National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) Funds and the Twin Transition of Italian SMEs – A Preliminary Data Analysis

The Italian productive system comprises mainly Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs), making them among the most important stakeholders within the national context. In this regard, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan – Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza (PNRR) offers a tremendous opportunity for firms to not only overcome the multifaceted crisis afoot as of 2020, but most importantly, it aims to help them pave the way towards a more innovative, sustainable and competitive future by harnessing the potential of ICT. It encourages SMEs to rethink their business models and commence, if not accelerate, their Twin Transition journey. A bibliometric analysis was carried out highlighting the research gaps regarding the Twin Transition journey of SMEs and respective role of public funds. A Preliminary Data Analysis (PDA) was carried out to provide a detailed map of the direct and exclusive beneficiaries of PNRR initiatives (investments) as well as the respective initiatives from which they have benefited as part of their Twin Transition journey to date. By doing so, the PDA aims to explore and identify meaningful trends arising from the data, focusing on SME access to PNRR funds based on the following characteristics: geographic location, sector and size. The results obtained will not only contribute to the gaps in the existing literature, but aim to create a monitoring system, characterized by longitudinal data. In turn, this will facilitate the identification of qualitative-quantitative analysis models used to analyze and evaluate the impacts generated by the PNRR measures on the Twin Transition of Italian SMEs.