Regions, Innovations, and the North–South Divide in Italy

Abstract

AbstractUsing firm-level data collected by Statistics Italy for 2008, 2011, and 2015, the Triple-Helix synergy among geographical and size distributions of firms and technology classes is analyzed both regionally and nationally. The Italian system is both knowledge-based and knowledge-intensive, and therefore an interesting case. The contributions to national synergy of the twenty regions in Italy have increased between 2008 and 2015, but synergy generation at levels above the regions has remained relatively stable at approximately 45%. As against the statistical classification into twenty regions, or into Northern, Central, and Southern Italy, the greatest synergy is retrieved by defining the country in terms of Northern and Southern Italy as two sub-systems, with Tuscany included as part of Northern Italy. Different innovation strategies could be developed for these two parts of the country. However, the current focus on twenty regions for innovation policies may to some extent be an artefact of the statistics and EU policies. In terms of sectors, both medium- and high-tech manufacturing (MHTM) and knowledge-intensive services (KIS) are integrated proportionally in the various regions.