Around 50 Italian companies met with Walloon aeronautics and aerospace companies during the 'Casa Vallonia' event in Turin (Italy) this week – a great success, according to the Walloon Export and Foreign Investment Agency (Awex).
Awex sees this figure as a success, which reveals curiosity for the region and above all expansion projects in the sector.
Italy is Wallonia's fifth economic partner and its companies have invested more than €1.5 billion in the south of Belgium between 2000 and 2022, according to the most recent statistics from Awex. There are more than 300 companies in Wallonia with a majority Italian shareholder base.
This is particularly the case with Telespazio. Based in Libin in Belgium's Luxembourg province, its Belgian subsidiary specialises in satellite technology and telecommunications. Since its arrival in 1982, it has transformed and consolidated its presence in Wallonia "with great satisfaction," its Operations Director Massimiliano Mascia told Belga News Agency.
Favourable conditions
"The size of our company has doubled over the last seven years thanks to the winning ecosystem that has been created around us," he said. "The industry is investing, but also local institutions with tax and promotion initiatives. The conditions here are more favourable than in Italy."
Mascia also underlined the strength of the presence of the European Space Agency in Wallonia and the quality of the qualified workforce in the region.
The objective of 'Casa Vallonia' is precisely to attract new investors in the aeronautics and aerospace sectors. The head of Thales Alenia Space Franco Fenoglio (which has three sites in Belgium) stressed that Italian institutions also consider the space field as strategic. The sector wants to continue to invest and internationalise, he said.
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However, players in the sector have recently deplored the absence of major investments in aerospace as part of the Italian recovery plan. In a letter addressed to the government, the presidents of regional sectors share their fear of losing competitiveness in the face of foreign players. They are demanding a national strategic plan for their industry.
According to the economic and commercial information bank iCribis, Italian companies in the sector generate an annual turnover of €13 billion. Nearly a third of companies in the aeronautics and aerospace industry are located in the northwest of Italy.
