THIRD EDITION LIGURIA 2022 FORUM

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The European House – Ambrosetti, in collaboration with the Liguria Region and a pool of partner institutions and companies, launched in 2016 the “Liguria 2022” initiative, a platform for discussion and dialog among public and private stakeholders to relaunch the development model for the Liguria region through concrete projects and a shared medium/long-term strategy.

The third Forum, held on Tuesday, May 7, 2019, provided an opportunity to share, with business and government leaders from Liguria, Italy and Europe, the initiatives launched, the results attained and also the new challenges for the region.

In 2019 major attention was given to the launch of the key development projects announced last May and to the lines of action for directing the regional strategic plan towards the most promising areas for the growth of the territory, including tourism and culture, the maritime economy, infrastructure investment, the strengthening of the innovation ecosystem and regional research.

Liguria shows an improvement or has a stable positioning in 78.7% of the indicators considered in the dashboard drawn up by the consultants at The European House – Ambrosetti and, on the whole, it is among the top three Italian regions in 14 indicators out of 52. Some indicators, moreover, show that Liguria is in a position of advantage compared to the national average.

Liguria is the Italian region in which the Maritime Economy appears more developed and impacts the most on the economy as a whole (9.2% against Italy’s 3.2%). The region has achieved a number of firsts spread across several areas:

• shipbuilding: the concentration of shipbuilding firms is the highest in Italy (with 15.4 companies every 1,000 manufacturing businesses);
• ports and logistics system: Liguria’s port system generates an added value of €4.5 billion, which is greater than that of London (around €4 billion);
• training, innovation and research: Liguria is a global point of reference when it comes to the know-how amassed across the territory, and in particular in the field of research and maritime training.

Along with the Maritime Economy, tourism too represents a source of development for the Region and a strategic asset to be promoted. In actual fact, in addition to the economic impact, tourism is in a position to generate a significant social, technological and cultural impact. In addition to being a well-known tourist destination, Liguria is ranked among the top Italian regions in several indicators:

• third-ranked region of Italy for foreign-traveller spending per inhabitant (with a growth of 14.6% between 2016 and 2017);
• second-ranked region for the number of cruise passengers handled in 2018 (over 2.4 million people);
• first-ranked region for the number of municipalities with Blue Fag beaches (30 in 2019);
• fifth-ranked region for the number of tourist arrivals and presences per inhabitant (+3.1% and +1.5% respectively, between 2016 and 2017).

It is for these reasons that the “Liguria 2022” Advisory Board believes that there is room in Liguria for the creation of a Center for Advanced Studies in Tourism (CRAT) that aims to be the first leading center for advanced studies for the study of tourism as a social, economic and technological phenomenon.

The Liguria, Region for Life and Innovation project wants to make Liguria a champion in the area of innovation applied to the sectors that are significant for Liguria, in keeping with its vision of development “Liguria: from the sea to life”, encouraging the launch of startups and innovative businesses. Liguria has Technology Districts and Innovation Hubs that are focussed on the applied technologies for maritime economy, logistics, transport, energy and sustainable development. The region invests a share of GDP in R&D that is greater than the national average (1.53% against 1.37%) and it is ranked second among the Italian regions for hi-tech added value on manufacturing as a whole. One employed person in five, moreover, is university educated in science and technology-based professions.

Despite these results, Liguria reveals a low level of dynamism on certain fronts–which include the number of innovative startups–that places Liguria at the bottom of the ranking (with 1.2 innovative startups every 1,000 companies). Against this backdrop, Liguria’s goal must be that of strengthening its own innovation and research ecosystem in order to activate structural innovation processes. In particular, it is necessary to:

• optimize the functioning of the innovation and research ecosystem, stimulating the creation of new skills, the transfer of technology and knowledge and the launch of startups;
• bolster the innovation supply chain, supporting the reinforcement and development of the innovation supply chain, boosting the distinctive regional resources, funds and assets;
•  support Open Innovation in order to facilitate dialogue between players.

Press release

Report 2019