Milan, November 15 (askanews) – Nearly half of Italian small and medium-sized businesses plan to increase investment in product innovation over the next twelve months. This is according to new research from Alibaba.com, one of the world's leading B2B e-commerce platforms. Despite rising costs, 47% of Italian businesses are investing in research and development, and over 90% consider product innovation a key driver of growth.
We spoke with Luca Curtarelli – Country Manager of Alibaba.com Italy, Spain and Portugal:
We interviewed several thousand European companies, particularly over 1000 decision makers from Italian small and medium-sized enterprises. They told us that 50% of these companies are strongly innovation-oriented and have plans to invest continuously in product innovation and digital transformation over the next 12 months. In this regard, Alibaba.com intends to support these companies by continuing to offer highly advanced marketplaces and e-commerce, enabling them to connect with hundreds of thousands of international suppliers easily and effectively, and, lastly, by continuing to equip themselves with technologies, particularly those powered by artificial intelligence.
Research confirms that many SMEs are confident in AI: 60% are already using it to support new product development. These trends are at the heart of CoCreate Europe, Alibaba.com's major B2B event, which will be held in London on November 14th, bringing together SMEs, manufacturers, and investors to celebrate the power of innovation and build new business opportunities.
In 44% of cases, Italian SMEs report that rising costs and reduced resources are the main obstacles to this innovative journey. Alibaba.com aims to support these businesses by offering both business opportunities, such as CoCreate Europe: the first physical event focused on e-commerce and international B2B trade, coming to Europe for the first time and allowing companies to showcase their products to an international audience. On the other hand, the company intends to continue offering technological solutions, such as the AI agent within Accio, a B2B search engine powered by artificial intelligence, which already allows companies to automate up to 70% of procurement processes that are currently managed manually.
CoCreate Europe is therefore an opportunity to transform ideas into concrete collaborations and look together to the future of innovation.
Notizie.it editorial team