Services for the Chamber
of Commerce and enterprises
Support services provided to the Chamber of Commerce of Genoa for the Business Register, the EEN Network, product certification and tourism.
WTC Genoa is the Special Agency of the Chamber of Commerce of Genoa established to support the Chamber in some of its official duties, like the keeping of the Business Register and product certification, and in promotional activities, like tourism, innovation and research, and the participation in European projects.
WTC Genoa has been established in 2021, pursuant to the Chamber of Commerce system reform; it resulted from the merger by incorporation of the two existing Special Agencies of the Chamber of Commerce of Genoa – inHouse e World Trade Centre – combining and unifying their expertise, experience and resources to further boost the many Chamber of Commerce activities for the development of the business system and of the local territory.
Business register and data management
WTC Genoa builds upon the experience and know-how gained by the inHouse Agency regarding the inputting of the Business Register data, the huge database containing information about the establishment and activity of over 6 million businesses and 10 million entrepreneurs in Italy.
WTC Genoa, therefore, supports both the chamber offices of the Business Register and Infocamere – the IT company of the Italian Chambers of Commerce – to ensure that the data managed by the business registration system always meet the reliability, efficiency and security requirements of the Chamber of Commerce system.
EEN network
WTC Genoa also is a partner, on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce of Genoa, of the Enterprise Europe Network, created by the European Commission in order to support the technological growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises.
The network, which includes about 600 contact points, operates in over 60 countries and provides an integrated service system aimed at helping the SMEs get in touch with industrial, technological and business partners in foreign countries, supporting innovation and facilitating the transfer of technologies, as well as promoting the participation of the SMEs in European research and financing programmes.
The EEN contact point for north-western Italy is the ALPS EEN Consortium, which acts as a reference body for Liguria, Piedmont, and Aosta Valley. The main services provided by ALPS Enterprise Europe Network are:
- Provision of information and support to enterprises – SMEs in particular- regarding EC and internationalisation issues and for the participation in the European programmes
- Information seminars and workshops.
- Organisation of international technology brokering and B2B events.
- Profiling services (technology offers/requests, commercial offers/requests) to help businesses get in touch with foreign partners.
- Ric• Search for business and partnership opportunities from abroad, which can be accessed in the EEN network database.
- Searching for partners for participation in international research and development projects.
- Services supporting the innovation and environmental sustainability strategy in SMEs.
- Provision of feedback to the European Commission, to support the single market implementation with opinions from enterprises and citizens.
Quality certification and control
WTC Genoa also took over from inHouse the task of providing specialised support for the control and certification of the EC-labelled products (“Focaccia di Recco col formaggio IGP”, “Acciughe sotto sale del Mar Ligure IGP”), as well as of products and services bearing a geographical collective brand, with particular reference to the quality handicrafts, the “Artigiani In Liguria” regional marking, the “Genova Liguria Gourmet” typical food, and the “Genova Gourmet Bartenders” with the products “Genova Gourmet”, “Antichi ortaggi del Tigullio” and “Nocciole Misto Chiavari”.
In addition to document checks, the qualified WTC Genoa personnel performs on-field company audits, to ensure the traceability of the production chain and to improve the quality of the Genoese territory products.
Technical support to promotion activities
WTC Genoa also supports the many promotion activities carried out by the Genoa Chamber of Commerce in the field of tourism, that over the years has become one of the main driving factors of the Genoese economy.
In particular, the specialised WTC Genoa personnel contributes to the drawing up of industry statistics, analyses and reports, cooperating with the Liguria Region and with the Chamber of Commerce of the Ligurian Rivieras for all the survey activities related to the Regional Tourism Monitoring Centre.
The WTC also supports the Chamber of Commerce in the management of some strategic projects, like the participation in the Mirabilia Network, an association of the Italian Chambers of Commerce that wish to promote sustainable tourism in Unesco territories.