Fondazione Rosselli‘s Report provides a synthetic evaluation of Italy’s innovative potential, within a comparative framework of combined indicators. The report focuses on seven thematic areas: scientific and technological knowledge, relevance of ICT, human capital, financial support to R&D activities, features of the economic and institutional context, and infrastructural framework.

Overall, Italy ranks poorly even within the group of “scarcely innovative” countries (with Russia, Greece, Portugal, and Spain), and could not qualify for the intermediate group of “innovative countries.” Disappointingly, Italy is graded last in the area of human capital in terms of the percentage of population holding university degrees, the percentage of population engaged in research, and the percentage of students from other countries (2%).  Italy is second to last in terms of brain-drain (only Russia ranks lower), and third to last in terms of investment in academic research. However, Italy does fare better (than in earlier reports) in terms of knowledge technology, in terms of new spin-off enterprises (454, according to recent survey) and, more conspicuously, in terms of venture capital investments.

Related readings:

Comments by  Federico Fubini  - “Ma non sara’ vera svolta se l’istruzione e’ poca” (Corriere della Sera, Jan 4) - , and  by Massimo Sideri - ”Agevolati dal ritardo ora tocca alle universita” (Corriere della Sera, Jan 4).

Carlo Bernardini, Il cervello del paese. Che cosa è o dovrebbe essere l'Università, Mondadori Universita' (2008), chapter 8.