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Located in the Eastern part of the Padana lowland, the province of Venice (people: 836,596) forms a semicircle along the Adriatic Sea, from the source of the Tagliamento River to the North to the Adige in the South, for a coastline development of approx. 96 km. It borders with the provinces of Udine (to the East), Pordenone and Treviso (North), Padova and Rovigo (West and South respectively) and represents the outlet to the sea of one of the richest and most productive areas of the Country.
The area has the required infrastructure of a big metropolitan area: the passenger and commercial port at Venice, the industrial, commercial and petroleum port at Marghera, the commercial and fishing port of Chioggia, the international airport of Marco Polo of Tessera (third Italian hub for scheduled passengers) and the tourist airport Nicelli in the Lido of Venice.
A modern network of motorways allows an efficient connection nationally (Milan-Turin, Bologna-Florence-Rome, Ravenna-Ancona) and internationally (Bavaria, Tyrol and the Balkans). A dense network of long distance national routes, an articulated waterway system, excellent national and international railway connections, position the area in a strategic location in relation to the Mediterranean, Italy and Central Europe.

Venice is an important junction of the Trans-European Corridor no. 5 – the large rail and motorway axis which the EU has undertaken to construct by 2015 and which, along a West-East axis, will connect Barcelona  to Kiev – and be able to exploit the logistic directrix with the basin of Eastern Europe.

The most recent data processed by the Istituto G. Tagliacarne of Rome (2006) related to the province of Venice show that added value comes from the following: 1.5% from agriculture, 18.4% from industry, 7.1% from building industry and 73.1% from the tertiary industry .

In 2007, the labour force in the Venice province amounts to over 361,000. Of these 60% are men and the remaining 40% women. The rate of provincial activity (the labour force and the population ratio between 15 and 64 years of age) is equal, according to the Istat findings, to 64.6%, against a regional level of 68.1%.
The level of employment (relationship between those who are employed and the population between 15-64 years of age) of the Venice province is 62.7% (the Veneto one is equal to 65.8%), while the level of unemployment (relationship between those seeking employment and the labour force) is 2.9%, less than 0.4 percentage points than that recorded for the Veneto region.
Of the total number of employed people (351 thousand), 2.6% find work in agriculture, 29% in industry and 68.3% in commerce and services.

As regards the 2007 import/export flows, exportations increased by 14.1% and Venetian exports for the Veneto region settled to about 10.8%.
The means of transport sector was the most positively affected, with an increase in exports of over 81%. The metal and metal products sector recorded an export increase of about 24%. The machinery and mechanical equipment sector recorded an export increase of 8.3%.
In 2007 the chemical products, plastic materials and artificial fibres sector – among one of the most important of the province – saw the export of “basic chemical products” fall by 34.8% while the sector “synthetic and artificial fibres” recorded a decrease of 37.7%.  
Exports of “fashion and accessories” increased by 19.6% while there are signs of a recovery in the “footwear” sector whose export value rose by 2.6%. As regards the other productions typical of the Venetian province, there was an increase of about 11%  in the exports of “beverages”, an increased export value by 0.8% for “furniture” while the “glass and glass products” sector recorded an increase of 1%.The export flow of “lighting equipment and electrical lights” increased of 6.7% over 2006.
Among the main partners of the province are U.S.A. (+20.5%), Germany (+14.1%) and Bahama (+176173% due to the great orders of ships). Of note is also the increase of the export flow towards Arab Countries (Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Syria, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Bahrein, Jordan, Yemen, Oman, Palestinian Territories): the provincial export towards this geographical area rose by over 30%.

Exports to China from the Venice province is worth a mention, having increased by 15.5%.
Finally overall, the increase of 17% of Venetian exports to the countries which have joined the EU from 1/5/2004 (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus) is also worth a mention.
As regards the imports (+6.2% compared with 2006) Venice is in 3rd place in the Veneto region after Verona and Vicenza with a relative importance of about 15%. Among the supplying countries the first place goes to Libya (+26.3%), followed by the Germany (-3.4%), U.S.A. (+58.8%) and China (+28.4%).
In 2007, confirming the negative trend recorded in the last three years, the deficit in the balance of trade of the Venice province reached a value over 670 million Euro. This was mostly due to the price increase of energy products and raw materials on international markets.

ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
The province of Venice distinguishes itself for the variety of production sectors:

• the port and airport system and the associated intermodal and logistics services which have been recognised by the Veneto Region (Law 8/2003 of the Veneto Region and subsequent amendments) as “Metadristretto Logistico Veneto”, involving the sector’s businesses of the provinces of Verona, Padua, Venice and Treviso.
• tourism and hotel and restaurant services: spread out, beyond Venice, among the Venetian villas along the Riviera del Brenta, and along the entire coastline, with a total of 11,739 thousand operational tourist activities. Data of the Venice Province-Tourism sector – relating to 2007, show almost 7.4 million arrivals (72.6% foreign citizens) and over 33 million presences, 65.9% of these foreign tourists.
• the agricultural and food industry which includes some of the most important cereal productions of Eastern Veneto, including corn, wheat and barley, the industrial cultivation of soya and beetroot, the horticulture with the renowned radish of Chioggia; the wines produced mainly in the eastern area of the province, around Portogruaro, with the famous doc area of Lison-Pramaggiore, and the equally well known wines of the Piave, around San Donà di Piave, as well as the new DOC wines of “Riviera del Brenta” and “Corti Benedettine del Padovano”, located in the western part of the province. 

Many important production companies of mineral water and soft drinks, food pastes and canning companies are also present;

• fishing and aquaculture, hinged on the marine of Chioggia and on lagoon fish farming, yield precious varieties like gilthead and bass;
• the industrial centre of Porto Marghera where there are the chemical, gas and energy processing, plastic materials, pottery and industrial glass as well as the engineering and iron and steel sectors;
• the means of transport sector, which groups together the shipyard industry, famous worldwide for having built some of the biggest naval ships in the world (within the sector, the Cluster of the Venetian nautical shipyard work has also been recognised with Law 8/2003 of the Veneto Region and subsequent amendments), the sector of aeroplanes, specialised in the development, maintenance and construction of parts of vehicles (businesses of this sector have created the “Veneto Cluster of Airspace and Astrophysics – SKYD” which is going to be recognized by the Veneto Region); as well as the production of motorcycles and spare parts for the motoring industry;
• the Veneto footwear “Metadistretto”, based on a new wider cluster model and including mostly enterprises located in the Riviera del Brenta area, and the artistic glass of Murano cluster, sectors of ancient productive tradition and internationally renowned. These have been reconfirmed as important productive sectors by Law no. 8 of 2003 of the Veneto Region and subsequent amendments. The former gains 90% of sales from exports; the latter exports over 50% of the value produced;
• the technological hub of nanotechnology which involves the Ministry of Education, University and Research, the Veneto Region, the Municipalities, the Provinces and the Chambers of Commerce of Venice and Padua and sets itself the goal – through the Veneto Nanotech shareholding consortium - to incite companies to become acquainted with and apply the nanotechnology to their own production processes and at the same time make the Veneto region a fertile environment in this sector, through the attraction of research centres and training of excellence.

• the Veneto Region has recognized the Veneto cultural heritage “Metadistretto”  which groups together the enterprises operating in the sector of restoration and preservation of movable and immovable cultural assets.

Further information about clusters in the province of Venice and in the Veneto Region are available at following web site: http://www.distrettidelveneto.it/.   

To finish, there is a well-organised presence of small enterprises like for example the textiles-clothing-knitwear and furniture sectors. The first is developed mainly in the Municipalities of Cavarzere, Cona and Chioggia. The production of furniture is located mainly in the eastern area of the Venetian province.
 
PROSPECTS
The efforts of the Venetian public system are geared to encouraging internationalisation of the Small-Medium –sized enterprises of the province, with particular regard to integration of the same within the Veneto area – one of the most advanced production systems in Europe- and with the emerging markets of the Mediterranean area and Central and Eastern Europe. Priority is given to the ten Countries who joined the European Union on 1st May 2004 (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus), and to Romania and Bulgaria, EU-Members from 1/1/2007 without forgetting the opportunities offered  by markets like China, India, Russia and Brazil.

At the same time it is vital to promote the tourist attractions of Venice, which make it a unique holiday destination as well as the potential offered by the coast and the villas of the Riviera del Brenta, combining the demands of a cultural based tourism of art cities with that of food and drink and seaside tourism. Here it is necessary to continue to improve the infrastructure and connections with initiatives geared to specific segments of the market (for example cruise traffic, connections with the Far East, high speed ferries).

The natural complement of these strategies is the Environment and the need to direct growth towards a “sustainable development” from an economic but also from a social and environmental point of view.
The objective, therefore, is to improve the quality of the economy and not only its quantitative growth.
The search for forms of renewable alternative and clean energy, like that generated by hydrogen, is an example of the challenges which the industry gravitating around the centre of Porto Marghera must  necessarily tackle over the coming years.

The first projects of urban renewal have already produced important results, like the Science and Technological Park of Marghera, incubator of businesses operating in the field of research, new materials, biotechnology and I.T.