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Emilia-Romagna - A region of excellence for innovative
start-ups
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There are many reasons why Emilia-Romagna is renowned as one of the most advanced regions in Italy and Europe. The Emilia-Romagna model, studied all around the world, is a good example of successful institutional public/private-sector cooperation involving political, social and economic actors for creating an environment conducive to enterprise development and innovation. It relies on an intensive networking process, involving private business networks and social and public networks, including academia.
Located in the north-east of Italy, in the centre of the countrys most productive area, Emilia-Romagna has an extension of about 22.000 sq. km and nearly 4 million inhabitants. Its pro capita GDP is one of the highest in Italy and the 13th in Europe. Its employment rate is well above the European average and, with nearly 400.000 enterprises marked by high technological and product specialisation, Emilia-Romagna ranks among the leading European regions for entrepreneurship and economic dynamism. |
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Structure of production
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One of the peculiar characteristics of Emilia-Romagnas structure of production is its industrial district system: industrial poles with hundreds of specialised and independent small and medium-sized businesses operating in the same sector, which collaborate, compete and are concentrated in demarcated areas. Among these companies, there is a dense network of small and very small companies, that, having developed with the evolution of local productive systems, give life in turn to a closely-packed network of sub-contracting supplier companies. The sub-supply sector in Emilia-Romagna is one of the most developed in the country and it is vertically integrated with the activities of larger businesses.
The regional industrial system is noticeably diversified. The most developed sector is industrial machinery, where 25% of manufacturing industries and approximately 50% of the total regional workforce operate. With sales abroad reaching 60% of turnover in some cases, the regional districts in some sectors (ceramics, food production, plant engineering) are the most significant in the world, for number of businesses, volume and total sales.
The agro-food sector is especially developed in Emilia-Romagna. With an annual turn-over of 44 billion Euros and quality products renowned throughout the whole world, the food industry is one of the driving forces of the region.
Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Ducati are just some of the names that can be mentioned to give an idea of how concentrated the high-performance motor industry culture is in the region, something that has made the region famous all over the world. The production of high-performance sports cars, motorcycles and mopeds is supported by a vast network of large and small manufacturers in the motor-components and parts industry. Alongside these manufacturing areas, is the associated production of industrial vehicles, tractors, machinery for agriculture, railway etc.
With 350 enterprises, representing approximately 85% of the national ceramic tile production, Emilia-Romagna is a world leader in this specific sector and for its related machinery also. Another extremely important sector in Emilia-Romagna is fashion in which 4,000 enterprises work.
The bio-medical sector is also developing strongly, especially with regard to bioelectric-medical and orthopaedic prosthesis, and the presence of numerous small and medium-sized businesses that, by converting skills acquired in other environments, have become specialised in medical diagnostics.
A huge development has also been observed in the recently established sector of information technology, multimedia and those businesses related to so-called new economy. |
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Regional innovation system
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A pioneer for the innovation capacity of its enterprises, Emilia-Romagna is in the forefront for the potentialities expressed by its research system. One of the Italian richest University and Research Centres basin which can compete at European level is located here.
In particular, four regional universities operate in Emilia Romagna: the University of Bologna, which was founded in 1089 and is the oldest university in the Western World, the University of Ferrara, the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, and the University of Parma. This overview is completed by the Cattolica University premises located in Piacenza and the seats of two American universities. In total the university system accounts for over 5000 professors and researchers, 67% of whom are in technical-scientific faculties.
The research panorama counts also the National Research Council (CNR), which has 12 institutes and institute sections in Emilia-Romagna and 10 centres within the universities, where about 800 people are employed (researchers, technicians, students with grants and PhD students).
ENEA (the National Body for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment) has the second biggest concentration of research laboratories following the centre of Casaccia near Rome. These laboratories employ a total of 600 people.
For the 25% of the time, the labs belonging to the public network are employed for services addressed to private companies (proofs, certifications, etc.), among which many are small and medium sized enterprises.
A strong and especially efficient system. According to OECD, with 5,9 of the entire national investment on research, Emilia-Romagna realises 15% of the entire national scientific production.
Many research projects are developed collaboratively between research bodies and enterprises. As for performance indicators, 15% of these projects brought to the creation of a new enterprise, assigned to exploit the research results. All universities and research centres are actually increasing and enhancing their activities regarding spin-offs :
- AlmaCube, the incubator created by the University of Bologna and two local foundations has generated in the last year 12 new enterprises.
- In the Ferrara University, a spin-off centre has been lately created, which has already generated five spin-offs, of which two participated directly by the university. A new incubator is being designed together with ENEA and Technopolis.
- In all universities seats of Emilia-Romagna (Bologna, Cesena, Faenza, Ferrara, Modena, Reggio, Parma and Piacenza) a Spinner Point is active. Spinner Points were created and are managed by the Spinner Consortium, composed of Aster, Fondazione Alma Mater and Sviluppo Italia, with the objective of favouring technology transfer and promote the creation of innovative spin-offs.
- In Parma, the Spinner Point has generated a spin-off in the electronic sector and is thinking about the creation of an incubator within the technological park Parma Tecninnova, of which the University is partner together with the Chamber of Commerce, the Industrial Association, the Municipality of Parma, the Province and the financing company Soprib.
- In Modena, the University is planning the creation of a technological park that will include also an incubator.
38 public and private innovation centres for technology transfer operate in the region, ranging from ERVET the regional development agency to consortia between enterprises.
Among these, particularly active are the three technological parks of the region :
- CENTURIA-RIT, created from the merging of two pre-existing parks, respectively Centuria, born in Cesena in 1995 as a service centre for innovation and research for the will of a group of big enterprises, and RIT (Romagna Technological Innovation), created in 2001 by 23 private companies and participated also by the Municipality of Faenza, the Province and Chamber of Commerce of Ravenna and an Association of Romagna Municipalities
- CRIT (Centre for Research and Technology Transfer), brain broker created in 2001 by 14 large companies located in the area of Modena and Bologna together with the industrial association and the two universities of Bologna and Modena
- Parma Tecninnova, born in 2000, has realised about 20 research agreements between enterprises and the university in sectors like acoustics, meccatronics and information technologies.
For what concerns education and training, further to the university system, further 10 high technical schools operate in the region and more that 150 technical vocational training centres. The strong tradition for technical training is confirmed by the more than 200 million euro spent every year by the Region on training. |
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Contact details
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ASTER Science Technology Enterprise
Contact person : Verdiana Bandini
Address : Via Gobetti, 101 - I-40129 Bologna (ITALY)
Tel : +39.051.6398099
Fax : +39.051.6398131
E-mail : verdiana.bandini@aster.it |
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