Keywords: covid-19, Medical Device Industry, gvc, Regional Industrial Policy
This paper analyses 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