Monza, 27 April - Confindustria Monza e Brianza and Confindustria Lombardia present the nine Lombardy Technology Clusters: Aerospace, Agrifood, Living Environments, Green Chemistry, Energy, Intelligent Factory, Mobility, Life Sciences, and Smart Communities.

Each cluster oversees a strategic technological area for the Lombardy Region's Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3), which is aligned with the Europe 2020 Strategy. "Clusters are strategic tools that, if well communicated," notes Gabriella Meroni, President of Small Industry at Confindustria Monza e Brianza, "can create value for the region and bring benefits to businesses. This is one of the objectives of today's event, where the Lombardy clusters are being presented in collaboration with Confindustria Lombardia. Clusters," continues President Meroni, "are systems that bring together businesses, research centres, universities, associations, and public/private bodies linked to a specific technological field. They were created to foster innovation, build international partnerships, and access new public funding opportunities. However, there are those who have been able to look at their own business with fresh eyes, recognise its flaws and negative aspects, and see beyond them. Knowing how to seize new tools to support businesses is certainly the right path to harness the positive aspects of the current economic climate. Concluding, Gabriella Meroni stated, "Informing businesses about opportunities and supporting them in new growth projects is a duty for associations like Confindustria."

Clusters represent an aggregative model that promotes economic growth, international partnerships, and access to public funding, while also contributing to job creation and the development of new industries through the exploitation of intellectual property. "For Confindustria Lombardia, the future of Lombardy's industry lies in the development of clusters," declared Gianluigi Viscardi, President of Small Industry at Confindustria Lombardia. "This new aggregative model represents the new frontier for competing in global markets—a competition that is increasingly difficult to face with traditional means. Furthermore, as demonstrated by recent international publications on the subject—most notably 'Clusters, convergence, and economic performance' by Mercedes Delgado, Michael E. Porter, and Scott Stern—this new model fosters the development of new patents, promotes economic growth, and thus creates new jobs. Through collaboration and the development of synergies between small, medium, and large enterprises, research centres, universities, public administrations, and banking institutions, the Lombardy technology clusters make our region's industries more internationalised, digitised, and connected," concluded Viscardi. Today's economic climate requires larger companies, or SMEs aggregated into clusters, that are faster, more internationalised, more digitised, and better connected, with improved human capital. For this reason, the relationship and synergy between large and small enterprises are crucial. During the day, the experiences of the Lombardy technology clusters, their future prospects, and the opportunities offered by this aggregative tool in terms of competitiveness were illustrated. At the end of the presentation, one-to-one sessions were held, during which companies were able to meet directly with the cluster managers.

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