Medical devices: a dynamic and innovative industrial cluster in Apulia

Forty years after its first settlements, Apulia confirms itself as a leading centre in the medical device sector with 167 active companies and almost 2,100 employees, 58.2% of whom (2083) are highly qualified, with 57% holding a university degree and 1.2% also holding a PhD. And on top of it all, investments in R&D amounting to almost 18 million euros were made mostly by SMEs, a sign of the sector's ability to innovate and attract talent, a division that employs 8.8% of the workforce. Of the 167 companies, 80 have the production of medical devices as their main activity, which is above the national average, and 8.4% are start-ups or SMEs.

Apulia confirms its specific weight in the national framework of the sector's enterprises, therefore, with 3.6% of the national total and no less than five innovation centres including InnovaPuglia, H-Bio Apulia district, Information and Innovation Technology District-Tecnopolis, Biomolecular Nanotechnology Centre, Salento biomedical district. Feeding the sector is a domestic demand of almost 555 million euros in medical devices -dated 2023- with an average per capita expenditure higher than the national one: 139.9 euros per Apulian against 131 euros per Italian. This dynamism makes Fabio Faltoni, president of Confindustria Dispositivi Medici, say that "in Apulia the data confirm the liveliness of a dynamic and innovative entrepreneurial fabric that represents about 4% of Italian companies in the sector, with a strong vocation for research and technological development".

Liveliness emerged clearly during the 'Together for a Healthy Country' roadshow, which for two days in Bari highlighted the economic impact of the sector and its contribution to the SSN. However, 'far-sighted industrial policies are also needed,' noted the president of Confindustria Puglia, Sergio Fontana, 'investments in training, digitalisation and infrastructures, to face the global challenges that await us'. The urgency for the existing R& D ecosystem in Apulia, and in particular in the Bari area, to become fertile ground for companies was stressed above all by the president of Confindustria Bari-Bat, Mario Aprile, according to whom "we need to further strengthen R& D spending per capita, which is still lower than the national average, and above all we need to strengthen technology transfer networks between the academic world and companies".