Mercati e specializzazioni dei prodotti medicali: implicazioni per lo sviluppo dell’industria regionale post Covid-19

This paper analyzes the impact of Covid-19 crisis on the medical device industry, a sector of particular relevance for the economy of Emilia-Romagna. This is an anti-cyclical sector which accounts for 6% of world trade in goods and in a post-coronavirus scenario can represent an important driver for economic growth. MNEs play a paramount role in this sector, especially German, American Swiss companies with a global manufacturing system and worldwide distribution channels. Such a significant presence of MNEs can be detected also in the region, where one of major biomedical districts in the EU is located. This paper argues that the vulnerability of GVCs that has been made apparent by the Covid epidemics creates the opportunity for a renewed industrial policy by the Region Emilia-Romagna that facilitates local SMEs to join most advanced GVCs in which SMEs – especially supplier ones – are involved in strategic stages of the value chains such as R&D and design. A possible tool is conditioning regional funding to R&D projects of MNEs to their partnering with a minimum number of local SMEs. Keywords: Covid-19; medical device industry; GVC; Regional industrial policy