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Biomedical, new agreement on the Quality Center Network of Modena

Modena, November 8, 2007 - Innovation, research, technological transfer, professional training. These are the goals of the new frame agreement for the establishment of the Quality Center Network for the Biomedical District of the northern area initialed by the Province, the University, the Polyclinic Hospital Corporation, the local Health Service Unit, the Union of Municipalities for the northern area, Domocenter-Sipe and the business associations operating in the sector.

“In revising and updating the frame agreement - explains Palma Costi , provincial councilor for economic activities - we are taking an important qualitative step forward for the development and innovation of the biomedical district, a center of excellence at the international level that needs a strong interaction between the world of production, that of research and above all that of the regional health care system”.

The activities foreseen by the agreement provide further incentives for cooperation with the institutions devoted to public health (the health ministry, the regional health council and the national health service units of the provinces of northern Emilia), with the Observatory for Innovation, recently established by the regional health agency, with Modena Fiere and the Chamber of Commerce of Modena in the organization of the meeting “Rimat Biomed” and in the organization of training courses and orientation seminars for high school students and University undergraduates.

Another step in this direction is the meeting organized in Mirandola for local institutions, enterprises and associations with the regional health councilor Giovanni Bissoni and the regional councilor for Professional Training Paola Manzini.

The agreement calls for creation of an information service and front office at the service of the enterprises , with particular attention reserved for the small and medium enterprises, for technological transfer and innovation, starting from the valorization of institutional and corporate research, clinical and preclinical evaluation, validation of technologies and products.

“Support for activities of research and innovation, in close cooperation with the end users (regional health system) - stresses Palma Costi - is a fundamental move to strengthen the competitivity of the district”.

There are over 78 companies in the biomedical chain of the Modena district : in the province, according to the data of the 4th Observatory on the Biomedical Sector, the northern area district employs 4,250 people in this sector, with a total turnover of over 621 million euro.

What characterizes the district - that concentrates 90% of the workforce between Mirandola, Medolla, Concordia, Cavezzo, San Felice, San Possidonio and San Prospero - is the presence of large multinational groups that control the four largest companies. These companies alone employ about 52% of the total workforce, and produce 68% of the total turnover for the district.

Most of the manufacturers in the biomedical sector, however, are small independent companies, founded or headed by local entrepreneurs, whose weight has increased alongside the number of employees and turnover. Equipment and disposable material for hemodialysis are the main specialties of the district, supplying services of heart surgery, transfusion and autotransfusion, anesthesia and intensive care.