by InTrieste
Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of Italy’s most industrialized border regions is moving to reposition itself at the crossroads of maritime engineering, aerospace, renewable energy and digital technology, as a new regional industrial cluster begins to take shape.
Leonardo, the Italian defense and aerospace group, has formally expressed interest in joining M.A.R.E. FVG, a new multisector industrial cluster being created by the regional government of Friuli Venezia Giulia. In a letter sent to the regional authorities, Leonardo’s chief executive, Roberto Cingolani, said the company intends to participate actively in the cluster’s governance, describing it as a credible platform for integrating advanced technologies across multiple industrial domains.
The move follows earlier commitments from several of Italy’s major industrial players, including the shipbuilder Fincantieri, the steel and plant-engineering group Danieli, the advanced manufacturing firm Eurolls, and the regional energy and utilities company AcegasApsAmga.
Together, these companies form the backbone of a project that aims to align industries traditionally treated as separate — shipbuilding, aerospace, energy and digital technologies — into a single innovation ecosystem.
“This is not simply about bringing large companies into the same room,” said Alessia Rosolen, Friuli Venezia Giulia’s regional councillor for labor, education and research. “It is about connecting supply chains that already share technologies, skills and development paths, and creating concrete benefits for the entire regional production system, especially small and medium-sized enterprises.”
From a maritime cluster to a multisector platform
The initiative marks a transformation of what was previously known as Cluster Mare Friuli Venezia Giulia, a maritime-focused industrial network. Under the new structure — now renamed M.A.R.E. FVG — the cluster will integrate maritime industries with aerospace and aeronautics, renewable energy (with particular emphasis on hydrogen), and digital technologies.
Regional officials describe the shift as a strategic response to the way modern industrial innovation increasingly cuts across sectors, with shared platforms in materials science, robotics, artificial intelligence, propulsion and energy systems.
Leonardo, which operates in aerospace, defense electronics, cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing, said the multisector design of the cluster aligns closely with its own industrial strategy, which is built around the integration of technologies and collaboration between large corporations, research institutions and smaller suppliers.
Governance and timeline
The legal groundwork for the new cluster was laid on July 2, 2025, when the shareholders’ assembly approved changes to the organization’s statute, enabling the admission of companies from the newly added sectors. A draft strategic plan has since been prepared and will be reviewed by the new governing bodies once they are appointed.
An extraordinary shareholders’ meeting is expected in the first months of 2026 to appoint a new board of directors. That will be followed by approval of the strategic plan and the appointment of members to the scientific and industrial committees, completing the governance structure of M.A.R.E. FVG.
Regional officials see the cluster as a tool not only for attracting major corporations, but for strengthening the competitiveness of the region’s thousands of smaller suppliers.
“The role of the regional government is to create the conditions for companies to work together, to develop supply chains and to turn research into industrial innovation,” Ms. Rosolen said. “Clusters exist to make that happen — especially by helping small and medium-sized firms connect with large industrial players and research institutions.”
For Friuli Venezia Giulia — a region with a long tradition in shipbuilding, mechanical engineering and international trade — the new cluster represents a bid to anchor that heritage in the technologies that will shape Europe’s next phase of industrial growth.
