PARTNERSHIP Italy - UK

PARTNERSHIP | Winter 2019 24 The UK and the Commonwealth Legacy A great challenge for Italian companies to become international T he cultural and economic importance of the Commonwealth is still understated by Italian small and medium sized companies. This might be a consequence of the lack of awareness about the origin of the Commonwealth itself. It is largely believed that the Commonwealth is a mere succedaneum of the British Empire: immediately after WWII, it came to birth as the brainchild of the Palace and Downing Street to maintain - although in a different way - the UK’s role of head of the former empire. Partially true: the organisation born thanks to the London Declaration of 1949 was conceived as a power tool, but it suddenly became a community of joint forces aimed at the creation of a multicultural pole of interests. Nowadays, the Commonwealth is made up of 53 countries that are located in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and Pacific Area. An interesting market, indeed. NEWCHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR ITALIAN COMPANIES No matter what kind of Brexit we have to face in the years to come, there are pillars to be leveraged upon building a business in the Commonwealth: a) Among the 53 Nations belonging to the Commonwealth, there are countries strictly connected to the European Union through specific economic treaties that were not impacted by Brexit, thus being a good gate to rely on; b) Historically, Italy has good relationships with African Commonwealth Members; c) The extraordinary selling power of the Made in Italy brand is strongly present and well developed throughout the Commonwealth, starting from the UK. This aspect would be considered as an extraordinary leverage to create appropriate strategies to develop Italian small and medium sized companies; d) In almost all the countries belonging to the Commonwealth, Italy has institutional bases that are managed, either directly or indirectly, by the Italian administration and that are very useful for companies to get a soft landing in those countries. CONCLUSION We have a market. We have a gate. We need a strategy to develop our business and the IP assets (including know-how and tradition) are what a company needs to do business. R&D and creativity are surely paramount, but without the connective fluid represented by private and traditional know-how - as a matter of fact, what is a tradition if not a communal know-how developed and consolidated through the centuries? - they will lose their effectiveness. Therefore, let’s create, develop and consolidate our own intellectual property portfolio taking inspiration from the common know-how. And let’s face the new challenges of the future market, bringing with us our legacy to be matched with the other states/ communities of states’ legacy. And the Commonwealth one. · © Emanuela Truffo Studio Legale Jacobacci & Associati Photo credit: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Flickr ,https://www.flickr.com/photos/ foreignoffice/26673968607/in/photostream/