ICT cluster in Piemonte

 

Piemonte boasts a strong tradition in the ICT sector. Here ICT has always been one of the leading industrial poles and this is well testified by the presence of important ICT companies, research centers and universities. Piemonte is the Italian birthplace of cinema, television, telephone and computer industries, MP3 and major companies like Omnitel, Infostrada, Seat, Telecom, Olivetti.

The territory hosts a highly competitive cluster made up of companies that offer a wide range in the productive and commercial offer, guarantee of quality and reliability. The variety of products provided by the Piedmontese ICT sector covers all fields of the traditional regional manufacture: aerospace, industrial automation, automotive, electrical components, home & building automation and security, e-government, e-health, games & multimedia, enterprise software and hardware, telecommunications and intelligent transport systems.

The total number of ICT enterprises amounts to 13.118, equalling 3% of the whole entrepreneurial regional fabric. Among these, 65%, namely some 8.505 companies, are located in between Torino and its surroundings. In detail, these are software and TLC companies, but also multimedia products wholesale trade and rent businesses.

The importance of the sector in Piemonte is witnessed by the increasing number of enterprises on the territory: the years between 2000 and 2006 registered a +23%, while the total entrepreneurial growth of the regional fabric  reached about 5%. The number of employees of the sector counts between 105.000 and 118.000 workers, that is to say amid 5,85% and 6,57% of the total regional occupation share.

Piemonte proves its international vocation in the ICT sector too. Indeed, in 2006 Piemontese export of ICT goods reached 1.445 million euro, about 9,6% of the national share. 71,5% was directed to EU Countries, mainly to France, which holds 30,9% of Piemontese exports. Germany and the UK are also important partners, respectively detaining 17,2% and 11,7% of Piemontese ICT exports. Oriental Asia and North and Latin America are other important areas for ICT goods exchange.

Finally, Torino and Piemonte are a fertile environment to create and develop a successful technological cluster, thanks to:

  • universities and research centers capable of high quality research and able to provide the market with innovative technical and scientific knowledge and highly skilled human resources;
  • over 2,000 researchers in ICT (almost 20% of the Italian total), 700 of whom are in the wireless area;
  • world class big companies in ICT;
  • more than 13,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) active in the same field;
  • the availability of public and private funding to support both research activities and the creation of new entrepreneurial initiatives (Piemonte invests 2.5% of its GDP in innovation and attracts a quarter of all Italian private investments in research and development);
  • the local government which is strongly engaged in nurturing the best environmental and infrastructural conditions for new enterprises;
  • Torino Wireless, the first hi-tech cluster in Italy links companies to R&D centres and to Venture Capital Funds;
  • CSI-Piemonte, a unique ICT player in Europe in the domain of public services and the 15th largest Italian company in the ICT sector industry, developing technologically advanced solutions for all spheres of local administration, together with targeted citizen and business services.

Telecommunications infrastructure

Piemonte is one of the areas with the highest density of fibre optic cables in Italy. Top-ix, Torino and Piemonte Internet Exchange, is the first and only Italian Internet access point able to convey all types of contents through Internet2 paradigms and it integrates satellite technologies, too.

The Torino based SkyPark, one of the world’s leading satellite broadband IP platforms, is equipped to offer a complete range of broadband services including content distribution, IP videostraming, business TV, maritime applications, teleconferencing, remote control of installations, telemedicine, e-learning and Voice over IP. The teleport is connected by fibre to the Internet exchange point in Torino and uses capacity on satellites in Eutelsat’s fleet in order to serve users in Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa.  

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