Top-down and bottom-up legitimization of emerging industries: evidence from two Italian mechatronics clusters

ABSTRACT

The paper investigates the legitimization of emerging industries in traditional manufacturing areas by focusing on two inner structures: the cognitive and institutional structure. These structures and their interplay inform about the heterogeneity of routes and capabilities to enter legitimization trajectories. We compare two mechatronics clusters, both located in the North-East Italian area, namely in the provinces of Vicenza and Trento. The cases reveal how the evolution and legitimation of emerging industries might surface from bottom-up dynamics related to the technological upgrading of local historical industrial specializations, and from top-down institutional strategies, when the business community remains fragmented.

KEYWORDS:

• mechatronics
• emerging industry
• cognitive structure
• legitimization trajectories
• clusters
• institutions

KEYWORDS:

• mechatronics
• emerging industry
• cognitive structure
• legitimization trajectories
• clusters
• institutions

JEL:

• O33
• P52
• R11

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge Trentino Sviluppo, specifically ProM laboratories, Progetto Manifattura and Confindustria Trento, for supporting the data collection processes.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Lubik et al. (2012, 11) claim that:

emerging industries are those where no clear or established value chain currently exists. These can either be those where a new technology exists and there is no clear market and therefore no route to market, or those where a market exists but the introduction of a new technology could rearrange or destroy the existing value chain or industry.

The authors do not focus on manufacturing areas or regions, but explore new industries for the market.

2. The ‘milieu’ of these systems is defined by the degree of interdependence and cohesion between the various entities embedded in the manufacturing area, which incorporate know-how, codified rules, values and standards (Maillat, 1998).

3. The empirical study is at a NUTS-3 level. The geographical units are indeed the two Italian provinces (i.e., Vicenza and APT) that are characterized by different productive specializations.

4. We have included manufacturing sectors, such as manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products, manufacture of electrical equipment, and manufacture of machinery and equipment.

5. In the Vicenza case, the survey was conducted in 2017, while in Trentino data were collected in 2019.

6. Official statistics of the Chamber of Commerce related to 2015; see https://www.vi.camcom.it/downloadDoc.php?f=all%5F4756%5F1%5FRapporti%5FSTAT%5FConoscere%5FVicenza%5F2017%5FNov17%2Epdf&id=4756&r=2.

7. Mechanics competences were also serving the growth of the local agricultural industry.

8. The role of Lanerossi has also been key for the implementation of one of the most important technical industrial school (A. Rossi), which today still represents one of the main sources of the mechatronics-related competences.

9. Even the Vicenza local branch of the University of Padua, in which there are mechatronics specializations, seems more devoted to implement its role in the already well-established local subareas of specialization than in new and unrelated fields of applications.

10. We observed through the survey that local companies support their innovation activities by using sophisticated machineries and equipment developed by national and international providers.

11. Even the strategic cluster agreement, aimed at strengthening the development of mechatronics competences in the region, promoted in 2004 by some firms of the mechatronics cluster together with the main industry association and the regional authority has not been so efficient. The agreement has not been renewed, limiting specific regional support for the mechatronics cluster.

12. Data related to 2015. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/regional-innovation-monitor/base-profile/trento.

13. See http://www.statistica.provincia.tn.it/binary/pat_statistica_new/struttura_competitivita_imprese/StrutturaProduttivaOccupazionaleTerritoriale2015.1567070364.pdf.

14. For example, the establishment of Provincial law 6/99 offered a general framework for stimulating the collaboration between science-based institutions and industrial sectors.

15. According to the implemented Smart Specialisation Strategy (RIS3), Trento Province defined mechatronics among the strategic sectors at the core of the technological upgrading and innovation processes of the province.

16. ProM Facility is a project realized within the Operative Programme FESR 2014–2020 of the Autonomous Province of Trento, thanks to the financial support of the European Union – European Fund for Regional Development – of the Italian State and the Autonomous Province of Trento. This public platform enables private and public local actors to enter the current digital transformation by means of mechanical, electronics and IT prototyping; see https://promfacility.eu/#/.

Additional information

Funding

This research was partially supported by a grant from Confindustria Trento.