Since 2012 Stefano Rizzi he is the young director of the Economy Division of the Canton of Ticino. The activities of its Division touch all economic sectors: it has also closely followed the growth of start-ups and their contribution to the productive transformation of the territory. From a small canton with a tertiary and tourist vocation, Ticino is training today to compete in innovation with the “greater” Zurich: “But without the Italians, half of Ticino will close tomorrow”. Panorama he meets him in Lugano, in the Dalle Molle Institute (Idsia). A Campus renowned internationally for its pioneering studies on AI and for its Robotics laboratory.
How has the business scenario of Ticino changed in the last 20 years compared to the general context of Switzerland?
Over the last two decades, Ticino has experienced significant changes at an economic, social and infrastructural level. The Canton has had a strong evolution in the field of innovation and research. In Ticino we have been able to create a unique ecosystem over the years, densely interconnected and particularly favorable to the development of innovative activities. This was possible thanks to constant work on the framework conditions and by investing in innovation and networking between academic skills and the economic realities present in our territory. We encourage this dialogue, then the market decides. There are sectors, clusters, on which there is more attention due to our scientific skills rather than the know-how of companies.
What are the main factors of this change, which are bringing Ticino ever closer to the center of gravity of Swiss hi-tech, i.e. Zurich? Since the canton is already part of the Greater Zurich Area?
Meanwhile, in the Canton we have two young universities that have carved out a recognized position for themselves in basic and applied research. This has also made our territory interesting for startups thanks also to the presence of world-renowned centers such as the Biomedicine Research Institute, the Dalle Molle Institute for Studies on Artificial Intelligence in Lugano or the Swiss Center for scientific computing, alongside innovative and cutting-edge companies. We have the University of Applied Sciences which, with its department of Innovative Technologies, does spatial things, even in the literal sense of the term. The goal is to ensure that our territory continues to be attractive and we are also making a new initiative available: the Switzerland Innovation Park.
What is the ambition of this new Ticino Innovation Park?
The Park aims to be an accelerator of innovative processes and an attractor of companies through the multiple advantages of the region. We want to make available physical spaces equipped with laboratories with the final objective of attracting research and development activities of international companies, who come to Switzerland because they find the skills, the best framework conditions and equipped spaces where they can start doing joint activities . Furthermore, we have a project for the further development of all this, on the site occupied by the workshops of the current Swiss Federal Railways in Bellinzona, in an area of 120 thousand square metres. We are working on the creation of an Innovation District where we will insert the Ticino Swiss Innovation Park. This is an ambitious and long-term project, it will take about ten years to complete.
In which fields of innovation will Ticino specialize compared to the other cantons?
Thanks to collaboration with research institutes, new technologies are being explored in various fields: artificial intelligence, development of materials and components, development of advanced real-time control and detection systems, human-robot interaction, machine learning. In particular, we are attracting development activities on drones to the Lodrino aerodrome (Swiss Drone Base Camp), where interesting tests can be carried out because we have free airspace, mainly for civil use. This is unique in the European context, as many airports are very busy and do not allow drones to fly. A life sciences skills center is also being built in Bellinzona, with the aim of creating a district of international excellence in the field of biomanufacturing. An emerging technology that uses tissue engineering methods to create human artificial living structures and tissues. It is a rapidly evolving field that combines biology, engineering and advanced technologies to create innovative solutions for regenerative medicine and disease treatment. Finally, the Center of competence in Lifestyle tech has now been consolidated in Lugano, which focuses on new technologies applied to fashion, food, design, cosmetics and other areas related to well-being.
What advantages do you offer to businesses and investors, given the strong competition, including fiscal, between the various districts of the Confederation?
Last December the Grand Council approved the framework credit of 60 million francs to support innovation and regional economic policy which will allow this commitment to be renewed with an eye towards the future. In particular, regarding investments in innovation we are regularly at the top, in the sense that we have exploited all possible margins to encourage the creation of intellectual property, taking advantage of the various possibilities linked to patent-boxes, super deductions, etc. Among the most important measures launched are the Law for economic innovation, a series of incentives dedicated to innovative startups and our innovation agency, the Agire Foundation, which supports innovation and technological development by supporting SMEs and innovative startups. In recent years, a series of tax updates have been made to try to be more competitive. In Switzerland we have a federalist system and taxation is also one of the elements in which there is competition between the cantons. This is a competition that is ongoing and we are playing our cards. When it comes to investments in innovation, we are regularly at the top.
However, Ticino suffers from an unenviable record: the lowest national average in terms of paychecks
Ticino has 350 thousand inhabitants and, in the second quarter of 2024, there are over 252 thousand full-time jobs, with an increase of 35 thousand jobs in the last ten years. A sign of an extremely dynamic economy with the possibility of relying on a cross-border workforce, which is an integral part of the cantonal economy. Cross-border workers continue to maintain a wage difference with the rest of the resident population. If we break down the wage difference between the resident component and that of cross-border workers, we see that it is above all the latter component that lowers the overall median income. If we instead focus on resident workers, the difference is much smaller and stands at around 10%. But without the Italians, half of Ticino will close tomorrow…
