Abstract
This study furnishes empirical evidence from the biomedical district of Mirandola (Italy) with the aim of offering two distinct contributions to the literature on industrial districts. The first objective is to challenge the stereotyped model of Italian industrial districts whose claimed distinctive features are to be specialized in traditional sectors of the Italian economy, to be relatively self-contained and close productive systems, and to be mainly composed of small and medium size enterprises. The Biomedical Valley contradicts this model, being a successful example of a recent, high-tech, high-wages, and open district led by some medium sized companies, some of which have been acquired by large European and American multinationals. The district emerged in 1963, triggered by a true Schumpeterian entrepreneur, who created the “first firm” of the district, from which many others (the most important) generated through spin-off processes.
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Biggiero, L., Sammarra, A. (2003). The Biomedical Valley: structural, relational and cognitive aspects. In: Belussi, F., Gottardi, G., Rullani, E. (eds) The Technological Evolution of Industrial Districts. Economics of Science, Technology and Innovation, vol 29. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0393-4_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0393-4_16
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