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The Association for Industry in Ticino (AITI) is a private organisation based in Lugano, created in 1962 to promote and
support industry in the canton of Ticino at an economic, social, cultural and political level. The AITI – headed by Daniele Lotti
and directed by Stefano Modenini – is the main association for the industrial enterprises operating in the canton.
The AITI includes 211 enterprises operating in the canton,
132 of which are industrial, 69 in industrial services and
10 trade associations. The affiliate companies constitute
almost all businesses with more than 100 employees operating in
Ticino, and provide employment to another 15,000 workers (13,000
in the manufacturing sector and 2,000 in the service sector) and, with
a turnover far exceeding 13 billion Swiss francs, they make up the
major share of the canton’s industrial sector. This makes the AITI the
most representative association of the entire industrial sector in
Ticino. As such it includes companies with the longest tradition, the
most innovative content and the greatest export orientation.
AITI’s basic task is to support and defend, as well as to represent the
prerogatives of its affiliate companies, thereby contributing to the
process of industrial economic development and to protecting the
structural conditions offered by the canton’s business environment.
“Our industrial system,” explains Stefano Modenini, “is composed
mainly of small and medium-sized enterprises with a strong export
bias.” It represents the canton’s leading sector in terms of wealth
creation, with around 21% of GDP. A fact that although maybe not
widely known, is certainly direct evidence of the entrepreneurial spirit
and operational capacity of the industrial companies established in the
canton of Ticino. Indeed, these companies operate on the main global
markets, some of them as world leaders.
But exporting also means being exposed on the front line of fierce
international competition. For this reason, the industrial sector in
Ticino has always kept a close eye on the processes of opening markets
and on the development of bilateral and multilateral relations with
nations and organisations of particular relevance to Switzerland.
The international reach of the industrial companies based in the
canton of Ticino is experienced to the full by the Association; this
dynamic has produced not only the experience that makes these
companies welcome even in the most far-flung countries of the world,
but also the ability to interpret the needs of companies wishing to set
up in Ticino or already operating there.
Swiss Label Ticino 2010
AITI – Association for Industry in Ticino
Industry in Ticino competes on a global scale
Over the next few years, the AITI – which is due to celebrate its
fiftieth anniversary in 2012 – will be called upon to intensify its efforts
in representing the interests of industrial companies in the canton of
Ticino to the best of its ability, not forgetting that the AITI also plays
a public role in dialogue with institutions and countries. “There is no
doubt,” declares director Modenini, “that responding to the needs of
our own businesses must be our first priority.”
One of the AITI’s next undertakings will be to make the characteristics
and potentials of industry in the Ticino better known to the general
public, with the aim in particular of attracting young people to the
industrial professions. “People’s image of industry,” continues Modenini,
“tends to be set in the past and no longer matches today’s reality, whereas
in fact it includes as many modern and technologically advanced
companies as businesses in the more traditional branches of industry.”
There are plenty of uncertainties for the future, many of them linked
to economic development, but industry in the canton of Ticino will not
be caught unprepared. Technical skills and capacity, trustworthiness
and reliability, recognition of the “Swiss made” brand abroad, technological
innovation, competitive structural conditions on the ground,
are all factors destined to enable companies to develop in synch with
the expectations of markets.
AITI – Associazione industrie ticinesi
Corso Elvezia 16 – c.p. 5130 - CH-6901 Lugano
Tel.: +41 (0)91 911 84 84 - Fax: +41 (0)91 923 46 36
E-mail: info@aiti.ch - Website: www.aiti.ch
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