North-West Project: the revival of the industrial triangle to relaunch Italy

(Il Sole 24 Ore - Radiocor) - Making a contribution to the relaunch of the entire country system, starting from the North West territories, starting from the 'industrial triangle' of the 1950s and 1960s, which today has the chance to revive into something new, in a union of synergies involving the three major cities of that area: Turin, Milan and Genoa. Not a utopia, but a real project launched by Unione Industriali Torino, Assolombarda (which groups together the companies of Milan, Monza Brianza, Lodi and Pavia) and Confindustria Genova. A project that is well analysed in its many forms in Francesco Antonioli's book 'Progetto Nord-Ovest. Milano, Torino, Genova e il futuro dell'industria italiana', presented at the Turin International Book Fair 2024 during an event organised by Unione Industriali Torino in which, in addition to the author, Antonio Calabrò Director of the Pirelli Foundation and Vice-President of Unione Industriali Torino and Marco Lavazza, Vice-President Luigi Lavazza SpA and Vice-President of Unione Industriali Torino took part. "The North West started from an idea in which the three main poles, which were Turin, Milan and Genoa, went on parallel roads that did not meet. For some time now, this narrative has changed and it has been realised that each can benefit from the growth of the other. It is necessary to reason as one territory,' Marco Lavazza explained, highlighting the importance of the cooperation of these three big cities.

The territories of Turin, Milan and Genoa are worth almost 20% of Italian GDP and 60% of the wealth produced by the North West. There are some 730,000 enterprises, employing 3.5 million people. At the centre is the manufacturing industry, worth over 213 billion euro, closely intertwined with the logistics linked to the port of Genoa. To these are added another 170 billion, linked to the knowledge economy and the health economy. These are the numbers that describe MiToGeno - this is the acronym of the project - which already contains its meaning in its name. 'In acronym, the old industrial triangle, the one of the economic boom, was called GeMiTo,' explains Antonio Calabrò, vice-president of Unione Industriali Torino. 'Now we can change the name of things, playing on the meaning of the Greek origin: "myth" meaning thread and "genein" meaning generate: insist on growth factors, stimulate the cells of development.

In order to carry out the project, the three confindustrial organisations entrusted Prometeia with a study on the state of affairs, from which, according to the author Francesco Antonioli, 'tantalizing insights emerge' that highlight the existence of a historical hinge in the North West, manufacturing, 'on which the knowledge and health economy intersect'. The ultimate goal is clear and well expressed by Antonioli himself: 'to make the macro-area a Mediterranean barycentre, on which to build a development in an international, European key, from which the whole of Italy can benefit'. And to do this, it is necessary to implement various synergies involving the three large cities in their facets made up of public-private relations, between businesses, universities, research institutes, local administrations and foundations, in order to invest the available resources, including those deriving from the NRP, in the most effective way possible. The one identified by Prometeia is 'a competitive production system of medium and large high-tech companies', emphasises Vice-President Calabrò, and strong international relations, for sectors such as automotive, mechatronics, aerospace, etc., in a context in which business culture 'links manufacturing, finance, services in a series of excellent global training and a widespread sensitivity to sustainability'. All dimensions that are based on solid values, capable of creating economic and social value. And, to quote a few words from the preface of Antonioli's book, 'MiToGeno, the North-West project, whatever you want to call it, will work if it operates with a vision of an open city, with the three poles increasingly integrating and with a strong dialogue towards Europe and the world'.