While MiCA‘s regulation of cryptocurrencies in Europe has been approved, the Italian Economy Minister has announced that they will allocate as much as €45 million for the development of blockchain and artificial intelligence technologies with application in various sectors.

The allocation of this money will start on 21 September 2022 (with the possibility to start uploading documents as early as 14 September) and relates to both the field of research and companies working in the field.

The note explains that the purpose of the fund allocation is to “carry out research and technological innovation projects linked to the Transition 4.0 program”.

Specifically, the €45 million fund will facilitate spending and costs of no less than €500,000 and no more than €2 million in the areas of industry and manufacturing, the education system, agribusiness, health, environment and infrastructure, culture and tourism, logistics and mobility, security and information technology, and finally, in order of priority, aerospace.

Economic Development Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said.

“We support business investment in cutting-edge technologies with the aim of encouraging the modernization of production systems through increasingly interconnected, efficient, safe and fast management models. The challenge of competitiveness”, he added, “requires the manufacturing industry to constantly innovate and grasp the potential of new technologies”.

This fund has been talked about since Dec. 6, 2021, when an interministerial decree established how to use the resources of the “Fund for the development of technologies and applications of artificial intelligence, blockchain and the Internet of Things’‘, established by Art. 1, paragraph 226 of the 2019 Budget Law. It was later the director’s decree dated 24 June 2022 that set the terms for participating in the competition to receive the funds.

Source