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Fen Technology Targets Slice of Italy’s Flourishing R&D Market

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Cambridge-based Fen Technology is expanding into the flourishing Italian electronic design market, having secured a commercial partnership with Europartner Group.

Europartner Group has more than 20 years’ experience in helping Italian businesses navigate the Italian funding environment, providing smooth access to the country’s ‘Credito Imposta’ (tax credit), which provides up to 50% rebate on specific Research and Development (R&D) investments.

The need for cutting-edge electronics development has been spurred by Italy’s government launching its 4.0 national plan last year, which aims to stimulate Italian companies’ investment in new technologies, such as Internet of Things (IoT). From 2017-2020, the government has vowed to inject €18bn as part of the 4.0 national plan. As a result, R&D investment by Italian companies into complex electronics-based innovations is expected to have increased by €10bn in the past 12 months alone.

Fen Technology is renowned for solving complex product challenges with bleeding-edge electronics solutions at any stage in the product lifecycle, specialising in IoT, instrumentation and high-power electronics (such as ‘next-generation’ batteries).

With its seasoned electronics engineers embedded in the Cambridge innovation ecosystem, and having announced its acquisition by Spanish product development consultancy Inspiralia last month, this agility and network capability puts Fen Technology in an enviable position to capitalise on the burgeoning Italian electronic design market.

Patrick Nicholson, Managing Director of Fen Technology, said: “This commercial deal feels like a natural alliance, where ambitious Italian businesses that have accessed the Credito Imposta tax credit through the very established Europartner Group, can now benefit from the Cambridge ecosystem through Fen Technology, applying our technical design expertise to help make their innovative ideas a reality.”

“Italy represents a strategic market that is very attractive to us at Fen Technology. We are small enough to provide agile product development to SMEs through to larger Italian businesses and to provide a direct relationship with seasoned senior engineers, but we also have the commercial backing, network and scale of a €21m international business, Inspiralia. This puts us in a unique position.”

Fen Technology and Europartner Group expect to offer this outsourced service to Italian businesses that have €50,000-€250,000 development project budgets, and who require support from a specialist in electronics hardware and software design, new product development or technical consultancy.

Enrico Vigano CEO of Europartner Group, said: “We are excited to have partnered with Fen Technology, an electronic design consultancy with its finger on the pulse of wireless technology developments. Having recently visited the Fen Technology team in Cambridge UK, the synergies between our businesses were obvious.

“The Italian market for digital, sensor and smart wireless technological innovations is now fast-expanding, in part due to the government’s Industry 4.0 Plan. With this accelerated demand for taking innovative technology concepts through prototype, manufacturing and then to market, we are thrilled to now offer access to the smart, creative and experienced electronic design specialists at Fen Technology.”

Italy’s 4.0 national plan provides R&D tax credits to Italian companies of all sizes and sectors looking to provide products or solutions that take advantage of the emerging ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’; a global, technological shift involving the adoption of technologies that blur the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres, in which electronics and internet-connected devices play a crucial role.

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