On the heels of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development’s launch of the Industrial National Plan 4.0, Machines Italia USA and the Italian Trade Commission (ITA) Chicago office hosted a conversation on the ground-breaking collaborations between Italian and US companies in advanced manufacturing and the emergence of the Industry 4.0. The event took place on October 18th, 2016 at the Samberg Conference Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, MA, as part of EmTech 2016. Among the panelists: • Michele Scannavini, President of the Italian Trade Commission (ITA) • Stefano

At the upcoming edition of Colombiatex, to be held in Medellin, Colombia from January 24 to 26, 2017, Italian textile machinery manufacturers are once more expected to stand out, with twenty industry leaders exhibiting in the common area set up by the Italian Trade Agency and ACIMIT. Among the Italian manufacturers in attendance at the common exhibition space, ACIMIT’s associated members include: Biancalani, Btsr, Cogne, Carù, Fadis, Fk Group, Itema, Laip, Mactec, Mcs, Monti-Mac, Nexia, Noseda, Ratti, Reggiani, Srs, Tecnorama, Testa and Ugolini. This well represented contingent of Italian

Distinguished U.S. Students Win Italian Technology Award to Study Advanced Engineering in Italy NOVEMBER 2015 – The Italian Trade Agency (ITA) is pleased to announce the U.S. winners of the twelfth Italian Packaging Technology Award (IPTA) and sixth Italian Machine Tool Technology Award (IMTTA). ITA will honor recipients for their outstanding theses submission and academic scholarship with a one-week, respectively, educational trip to Italy commencing November 29, 2015 and concluding on December 5, 2015. The 2015 winners will join distinguished students from five countries in an intense

The statistical analysis performed by Assocomaplast (Italian trade association, part of CONFINDUSTRIA, representing over 160 companies) on foreign trade data provided by ISTAT regarding the first six months of this year , reveals – in comparison to January-June 2014 – a markedly positive performance for Italy's exports and imports of plastics and rubber machinery, equipment and moulds. The growth recorded since the first months of 2014 has continued this year and actually has increased: by the end of June 2015, the rise in purchases from abroad approached 17%. This provides further reassurance

For the second quarter of 2014, the textile machinery orders index elaborated by the research department at ACIMIT (the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers), recorded a 6% increase compared to the previous quarter, for an absolute value of 86 points (basis: 2010=100). (See Graph) This growth in orders came entirely from the foreign markets, for which an increase of 8% was recorded for the period from April to June, with the industry index of 92.1 points. For its part, the domestic market showed a decline in order intake for the second quarter (-9% over the previous quarter)

The analysis by Assocomaplast, the Italian trade association, belonging to CONFINDUSTRIA, which groups together some 160 manufacturers of plastics and rubber processing machinery) of the latest ISTAT, the Italian National Institute of Statistics, figures for Italian foreign trade shows that, in the first half of 2013, imports in the sector were somewhat weak compared to the same period in 2012 whereas exports held relatively firm, as summarized in Table 1. The downturn in imports is a symptom of a domestic market that still struggles to recover. However, a potentially promising sign, on this

After a still-positive trend in January and February (in the wake of the +5.9% result at the end of 2012), the first quarter of 2013 instead closed with a downturn for Italian exports of plastics and rubber processing machinery, according the Italian National Institute of Statistics - ISTAT figures processed by Assocomaplast (the Italian trade association belonging to CONFINDUSTRIA, which groups together some 165 manufacturers). In fact, foreign sales in this sector fell 4% compared to January-March 2012, set against a 9-point drop in imports. The result is on the whole not surprising, given

Assocomaplast (the Italian trade association belonging to CONFINDUSTRIA, which groups together some 165 makers of machinery, molds and equipment for plastics and rubber) has issued its report on the sector's performance in 2012 – based also on the Italian National Institute of Statistics - ISTAT foreign trade statistics. Even more than in the past – and more markedly than in other Italian mechanical equipment sectors – production output was driven by exports, with an upward trend that, despite levelling off over the year, enabled Italian equipment manufacturers offset extremely weak domestic

According to statistics provided by the association, Assocomaplast, Italian imports and exports for the sector recorded new gains in the first half of 2012 with respect to the same period in 2011. Italian exports for the sector, marked a substantial increase (+11%) exceeding 1.23 billion euros overall. This has produced measurable improvement in the balance of trade, which has reached figures well in excess of 900 million euros. Regarding the principal types of machinery exported, extruders, accounting for roughly 12% of the total, continue to record double-digit growth, approaching twenty

For the italian woodworking machinery manufacturers, 2011 was characterized as reflecting a significant recovery. According to the preliminary figures processed by the Italian woodworking machinery manufacturers' association, ACIMALL, production amounted to 1,699 million euros - a stark increase of 10.2 % compared to the previous year. Italian exports in 2011 amounted to 1,278 million euros, i.e. 75 percent of the sector's total production. ACIMALL's analysts estimate that, in 2011, Italian machinery export accounted for 18 percent of the total global offer, confirming the international