Innovation in Apulia: activities, results and future perspectives

ApuliaItaly% 2005 GDP (€ mln.)64,9981,423, out of which:  agriculture  industry  services 5.8% 21.5% 73.3% 2.8% 28.1% 69.0% 2005 GDP per capita (€) 15, , Employees (2005)1,305,70024,329, Unemployment rate (2004) 15.5%8% Some economic figures

An intermediate development region  Enterprises dimension  Local and external firms  Traditional and innovative productions

Enterprises dimension Local firms and external firms  Most of Apulian firms has less than 10 employees  Few Apulian firms has more than 50 employees; most of them are concentrated in hi-tech sectors. In these sectors, a number of large industrial groups have opened up in Apulia, among which: IBM, BOSCH, GETRAG, ENEL, ALENIA and FIAT  In low-tech industries there are very few medium-large size Apulian firms with their own brand and a significant presence on the international markets

Traditional and innovative productions  Low investment in R&I (0.6% of the GDP)  Low propensity to product innovation  A strong propensity to process innovation  In the manufacturing industry, most of firms are concentrated in low tech sectors (textile and clothes, shoes, furniture, foodstuff)  Most of them also form local productive systems  The hi-tech industries in Apulia refer to mechatronics, and in particular automobile components, chemistry, energy, aerospace and software development  They are scattered on the territory: the steel industry (TA), mechanics and automotive (BA), the chemical and energetic industry (BR), aeronautics (BR)

Apulian R&I System Apulian University System It is composed of 5 universities, the local seats of public bodies of research (CNR, ENEA, INFN), research centers, scientific and technological parks, research consortia (CETMA, OPTEL, Centro Laser, ISBEM). The regional R&D expense amounts to the 0.35% of the GDP (2003), that is the 90% of the Italian average

ApuliaItaly% Public institutions1,38644,0613 Universities7,080123,2666 No profit private institutions 2216,3863 Firms1,19381,8221 Total9,880255,5354 R&D personnel (2004)

The seeds of new technologies in Apulia  Biotech (a good level of R&D activities but a low presence of enterprises)  Mechatronics (continued research carried out by the main universities, CNR institutes, national and international large firms and high-quality medium-sized firms)  Agro Food Research (almost 900 researchers involved in Universities, CNR centres)  Nanotecnologies (DHITECH district)  Energy (Apulia is the first region in Italy for wind energy production and the fourth for biomasse production)  Aerospace (4,000 employees, 350 employees in private enterprises involved in R&D activities, 500 researchers in universities and research centres)

Regional strategic objectives  Improving the technological offer of Apulian public research system (public laboratories network, Industrial Liaison Offices)  Supporting the innovation demand of the regional entrepreneurial structure (role of finance)  Developing high technology industrial sectors (technological districts, research projects,…)

The future of Apulia The future of Apulia is based on the capability of choosing and pursuing strategies able to govern complexity, in the new global economy strongly characterized by the use of knowledge and technologies

Apulia innovation policy goals  To obtain critical mass  To move from industrial districts to technological districts  To provide a model for financing tools  To develop state of the art research  To promote hi-tech enterprise creation  To give opportunities to researchers (basic and applied research)  To increase the role of universities and public research bodies as the basis for development  To increase the presence of human capital in research  To use evaluation to improve quality and performance

From strategy to models Tools  Aggregations and critical mass (cluster)  System governance Strategy  To integrate regional policies with national and European directives  To simplify procedures and improve automatism  To share best international practice Results  Regional centres of competence  Public laboratories network  Technological Districts

Technological Districts: objectives  To favour interaction and cooperation among public and private subjects operating on the territory  To favour common projects  To outline long period common programs  To build mutual confidence and reputation outwards  To consolidate qualified human resources accumulation  To attract new actors through peculiar location advantages

TD characteristics  The project is proposed by the regional government and should be supported by studies and analyses  Compliant to the national government guide lines in S&T politics  Presence in the TD of leader firms, the main public actors and a governance structure  Definition of a juridical entity responsible for the initiatives coordination  Contribution of public and private competences and funds and intervention of significant financial actors at a regional level  Mid-long term financial self-sufficiency

TD main activities Industrial research for large firms (public-private partnership) Industrial research for large firms (public-private partnership) SMEs pre-competitive development SMEs pre-competitive development Training (training for new enterpreneurs, undergraduate and postgraduate studies) Training (training for new enterpreneurs, undergraduate and postgraduate studies) Other specific services: Other specific services: investments attraction investments attraction venture capital (early stage financing, seed capital) venture capital (early stage financing, seed capital) internationalization internationalization

Governance models  Attraction of investment  Corporate research center  High qualification services for SMEs  High-tech  Meccatronica  Agroalimentare

 Strengthening the network of services for innovation and of the connections between scientific and productive system, in order to increase the competitiveness of the regional system  Promoting, organizing and supporting the demand for innovation  Developing a platform for the high-tech pre-post lauream training, so as to generate highly qualified human resources  Creating a pole for technological training in the Mediterranean area High-Tech District: objectives

 Innovation in the traditional industries of the region and in some emergent fields, through the development of  sectional technologies  technologies which are cross-sectional to the various industries  For public institutions:  acceleration of the economic development of the territory  incitement to the private investments in the TD area  For the industrial groups:  privileged access to high qualified human resources  support to the technological innovation developed in the TD  privileged access to high quality infrastructures Mechatronic District: objectives

 Improving the abilities to innovation of the agro food industry (development of new technologies for food tracking, eco-compatible productive techniques, quality monitoring)  Promoting the competitiveness of the regional social and productive system  Developing highly qualified human resources and creating of new workplaces Agro Food District: objectives