN EUROPE FOR ECO-EFFICIENCY OF THE PRODUCTION SYSTEM. AND WE ARE ALSO CHAMPIONS OF RECYCLING INDUSTRY
The Italian production model is among the most innovative in the environmental field, with 104 tons of carbon dioxide per millions of euro product (Germany is at 143, the United Kingdom at 130) and 41 tons of waste (65 in Germany and the United Kingdom, 93 in France). We are also European champions in the recycling industry: the whole Europe has industrial recovered 163 million tons of waste, in our country we are at 24.1 million, the absolute highest among all European countries (Germany is at 22.4). In recycling, Milan (the city of EXPO 2015) is together with Vienna on the top list of European cities over one million inhabitants: and it is first in the world, among the big cities, as for the number of people served by an organic waste collection plan.

8) THANKS TO CULTURE, ITALY ACTUALLY EATS
The cultural Italian sector – 443.458 companies, 7.3% of the national total number – makes 74.9 billion of euro, 5.4% of the produced wealth. But we get up to 214 billion, 15.3% of national GDP, if we consider that part of the national economy, as tourism, which grows of 1.67 euro for each euro produced by culture.

9) ITALY IS THE EUROPEAN PLACE PREFERRED BY NON-EUROPEAN TOURISTS, THANKS TO CULTURE, BEAUTY AND QUALITY
We are the first country in the eurozone for overnight stays of tourists from outside the EU (56 million nights). We are the favorite place to visit among the citizens of countries to which the future of world tourism is linked: China, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Australia, the US and Canada. Not surprisingly, Italy is the country in the world with the largest number of sites in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (51 of 1001). Of the total tourist spending in Italy, 73 billion euro in 2013, 36.5% (26.7 billion) is related to its culture. And this too supports worldwide demand for Italy: research on google relating to Made in Italy products increased in 2013 by 12% over the previous year, with fashion as the most sought category, followed by tourism and by food and wine business, that marked the most significant increase.

10) COHESION: RECIPE TO COMPETE
The "cohesive" companies - those more related to communities, to workers, to the territory, which invest in skills, sustainability, quality and beauty - are more competitive. In 2013 these companies increased their turnover in 39% of cases compared to 2012, while 31% of non-cohesive companies did. 22% of the first ones have seen growing employment, versus 15% of the others. It is not a coincidence that between 2007 and 2012, without public measures in support, Italian companies are those who guided – just behind the US - the global re-shoring, and now represent 60% of European relocations.