The uptake of additive technologies has the potential to reduce the effective distance between Italy and South Africa, by increasing the respective countries’ ease of impact on one another. This is according to Dr. Enrico Annacondia, CEO of the Italian Association of Additive Technologies (AITA).

Annacondia, states that a country’s productive capabilities could be enhanced, particularly in terms of flexibility, through the use of digital modelling of products which could allow manufacturing by independent local producers, while being based on authorized service centres and receiving data from other countries.

With partly this purpose in mind, AITA, a body of Additive Technology companies in Italy, has established cooperation with the Italian-South African Chamber of Trade and Industries, in order to establish an antenna located in a promising country where additive manufacturing (AM) is likely to find fruitful partnerships and new fields for applying the technology.

Annacondia points out that South Africa is in a special position to exploit its natural resources to feed the material value chain of additive manufacturing (AM), and this could be done in cooperation with Italian companies.

“Italy has excellent competencies in AM, and this will certainly enhance exchanges with South Africa in terms of partnerships with local companies. What is most important however, is to create a market for AM application, once again mitigating the challenges stemming from distance and cultural differences”, Annacondia notes. 

Annacondia explains that the Italian Additive Technology sector covers almost all possible applications, ranging from aerospace, biomedical, automotive and fashion, adding that the sector is supported by a well-established research, training and development (RTD) system, in which research centres develop new products and technologies, often working with big end-users. Unfortunately, this process is not totally pervasive within the Italian manufacturing sector, partly owing to the pandemic and especially for small firms.

Nevertheless, Italy took real advantage of the oncoming fourth industrial revolution by adopting sound governmental policies, such as the hyper-depreciation 4.0 and transition 4.0. These initiatives allowed a wide number of companies to acquire industry 4.0 technologies, based on digital paradigms and creation of value from data and information. In this way, many Italian companies renewed both their products and business models in order to match the new wave of technologies.

In terms of its global position in the 4IR sector, Annacondia states that the Italian manufacturing sector has always been recognized for its capacity to combine the characteristics embodied by the Made in Italy label and the ability to sell products worldwide. Hence the fourth industrial revolution gives the opportunity to local companies to complement their physical products with a number of customized services based on data, giving a further competitiveness to Italian manufacturing by supporting maintenance, performance and sustainability.

The digital revolution has enormous potential, and its new technologies could improve the lives of many. However, the success of the 4th IR in South Africa will depend on the country’s ability to harness said technologies to the benefit of the whole population, and not just of a few selected people.

In 2019, South Africa held its first Industrial Revolution Digital Economy Summit, after which President Cyril Ramaphosa established a 30-member commission, whose aim is to support the government and provide advice on how to implement strategies and policies that could integrate the advancements of the 4IR into the economy and policy of the country. The commission published its first report on the 23rd of October 2020 in which it observes that SA is placed at 46 of 141 countries in terms of innovation capacity.

Pockets of excellence where 4IR technology has become embedded have taken roots in South Africa. What South Africa needs to consider in its journey out of the economic crisis is the importance of inclusivity and that the 4IR will provide fewer benefits to the country if its technologies remain accessible only to a small number of people and businesses.

Through technologies such as additive manufacturing, the technology from the 4th Industrial Revolution can truly alter the patterns of the local economy in the long term. One of the ways this can be done is to use strong existing bilateral relations. Thankfully 4IR technology stands to improve these relations, particularly between Italy and South Africa, thus accelerating its own proliferation.

This article originally appeared in the 2021/2022 Directory of the Italian South African Chamber of Trade and Industries ITALCHAM