One good news and one bad news. The good one is that, even if slightly, the country system increases its efforts to support research and development, the bad one is that the Italian system itself continues to lag behind its European partners. The third largest economy in the EU is in tenth place in terms of spending in a strategic and vital sector for innovation and competitiveness. Calculations made by Eurostat show that in 2021 the government allocated funds to the R&D sector (research and development, in fact) equal to about 194 euros per inhabitant. A threshold far below the European average (244 euros), and even more than that invested by France (261 euros) and Germany (470 euros), main economic competitors, partners not only of the EU but also of the G7.
Rome invests one third less than Paris and less than half of Berlin to make itself more competitive, and has to deal with Scandinavian partners (Denmark, Sweden and Finland) and with the Benelux bloc (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg), who spend more than what the boot knows or does not want to do, crushed by the rivalry of northern Europe. An implicit suggestion to do more and better comes directly from the European Statistical Institute. ‘Research and development is fundamental to many policies at European and national level that aim to increase the competitiveness of the EU economies and the well-being of its citizens,’ reads the accompanying note to the data.
Italy seems to have only partially understood these indications. Compared to 2020, the government has increased spending on research and development by half a billion euros, from 11 to 11.5 billion. But the Dutch, in the same time frame, have increased resources by 800 million (from 6 to 6.8 billion euros), France and Germany have put on the plate two billion euros more (respectively from 15.8 to 17, 6 billion, and from 37.1 to 39.1 billion), four times the Italian effort.
It is true, numbers and indices in hand, that the country is showing its intention to reverse a course that is not exactly exemplary. In the last decade, between 2011 and 2021, expenditure on research and development has gone from 0.56% of the Gross Domestic Product to 0.65%. But there is still a delayed situation, to be bridged if we want to return to good growth. Eurostat also remembers something else. Research and development are a “transversal field relevant to the political priorities of the European Commission”. The success of joint efforts comes from here, and from Italy’s ability to act as a driving force.