The POLIS Project took off in summer 1999 with the aim of studying the impact of the globalisation of markets on the logistical positioning of northern Italy – the area which has always powered the Italian system – in order to identify points of strength and weakness, tendencies towards internationalisation and the opportunities deriving from the new geo-political situation.

The aim of the project is to create a scenario which can be of use to public and private decision-makers from the point of view of Logistics, an increasingly important strategic lever in choices made on the macro level for the economic development of large geographical areas as well as on the micro level, for the siting and planning of individual businesses or district networks.

The project was carried out by a Study Group coordinated by prof. Massimo Merlino, business administration consultant and professor of Economics and Organisation in the Faculty of Management Engineering of the University of Bergamo, who welcomed contributions and criticism not only from specific experts but also from the major multinationals in the sector.

The Stages of the Project

An initial feasibility phase focused on exogenous variables, such as the increasing internationalisation of flows of goods and investment and the technological revolution and endogenous variables, connected with the local development and demographic trends in the area.

In the second phase of the project which is under completion, the focus was on the new great drivers of change coming from the East and Asia (the Silk Road) and from the South, both penalised by a preferential line towards North and West, pursued up to now out of motives of a politico-economic nature and hooking onto and integrating with the most developed areas of Europe.

It has clearly emerged how the great changes in progress offer new and enormous opportunities for Northern Italy both in terms of development towards other systems and the flow of goods and investment from outside. These changes centre on the economic development of China, which has been well under way for a matter of decades, as well as the exponential trade between Asia-Europa-USA, in a great return to the Atlantic-Mediterranean route as opposed to that of the Pacific and the less dramatic but systematic development of the southern coast of the Mediterranean and some African poles of influence.

The great infrastructural axes towards these areas of new growth must be built not only for economic reasons but also as geo-strategic axes of penetration. They will serve for operations of control of the area and for energy supply to areas which are rich in intelligence and initiative but poor in basic resources, areas such as China and Japan, and, naturally, Europe.

The decision-making system in Italy, not only on a central level but also on a local level and on a northern level, perhaps all too resigned after decades of postponements and economic and political difficulties, seems not to fully grasp these fabulous opportunities in terms of the socio-economic consequences they would have for citizens and their quality of life.

There is in fact more attention being focused on the endogenous dimensions of human and environmental needs, Local pressures, and less awareness of the Glocal dimensions which will be so much more decisive in bringing radical transformations of the Po Valley into a single megalopolis and logistical entry platform into Europe for the Asian economies.

The challenge which the Association sets itself is that of proposing a series of possible interventions for decision-making bodies at various levels of responsibility operating in the Po Valley so as to ensure that the opportunities presented by the new infrastructural axes are exploited to the full in terms of socio-economic advantage, compatibly with any evaluations of environmental impact which prove necessary.