Innovation
After a century as the Italian capital of automobiles, Torino has diversified its vocations and, at the same time, is concentrating on productive sectors requiring a high level of knowledge. Investments in production with strong immaterial values based on research and innovation: this is the path that the city’s economy has chosen to follow as it designs its future.
Four strategic sectors have been pinpointed: the automotive industry, ICT, the aerospace industry and finance. Automobiles are and remain – albeit in a different form – a strongpoint of the urban and regional economy. A high concentration of businesses, a re-found competitiveness, areas of excellence like design (in which Torino stands out in more than just the automobile sector, thanks to famous designers like Bertone, Giugiaro and Pininfarina), as well as research in alternative sources of energy like hydrogen - these are the ingredients of a renewed star status on international markets. Information and Communication Technology has created in Torino the first “wireless” district in Southern Europe – Torino Wireless – besides various research centers of companies like Microsoft, Motorola and Tilab of Telecom Italia. The aerospace sector benefits from the presence of different competences in town that range from metallurgy to electronics and of important companies like Alcatel Alenia Space. Finance is the indispensable motor for guaranteeing the growth of the system, and the existence of realities like the Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo – which has become the third most important banking pole in the Euro zone – guarantees favorable conditions for investments.
These are the strategic lines that will allow the 228,000 urban businesses that every year export goods totaling almost sixteen billion Euros (with a positive balance on imports of four billion Euros) to become increasingly competitive in Europe and throughout the world. The challenge posed by internationalization is, in fact, a proving ground of Torino’s new economy. This challenge – to be a leader in Europe – is being met both by business and by the institutions: Torino is the headquarters of the ITC-ILO, the specialized international agency for training staff workers of the International Labour Organisation; the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute; the United Nations Staff College; and the European Training Foundation of the European Union.
