Industrial policy after the crisis: the case of the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy

Abstract

The crisis has if anything shown that myopic views satisfying short-term interests cannot be the basis for sustainable economic policies. Rather, this paper calls for a more holistic approach to understanding and developing industrial policy and develops a tool to view such policy initiatives. This ‘sundial’ is based on four main pillars: entitlements (seen here as the right and capability of individuals to take part in the learning processes underlying development); provisions (the tangible and intangible resources necessary for development); innovation (the necessary dynamic character of any action supporting development, adjusting and sustaining learning processes determining development paths); and territory (as learning processes sustaining development are embedded in specific territories). We suggest that whatever the territory under consideration, policy action must be coherent at all levels, be it regional, national or supranational. We apply this analysis to the specific case of Emilia-Romagna (ER), and argue that the case shows how a long-term and sustainable vision of industrial development can be effectively defined and implemented if this is done in a process involving local stakeholders and ensuring consensus. The ER industrial policy also illustrates a way to develop beyond the ‘traditional’ Italian model of industrial development based on industrial districts. However, we argue that regional level initiatives could do with more support from consistent national level policy initiatives.