The Decree of the General Director of ICE/Agency No. 21/21 introduced the Digital Export Bonus on 25 November 2021. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Italian Trade & Investment Agency (Agenzia ICE) promoted the initiative, and Invitalia manages it with the goal of encouraging micro and small businesses within the manufacturing sector to implement digital activities for internationalisation. Initially, the disbursal was €4,000, but in 2024, with the introduction of Digital Export Bonus Plus, the disbursal increased to €10,000. In this article, you’ll learn about the Digital Export Bonus, who can benefit from it, and how to apply.

What’s in this article?

• What is Digital Export Bonus Plus?
  
• Who is eligible for Digital Export Bonus Plus?
  
• How do you apply for Digital Export Bonus Plus?
  

What is Digital Export Bonus Plus?

Digital Export Bonus Plus is an initiative by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) and the Agenzia ICE to support micro and small manufacturing businesses in digital internationalization.

It is a grant that businesses don’t need to pay back, provided under the “de minimis” rule for the following amounts:

• €10,000 for Italian micro and small manufacturing companies, provided that expenses are at least €12,500 (excluding VAT)
  
• €22,500 for networks and consortia, provided that expenses are at least €25,000 (excluding VAT)
  

The bonus covers costs for acquiring digital export solutions from companies listed in the special supplier registry. Fundable activities include:

• Ecommerce systems and related services
  
• Strategies for communication, information, and promotion on digital export channels
  
• Digital marketing focused on expanding international activities
  
• Content management system (CMS) services
  
• Costs for setting up outbound ecommerce systems, websites, and mobile apps,
  
• including investments for synchronization with international marketplaces offered by third parties
  
• Costs for subscriptions to SaaS platforms for visibility management and content marketing used as tools to support the export process
  
• Consulting services for developing organizational and human capital processes to increase presence in foreign markets
  
• Upgrading hardware equipment needed for the development of these processes
  

Businesses receive the Digital Export Bonus Plus lump sum after submitting expense reports to approved digital export solution providers. However, the MAECI and Agenzia ICE will only accept expense claims in electronic format from suppliers listed in the approved registry after the business applies.

If you want to expand your business internationally, there are a number of aspects to consider such as, choosing a payment service provider that allows you to accept payments worldwide without complexity. Solutions such as Stripe Payments, with its payment optimization suite, allow you to quickly reach new markets by supporting 195 countries and more than 135 currencies, helping you increase conversion and ensure compliance while saving thousands of hours of technical work.

Who is eligible for Digital Export Bonus Plus?

Micro and small manufacturing businesses based in Italy, including those organised in networks or consortia, are eligible for the Digital Export Bonus Plus benefits. Applicant companies must:

• Have fewer than 50 employees and an annual turnover or balance sheet total not exceeding €10 million
  
• Have a registered office, operational headquarters, and production facility in Italy
  
• Operate in the manufacturing sector, with primary ATECO code C
  
• Have regular social security contributions
  
• Be in good standing with tax obligations
  
• Be in active status and be registered in the Business Register
  
• Not have already received or applied for the expenses covered by the grant or any other public funding
  

Beneficiaries that received assistance under the previous Digital Export Bonus scheme can apply for funding only if they have completed the process and submitted the required reports by the deadline.

Individuals previously awarded the Digital Export Bonus and who have faced revocation, forfeiture due to writedown, or failure to submit reports are not eligible for the contribution.

The MAECI and the Agenzia ICE implemented extraordinary measures to support businesses in the areas affected by the 2023 floods as follows:

• In the territories flooded in Emilia-Romagna, Marche, and Tuscany in May 2023, the MAECI and the Agenzia ICE allocated a reserve of €3 million.
  
• In the territories flooded in Tuscany in November 2023 due to the exceptional weather events that began on 2 November 2023, the MAECI and the Agenzia ICE allocated an additional dedicated fund of €1.5 million.
  

How to apply for Digital Export Bonus Plus

The Digital Export Bonus Plus 2024 application deadline expired on 12 April 2024. To find out if the Digital Export Bonus will be available again in 2025, we recommend regularly checking the websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Agenzia ICE, or Invitalia.

For informational purposes, the application process is outlined below.

Interested companies must log in to the designated area of the Invitalia website using their SPID or CNS credentials. After accessing your dashboard, you first enter the tax code of the business seeking Digital Export Bonus Plus. The system then performs a real-time verification with the Chamber of Commerce to confirm that the user holds the role of legal representative.

From the dashboard, you can view the measures currently available on the portal, including Digital Export Bonus Plus. After clicking it, you’ll fill in the application, which consists of the following sections:

• Company master data, where the user enters the company’s information as it appears in the Business Registry.
  
• Contact person, where the details of the individual who can be contacted for any clarifications must be entered.
  
• Declaration of the state of emergency, where the user indicates whether they operate in the declared emergency area (for Emilia-Romagna, Marche, and Tuscany regions) by selecting YES or NO.
  
• Type chosen, indicating whether the application is for an individual business or a network/consortium.
  
• Declaration, which includes a list of statements that businesses must agree to in order to proceed with the application process.
  
• Users finalise the process for Digital Export Bonus Plus by clicking the “Generate PDF” button. At this stage, the system checks entered data for validity. If the checks are successful, you can download the Application Form in PDF format by clicking the “Download Application to Sign” button, which you must digitally sign.
  

After that, sign the application and then upload the signed document: the legal representative of the applicant company must be the person signing it. After signing the application, upload it to the platform by clicking the “Submit digitally signed application” button.

To apply for the Digital Export Bonus Plus grant, you must log in via SPID or CNS to the dedicated website, enter the application code/draft code/application ID ICE-2_XXXXXXXX in the designated field, and complete the submission by clicking the “Submit Application” button.