Tuscany exhibits a significant agglomeration of Mechanical Industries, advanced R&D activities and high-technology industries in the three university areas (Florence, Pisa and Siena).

Mechanical Industries - Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings are emblematic of the Tuscan vocation for designing and building machines. Today, the two most important activities in this sector are mechanical equipment and automobile components. The first is supported by the very structure of the Tuscan economic system, in the main based on specialization and division of tasks within the industrial districts: this is the reason why in various locations there have sprung up so many small and mid-size companies engaged in researching, designing, and building the machines required by other companies, most of which operate in the region’s “typical” sectors.
For example, the Prato area is rife with textile machine manufacturers, machines for tanning are produced in the leather district, marble quarrying and dressing equipment is produced near Carrara, and so on. Automobile components are instead produced in two specific geographical locations: Florence, and the Livorno port district. And while we are on the subject of means of transport, mention must be made of two “historical” companies: ” Piaggio of Pontedera, a leader in production of motor-scooters and three-wheeled light industrial vehicles, and “Breda” of Pistoia, off whose production lines come the world’s most sophisticated locomotives and railway cars.

High-Tech Industries - Tuscany, indeed, possesses strategic resources, which can be regarded as strong points of the regional system. First, there is an outstanding public research base and a well-developed education and training system. Tuscany has several Universities including two schools of advanced studies: the Scuola Normale Superiore and the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, specialised respectively in pure and applied sciences, which employ overall about 260 researchers, as well as the University of Pisa, which enrols 7,000 students per year and employs 1,500 researchers. Furthermore, there are the scientific and industrial High Tech competencies: optics, earth science, meteorology, cartography in Florence have their roots in regional (Medici age: XV-XVII centuries; Habsburg Grand Duchy of Tuscany: 1737-1859) and national history (Florence as Capital of the Kingdom of Italy: 1865-1870); biotechnology in Siena, microwaves and geo-technologies in Florence are spin-offs of University research; the peculiar agglomeration of information technology in Pisa is due to national political choices of the 50s, which brought here investments to design the first European computer; space, laser, and radar technologies in Florence are the result of a continuing military demand during the 60s and the 70s.

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