Tourism and manufacturing districts of Romagna need infrastructures that connect the territory to the world quickly and efficiently. This is the strongest appeal that resounded in Rimini on the occasion of “Fattore R” (where R stands for Romagna), the fifth edition of the economic forum of the vast area which, between Emilia and the Adriatic, employs half a million people. and, with 105 thousand active companies, it generates 32 billion euros in added value and over 10 billion in exports between the three provinces of Ravenna, Forlì-Cesena and Rimini.
“It is absurd not to have High Speed in Romagna”, underlines the president of Confindustria Romagna, Paolo Maggioli, in relaunching the project that has been discussed for months on which he received the availability of the President of the Region Stefano Bonaccini for a confrontation. “Emilia-Romagna is the region that runs the most at national level and united we will do even more – remarked Maggioli, who next month will pass the presidency baton to his industrial colleague Roberto Bozzi – in order to start again from the beginning of 2023 from the point in which we were before the pandemic: a miracle to think about it after almost two years of pandemic and the merit goes to the entrepreneurs who have shown great resilience ».
Not only infrastructures are needed, but also investments in training, research, digitization and recomposition of supply chains: these are the priorities according to the president of the Romagna Chamber of Commerce Alberto Zambianchi.
Opportunities for industrial districts
Priorities that emerge in black and white in the research on three key districts of Rimini, Ravenna and Forlì-Cesena, namely agri-food, tourism and footwear, presented by EY, which with Cesena Fiera, Confindustria Romagna and Bper organizes the Romagna economic forum.
“The signals coming from companies are encouraging”, comments Alberto Rosa, EY partner, responsible for Emilia-Romagna.
It is true; food exports are running in double digits, tourism absorbs 70% of regional presences and this summer has returned to the levels of 2019 and also the high fashion footwear of San Mauro Pascoli is marching in foreign markets at rates close to + 20% .
«But interventions are needed – adds Rosa – to support the medium-long term development of the Romagna area. The recovery and development strategy we have identified also involves interconnection: forms of collaboration must be promoted between the various players in the area (lead companies, SMEs, start-ups, universities and institutions) because this is the only way to create an interconnected system of companies dynamic, sustainable and capable of attracting talents and thus realizing the conditions for growth ».
The development of the territory is in fact a precondition for enhancing the incoming resources of the NRP, explains the economist Veronica De Romanis, who spoke to Fattore R. “Not only Romagna but the whole country suffers from a productivity problem and the most penalized are young people. We have faced the emergency with a lot of debt, now we need to support the recovery and there can be no lasting growth if it is not inclusive and sustainable ».
Small is beautiful only when connected, the case of Imola and F1
It is the words of the Nobel laureate Michael Spence that put everyone in agreement on the need to reunite the supply chains, a strategic asset of competitiveness in the region, where Prometeia has just revised the growth estimates for 2021 GDP, raising them by half a point to +6.5 %.
«In the regions it is the talents and human capital that make the difference and Romagna plays in a good position, but must be able to diversify the economy and increase youth employment. Small is beautiful only if it is not disconnected – affirms Spence in a video link to Fattore R – or if there is an efficient ecosystem that guarantees services to businesses of all sizes, allowing the entrepreneur to focus on the core business, knowing that he can count externally for non-strategic functions, as happens in Silicon Valley ».
And a good example of interconnection and the ability to create a system comes from Imola, the western border of Romagna already under the province of Bologna, where yesterday the announcement that the Formula One Grand Prix will return was made official by Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio. until 2025; the first appointment at the Enzo and Dino Ferrari circuit is for April 24, 2022: a nice team game between the Farnesina, Agenzia Ice, Aci, the Region, Conami who are committed to supporting and sharing an investment of 20 million euros a year .