Artificial Intelligence Voucher, Varese Chamber of Commerce

What it funds

The Varese Chamber co-funds a single consulting path toward adopting artificial intelligence, and the rules of the call set four mandatory activities: an AS IS analysis of digitalization and internal information flows (processes, tools, organization, people); a TO BE definition, with objectives, priorities and a reference technology architecture; a gap analysis, including governance, risk and compliance (GRC); and finally a feasibility study that sets out the phases, technologies, activities, timing, costs and goals of the interventions. The stated purpose is to bring AI into supply chains through a strategic analysis and a cyber security review. The voucher pays for the study, not for buying or building the solution.

The rules sort companies into bands by headcount and set a minimum spend and a maximum grant for each: the threshold on the card is the minimum spend of the smallest band and rises with the band, the ceiling is the grant of the largest band and the smaller bands have a lower one. A share of the funds is reserved, with priority, for micro and small companies (Legislative Decree 184/2025).

Requirements and what is left out

• Companies without a registered office or operating site listed in the Varese business register: excluded. Companies in Como and Lecco have their own Chamber's AI voucher, with different rules.
• Large companies: the rules admit only micro, small and medium-sized companies under the EU definition.
• Anyone looking to buy or build the artificial intelligence solution: the voucher stops at the feasibility study, and whatever the study proposes is paid for separately.
• Anyone who already has a trusted consultant: the provider must have an office or operating site in the Varese Chamber's territory and have delivered services for the analysis and application of artificial intelligence systems over the last two years.
• The provider must also be one of these: a research and technology transfer center recognized as a MIMIT-certified incubator; a Digital Innovation Hub (DIH-EDI) or a Technical Assistance Center (CAT) for 4.0 technologies, from the list on the Chamber's page; a university.
• Companies with other public aid on the same costs: no stacking, except with general measures. The grant is under de minimis (EU Reg. 2023/2831; 1408/2013 and 717/2014 for agriculture and fisheries) and uses up the three-year allowance shared with every other aid in that regime.
• Companies not in good standing on the annual chamber fee or on social security contributions (DURC): excluded. On the annual fee the Chamber may ask for it to be settled within a short deadline.
• Companies under insolvency proceedings, or with supply contracts with the Chamber (art. 4, para. 6, Decree-Law 95/2012, with the exceptions listed in the rules): excluded.
• Companies that fail the anti-mafia requirements, carry disqualifying sanctions under Legislative Decree 231/2001, or have representatives with disqualifying convictions: excluded.
• Companies without insurance against catastrophic risks (Law 213/2023, art. 1, para. 101): excluded. Every requirement must hold until payment. At payment the company must also comply with workplace safety law (Legislative Decree 81/2008).
• Anyone who has already applied: one application per company, unless the earlier one or the grant is formally withdrawn, or the earlier one has not yet been admitted. Among several, only the last one filed counts; the others are not accepted.
• VAT does not count as spend, unless it is a non-recoverable cost for the company, declared in a sworn statement (DSAN).
• Spend counts only if incurred within the window shown on the call page, which opens before applications do and closes after the application deadline.

How to apply

It is an evaluative first-come procedure: applications are reviewed in order of arrival until the funds run out, so the moment of filing counts. The rules still show the original deadlines for applications and for reporting; the call page shows the application deadline extended by a managerial decision and a longer reporting window, and the card follows the page.

1. Take the Selfi4.0 digital maturity test on the PID portal, or update the one you have: it counts only if filled in or updated since the start of the call's year.
2. Choose a provider that meets the requirements in article 5 of the rules.
3. Fill in the application form and have the owner or legal representative sign it digitally: signed by anyone else, the intermediary included, the application is excluded.
4. Log in to InfoCamere's ReStart with SPID, CNS or CIE and file the application with the form and the Selfi4.0 report. An intermediary holding a proxy can also file it.
5. If the Chamber asks for more documents, reply within the short deadline set by article 8 of the rules.
6. Check the lists of admitted applications, which the Chamber approves and publishes as it goes.
7. After the award, report on ReStart within the window shown on the call page, with the reporting form and the bank's certification of your IBAN.
8. Have every invoice carry the CUP and the wording “Spesa a valere sul bando Voucher AI”, and pay only by traceable means: no cash, no offsetting, no self-invoicing. Each invoice covers the full value of the service and is paid in full by the company: no partial payments, and a bank-transfer order alone does not count as proof of payment.

The grant is paid net of the statutory withholding (art. 10), and article 12 lists the grounds for revocation.

What this budget builds

The budget buys a document: the feasibility study says what to do, but puts nothing into operation. I take the interventions the study proposes, keep the ones the company's data and processes can actually support (the method is in AI use case selection) and bring the first one into use: for example an assistant that works on the documents the company already produces, with the data under its control, or a flow that removes the manual handoff between the management system and spreadsheets. The GRC part of the study becomes the AI governance rules under which that first project goes into use.

This entry is informational and is not advice: I do not handle grant applications, and before committing to a purchase it is worth reading the official source above or talking to whoever files the application.