Date:
23 November 2016
Confindustria Lombardia: EUSALP, Enterprise Europe Network, synergies between EU funds. Pro-European regionalism is a winning strategy for competitiveness
Milan, 23 November 2016 – ‘European regions as engines of growth’ is the title of the conference organised by Confindustria Lombardia and held today at the Terrazza Martini in Milan: a title that highlights the pro-European strategy of the Lombardy regional Confindustria, as outlined in the #Lombardia2030 strategic plan, which is already beginning to bear fruit.
This was explained during his introductory speech by President Alberto Ribolla: “Europe represents the environment in which we are called to operate and engage: a major political and economic-productive area competing with other continental zones of the world. The commitment of Confindustria Lombardia – stressed Ribolla – to the EUSALP strategy and our membership of the Enterprise Europe Network, with access to its services, reflects this vocation and represents the implementation of a path identified by our companies – through the territorial associations – within our #Lombardia2030 strategic plan,” declared Alberto Ribolla.
During the conference, Confindustria Lombardia noted that Lombardy is the leading region in Europe for the number of employees in the manufacturing sector, the second for GDP, and the third for industrial value added per capita, with exports exceeding those of entire nations such as Sweden, Portugal and Hungary (source Fondazione Edison for #Lombardia2030).
“Building on its position as a leading region in Europe, the time has come for Lombardy to promote a new approach: that of synergies between regional, national and European development funds, and to do this, an even stronger public-private synergy is required,” added Alberto Ribolla.
Testifying to the strategic importance of Europe for Lombardy were the words of President Roberto Maroni, who spoke at the conference: "Regione Lombardia believes in building a Europe of the regions. In this process, we have secured leadership of the 1st Action Group, the one for innovation, to support businesses, and we are currently the most active of the nine groups, demonstrating the strong commitment that Regione Lombardia invests in the Alpine Macroregion. This is an opportunity to develop concrete, transnational projects where we can create synergy at a continental level,” concluded Governor Maroni.
While the benefits of the activism of Lombardy’s entrepreneurs in favour of the Alpine Macroregion – through the dissemination of the position on integrated mobility between the regions part of EUSALP, as well as the promotion of the centrality of manufacturing, for which the Macroregion can represent the ideal platform for further development – will be reaped in the years to come, membership of the Enterprise Europe Network is already providing concrete results, enabling Lombardy’s businesses to excel in European tenders and network with other European partners: in 2 years of EEN partnership, Confindustria Lombardia has helped Lombardy’s businesses obtain approximately 1.5 million euros in EU funds, organised 15 B2B events and arranged around 300 international meetings.
The conference was also attended by: Raffaele Raja, Director of the Regione Lombardia Brussels Delegation; Marco Onida, DG Regio, European Commission – Macro-regional Strategies Competence Centre; Roberto Zuccato, President of Confindustria Veneto; Susanne Ast, Baden-Württemberg, Action Group 2; and Massimo Sabatini, Director of the Regional Policies and Territorial Cohesion Area of Confindustria.
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