Presentation of the First Report on the Maritime Industry in Friuli Venezia Giulia
Innovation, sustainability and skills. These are the key words in the first Report on the Maritime Industry in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, created with the support of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and thanks to the collaboration between mareFVG, Area Science Park and DEAMS – the Department of Economic, Business, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at the University of Trieste. To support this study, data from the M.IND platform (Maritime Industry by mareFVG) was used and was collected thanks to initial contributions from the chamber of commerce system and regional employers’ associations, the Area Science Park Innovation Intelligence FVG platform and the ModeFinance databases. DEAMS and mareFVG also conducted nine interviews with companies in the sector, delving into topics such as technological and market challenges, the evolution of skills and the sustainability pathways launched by businesses.
This document is the result of five years of work and is continuously updated, making it possible to analyse the positioning of the regional maritime sector – made up of 1,350 companies – within the Italian, European and international context. It highlights the distribution of businesses in the maritime value chains, the value of individual products and services and the orientation towards innovation and sustainability.
Using purpose-built indicators, the document not only defines the current state of the art propensity for innovation and sustainability but it also highlights the evolution of technologies and skills necessary for tackling the ongoing technological transition in the sector. Thus, the Report on the Maritime Industry in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region becomes a very important and useful tool for designing initiatives and services that respond to the needs of the entrepreneurial fabric.
Lucio Sabbadini emphasizes how: “The Report reveals that the maritime economy in Friuli Venezia Giulia represents 15% of the total economy and directly employs over 10,000 workers. It also has a primary importance in terms of exports—nearly 40% of Italy’s exports in the shipbuilding sector (€3.496 billion) originate here, accounting for almost 16% of the region’s exports. This sector demonstrated exceptional resilience during the pandemic crisis and continues to show significant growth today (76% of companies report a growing turnover, 68% report strong growth), while most other economic sectors are showing considerable signs of crisis. The industry is investing in innovation, with 43% of companies showing a propensity for innovation, and is increasingly focused on sustainability, thanks to the strong synergy activated with the regional scientific system and despite a 70% reduction in regional administrative support compared to the 2014–2020 period.”
Professor Guido Bortoluzzi from the Department of Economic, Business, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at the University of Trieste states: “Our survey indicates that a quarter of businesses are already engaged in sustainability issues, distinguishing themselves through certifications, financial investments, professional skill development and monitoring of their value chain. Over 40% have started a sustainable development path, while approximately 30% are not yet equipped to address ESG issues. A crucial aspect concerns internal expertise: three-quarters of businesses have yet to formalise a figure dedicated to sustainability, an element that will be strategic in the coming years to address the growing attention focused on these issues. Lastly, nearly 70% of companies have adopted sustainability practices aimed at employees, underlining the crucial role of human resources in corporate processes and confirming attraction and retention as strategic priorities for the future. The centrality of environmental sustainability and people-related issues was also confirmed by the interviews conducted with both SMEs and large companies.”
Enrico Longato of Area Science Park explains that: “The joint work carried out with DEAMS at the University of Trieste was particularly significant for developing a complex sustainability indicator dedicated to maritime businesses in Friuli Venezia Giulia. We took into account not only the financial sustainability of businesses but also elements such as certifications and innovation activities that can be considered green, like projects and patents where environmental compatibility is a qualifying factor or social sustainability practices adopted by companies. These analyses were made possible by enhancing the value of Area Science Park’s work on FVG Innovation Intelligence data and field activities conducted by DEAMS. From the integration of these various elements, we observed that a significant number of companies in the sample analysed have a solid economic and financial situation and have already started making substantial investments in green innovation. Nevertheless, there is still ample room to plan and implement further actions aimed at strengthening overall sustainability in corporate processes.”
The Observatory of Maritime Supply Chains in Friuli Venezia Giulia was an initiative that emerged from the intuition of mareFVG, which analysed the entrepreneurial fabric in detail and developed an innovative methodology to represent the local institutions in the maritime sector. This study was subsequently transformed into the M.IND innovation platform, which makes it possible to discover the regional companies based on the supply chain in which they operate and related details. In recent years, synergies with Area Science Park, the University of Trieste and ModeFinance have enriched M.IND with new indicators, that on the propensity for innovation (developed directly by Area Science Park), which comes from the Innovation Intelligence FVG platform, and additional economic and financial indicators from ModeFinance, while a tool for measuring sustainability has been built in collaboration with the University of Trieste.
The report is available for download here.