Regional resilience: Lessons from a historical analysis of the Emilia-Romagna Region in Italy

Although regional resilience has been widely discussed in recent years, scholars recognise that there is little understanding of the determinants of the long-term adaptive capacity of regions. Policies for regional resilience have not been discussed at great length. This paper analyses industry evolution and industrial policies in a historical perspective, focussing on the case of the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy, that in the 1980s drew wide attention as a successful case of flexible specialisation based on industrial districts and has experienced important transformations. It has also consistently implemented industrial policies since the 1980s, and we suggest they had a role in favouring the region’s resilience, especially in terms of the long-term vision of industrial development that this policy provides and promotes through various instruments.