Enterprises, Landazabal (Gsk Italia): “Innovation and health closely linked to EU competitiveness”

“During this 50th edition of The European House-Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, the heart of the discussion was precisely European competitiveness, which has a close connection with innovation and the health of the population”. This was stated by Fabio Landazabal, president of Gsk Italia, on the sidelines of the 50th edition of the Cernobbio Forum, entitled ‘The scenario of today and tomorrow for competitive strategies’.

President Landazabal believes that the challenge of a country’s competitiveness depends on many different levers, two in particular: the first is that relating to innovation, which a country, to be competitive, must stimulate, nurture and embrace in many different sectors of activity, such as artificial intelligence, clean energy and life sciences, but also the research and production of drugs and vaccines: “Europe is starting to fall behind on two fronts, the first is precisely that of innovation, where we are behind America and China. This is a paradox because Europe has a strong vocation for research, but it clashes with the difficulty of having access to capital and also to the market, once the products and solutions have been developed – explains Landazabal – The adoption of innovation in Europe should be implemented and improved, creating more attractive and competitive markets at a global level, this would allow for the creation of a more attractive environment for investments”.

The second lever of competitiveness, according to Landazabal, is that of the population, understood as individuals who together move the country’s economy and, therefore, the GDP: through work and discovery, in fact, they improve the standard and quality of life of all.

People, therefore, are the lifeblood of our country, however, it is also a progressively aging lifeblood, as Italy is the second longest-living country in Europe after Spain. The over 65s have exceeded 23% of the total population and in 2050 they will reach 35%. This 23% of people is now called the Silver economy because it is worth almost 20% of the national GDP and a quarter of Italian family consumption: “Public health is a problem in Europe, where the population is aging, in some cases – such as in Italy and Spain – very quickly, and the birth rate is low despite the efforts made to promote it, it is clear that it is still not enough. We must, therefore, understand how to transform this challenge into an opportunity – continues the president of GSK Italia – In accordance with the vision proposed by President Meloni, we must invest in strategic sectors that can generate the best return on investment. We are convinced that one of these sectors is health as it can offer preventive solutions that can have a high return on investment”.

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More specific analyses are now available based on the Italian reality because the issue of the aging population has become a priority. An analysis by Altems – Università Cattolica on July 16 for Farmindustria, in fact, says that an adult population correctly protected through vaccinations would lead to the recovery of 10 billion euros in industrial production on an annual basis, almost 3 billion euros in social costs and over half a billion in tax revenue. To make a quick comparison, this would be about half of the additional funds that are currently estimated to be essential for the 2025 budget: “In this sense, investing in innovation and its adoption can bring solutions for an aging population. Developing the ‘silver economy’ should be one of the pillars of our economy, as it will become the largest segment of the economy, which should be seen as an opportunity and not as a burden”, he concludes.