3rd Meeting – 13th February 2025
On 13th February 2025, took place a meeting of the Coordination Table on the implementation of STEP reprogramming that involved the Managing Authorities of National and Regional Programmes that joined the STEP Initiative within 31st August 2024, as well as the Managing Authorities of Programmes that are evaluating a STEP-related modification by the upcoming deadline of 31st March 2025.
Confindustria also participated in the meeting, sharing the results of a survey conducted in several regional areas to assess enterprises’ interest in the STEP initiative and identify factors that could encourage enterprises to participate in the STEP calls for proposals financed by the 2021-2027 National and Regional Programmes. During the discussion, the strong interest of the enterprises’ system in STEP opportunities was highlighted, especially in consideration of the post-2027 period, where competitiveness will play a key role. Within this framework, STEP is therefore positioned as a precursor to the measures that will be identified by the Commission regarding competitiveness.
The meeting continued with a presentation by the Cohesion Policy Unit, which outlined the key elements developed in the Report on the Implementation of STEP Objectives in the 2021-2027 Programming Period. The Report, which was also presented at the November meeting, illustrated the analysis conducted on Italy's positioning in the three STEP intervention areas (Biotechnology, Clean Technologies, Digital Technologies) compared to other EU Member States.
The meeting then included a presentation by the Campania Region of the procedure, formalized by the ERDF RP Managing Authority, for evaluating STEP projects. The organizational solutions adopted by the Region, through the establishment of an ad hoc working group, were described, as well as the procedures and tools defined for evaluating project proposals related to the STEP areas, also with the aim of making the evaluation process as consistent as possible. The meeting provided an opportunity for an update on published notices and to verify the timeline for publishing notices relating to the STEP priorities within the National and Regional Programmes. At the end of the meeting, the Department for Cohesion Policies and South provided information on the activities of the STEP National Contact Point Network and announced that the European Commission's STEP Task Force intends to organize an online workshop focusing on projects submitted to the Innovation Fund that have received the STEP Seal.