Can heavy investment in innovation and research SMEs reignite the European industry after traditional industries cracked under crisis? EPTV went to Turin to investigate.

Reporter: Innovation and research - the durable antidote to crisis?

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/16410780/m003-0271-enx.srt

Europe is deindustrialising.  Since the start of the crisis in 2008,

European industry has lost  more than 10% of its market share.

The solution is innovation and research.

We are reporting from Turin, Italy, where  the crisis devastated the car industry.

My name is Andrea Bertin, I am from Turin  and I'm 40 years old.

I'm an industrial engineer.  I have been unemployed for 6 months.

I'm finding it very difficult to find a new job.

In Turin the car industry has been in  crisis for a number of years now.

Administrative manager  of a subcontractor in the car industry,

Andrea is a highly sought-after engineer.

Unfortunately his company failed in 2012.  400 people lost their jobs.

Andrea's only consolation  is more time with his daughter.

I'm going through a particularly  hard time at the moment

in the sense that I am  feeling rather depressed.

I started working very young  and have been working for 20 years.

So to end up out of work since 6 months,  stuck in the house without a salary

and without future prospects  is quite a burden psychologically.

We make a detour  via Andrea's former company, Saturno.

In northern Italy the Piedmont region  is highly dependent on the car industry.

Fiat, the major Italian brand,  generates nearly 50,000 jobs.

But when the car industry catches a cold,  the whole region sneezes.

There's been an increase in  companies closing down.

In recent years a large number  have gone bankrupt.

From 1991 to 2009 the employment rate  in the manufacturing sector

This morning, Andrea is going  to the Turin job centre.

There's good news. The person  in charge of jobs for top managers

says he has a chance of finding a job,  but at junior level with no real responsibility.

Even so, I'm a bit frustrated that 20 years  of my career have gone up in smoke.

This year half a million people  have already lost their job.

The only hope of creating jobs  relies on the creativity of SMEs.

40 kilometres from Turin,  the Bioindustry Park houses

around 50 scientific research companies,  including nearly 30 SMEs.

The EU invested 37 million euros  in this scientific complex.

The rest, about 60 million euros,  was funded by private capital.

Major companies are  finding it extremely difficult

to respond rapidly enough to  the needs emerging from the market.

In contrast, small businesses are adaptable,  flexible, very creative and highly innovative.

What's more, small businesses  are better able to withstand external shocks.

specialises in researching molecules  for dermatological creams.

Once the molecule is found, they sell it  to larger pharmaceutical groups.

Our molecules are mainly focused  on the treatment of skin diseases,

but we also are interested in treating  other diseases in other areas.

Creabilis employs over 10 people  on the Italian site

and the same number in the UK.  Highly qualified jobs, which generate others.

so I think we are the core  and the first level, the first generation

of a new economy,  and then all the rest will follow.

Of course, it's not just one Creabilis  that we need.

We need 20 or 200 Creabilis around here  to create a real industrialisation.

Another state-of-the-art company  in the Bioindustry Park

Its speciality is contrasting radioactive  liquids necessary for clinical tests.

The group employs nearly 260 people  across Europe.

There's nothing left of the products we  make after a few hours,

we have to send it immediately  by dedicated transport to the hospitals

where the patients are waiting  to have their PET scan.

So that's 100% local employment?  -100% local employment.

Italy still has advantages. SMEs are still  the country's economic driving force.

The EP has understood that. MEPs have  approved a total of 360 million euros

from the next EU budget to be spent  in research, training and innovation.

They also support the creation of an  EU-wide network of innovation centres.

The German Green MEP  Reinhard Bütikofer,

rapporteur on a vast plan  to reindustrialise Europe,

is promoting better access to credit  for SMEs, especially in southern Europe,

where loans cost twice as much  as in Germany.

It's very hard for them to really sustain  their competitive position in the market.

apart from just relying on the banks  that are deleveraging,

Europe won't be able to compete  with emerging countries

Its industrial future lies in innovation

thanks to its competent,  well-trained human capital.

By 2020, the European Investment Bank  plans to inject

between 10 and 15 billion euros into SMEs.

It'd bring welcome support, given the  26.5 million unemployed people in Europe.