↑ ALTO ↑
Diparmento di Scienze Economiche Aziendali Matemache e Stasche
Impaginazione Gabriella Clabot
© copyright Edizioni Università di Trieste, Trieste 2016 Proprietà letteraria riservata.
I diritti di traduzione, memorizzazione elettronica, di riproduzione e di adattamento totale e parziale di questa pubblicazione, con qualsiasi mezzo (compresi i microfilm, le fotocopie e altro) sono riservati per tutti i paesi.
ISBN 978-88-8303-761-0 (print) ISBN 978-88-8303-762-7 (online)
EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste
This book has been produced with the financial assistance of the IPA Adriatic Cross-Border Cooperation Programme. The contents of this book are the sole responsibility of the PACINNO project partners and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position
of the IPA Adriatic Cross-Border Cooperation Programme Authorities.
La versione online ad accesso aperto di questo volume
Innovation
in the Adriatic Region
edited by
Cozza, Claudio
Harirchi, Gouya
7 Introduction – Closing the innovation gap in the Adriatic Region: the legacy of PACINNO
TRACOGNA, ANDREA
15 Chapter 1 – Methodology
ČIĆEK, FILIP; MARKOVIĆ ČUNKO, ANA; GERBIN, ANI
25 Chapter 2 – Albania
DEMO, ERVIN; DIBRA, SIDITA; JAUPI, FATMA; GRABOVA , PERSETA; BESHKU, BLERINA
43 Chapter 3 – Bosnia and Herzegovina
ARSLANAGIĆ-KALAJDŽIĆ, MAJA; TURULJA, LEJLA
61 Chapter 4 – Croatia
ČIĆEK FILIP; BEGONJA, MARTA; MARKOVIĆ ČUNKO, ANA; GERBIN, ANI
81 Chapter 5 – Greece
PATELI, ADA; MIKALEF, PATRICK; MYLONAS, PHIVOS; VARITIMIDIS, CHRISTOS; KERMANIDIS, KATIA; ANDRONIKOS, THEODOROS
101 Chapter 6 – Italy
BALBONI, BERNARDO; BORTOLUZZI, GUIDO; COZZA, CLAUDIO; HARIRCHI, GOUYA; PUSTOVRH, ALEŠ
123 Chapter 7 – Montenegro
KARADŽIĆ, VESNA; DROBNJAK, RADIVOJE; BOŠKOVIĆ, VELIBOR
147 Chapter 8 – Serbia
JANEV, VALENTINA; PAUNOVIĆ, DEJAN; JOVANOVIĆ-VASOVIĆ, JELENA; ORČEVIĆ, SRĐAN; VRANEŠ, SANJA
167 Chapter 9 – Slovenia
ŽUPIĆ, IVAN; ČERNE, MATEJ; RANGUS, KAJA; TOMAT, LUKA; ALEKSIĆ, DARIJA; BOGILOVIĆ, SABINA
189 Chapter 10 – Innovation policies in the Adriatic Region
CAPELLARI, SAVERIA; COZZA, CLAUDIO
IT
AL
Y
BALBONI, BERNARDO; BORTOLUZZI, GUIDO;
COZZA, CLAUDIO; HARIRCHI, GOUYA; PUSTOVRH, ALEŠ
*DEAMS – University of Trieste
* Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana
Chapter 6
Italy
highlights
• The preponderance of small firms is a well-known characteristic of the Italian economy. • One of the most important pillars of the economy is the production of high-quality products
such as in the machinery, textiles, industrial designs, alimentary and furniture sectors. • Italy is performing well with regards to GDP per capita as compared to Regional and
EU-28 mean.
• With regards to the total number of new PhD graduates in the total share of the active population, Italy stands slightly better than the EU-28, while only equal to the Regional mean. • Consistent with the Adriatic Region as a whole, Italian SMEs show a relatively poor
level of internationalisation, with the dominant presence being on the national market, followed by the presence in Western, Central and Eastern Europe.
• The level of received support through innovation incentives from the government, Regional authorities and the EU is low for all measured forms of financing in both Italy and the Adriatic Region as a whole. In most cases, financial support came from local or Regional authorities.
• Regarding the micro determinants of innovation and knowledge hiding, in both Italy (1,86) and the Adriatic Region (2,31) they do not occur often.
6.1 general overview
Italy is a Member State of the EU. The peninsula has borders with France, Switzer-land, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino and the Vatican City. It also has borders with the Ligurian Sea in the northwest, the Tyrrhenian Sea in the west, the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea on the southeast and the Mediterranean Sea in the south. According to 2015 statistics, Italy has a population of 60,795,612 people (Italian Na-tional Institute of Statistics ISTAT, 2015). Italy was the world’s ninth largest econ-omy in 2012, in terms of nominal gross domestic product (GDP). It is a member of many international bodies including the G8 and G20, and it is a member of the Euro-pean Union (EU) (OECD, 2014a). Italy is a parliamentary democracy with a president that is the head of the state and a prime minister who is appointed by the president, which is confirmed by parliament.
Italy’s real GDP growth per capita has been weak over the last decade. It has also experienced longstanding fiscal difficulties and, most recently, declining real in-come levels. To emerge from recession, it has embarked on a wide-ranging strategy to restore fiscal sustainability and improve long-term growth. However, the public debt-to-GDP ratio is nearly 130% and Italy has made public debt reduction its top fiscal priority. In line with the recommendations of the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the OECD recommends that Italy pursue efforts to halt and reverse the upward trend of the debt-to-GDP ratio and focus budget consolidation on spending control (OECD, 2014a).
idling in low gear. In fact, Italy grew an average of 1,2% between 2001 and 2007 (Focus Economics, 2015). The global crisis had a deteriorating effect on the already fragile Italian economy. In 2009, the economy suffered a hefty 5,5% contraction— the strongest GDP drop in decades (Focus Economics, 2015).
Another important economic challenge is presented by unemployment. The unemployment rate has increased constantly over the last seven years. In 2014, it reached 12,7%, which is the highest level on record (Eurostat, 2015). The high unem-ployment rate highlights the weaknesses of the Italian labour market. The incum-bent government of Matteo Renzi has recently introduced a labour reform in order to mitigate some of the inefficiencies in the labour market and labour relationships. While the high rate of unemployment is a big challenge for Italy, there is also a lack of efficient use of the country’s talent (World Economic Forum, 2014).
The difficult status of the country’s public finances represents another chal-lenge. In 2013, Italy was the second biggest debtor in the Eurozone and the fifth largest worldwide. In a bid to face the recession, the government passed two major austerity packages in 2010 and 2011. While the first package was focused on a re-duction of government spending in order to reduce the nation’s budget deficit and public debt, the second introduced, among other measures, a series of tax increases (Focus Economics, 2015).
6.1.1
overviewoftheeconomicsituationinthecountryOne of the most important pillars of the economy is the production of high-qual-ity products such as in the machinery, textiles, industrial designs, alimentary and furniture sectors. These products contribute substantially to the country’s exports. Italy’s trade volumes increased significantly after the country joined the Eurozone. Despite growing global competition, since 2010, Italian exports have been steady rising. In 2014, they reached EUR 398 billion, up 2% from the previous year, boosted by increases in sales to the European Union (+3,7 %) and the United States (+10,2 %). The expected export growth rate for 2015 is above 5%. These results come from an inhomogeneous distributed economic system. In fact, the country is divided into a highly-industrialised and developed northern part, where approximately 75% of the nation’s wealth is produced, and a less-developed southern part. This divide is one of the result of the of the post-war economic miracle, during which the develop-ment of small- and medium-sized companies in export-related industries generat-ed several industrial clusters that were mainly localisgenerat-ed in the north of Italy (Focus Economics, 2015).
The evolution of the research and innovation (R&I) system in Italy has been heavily affected by the economic crisis, the reduction in public expenditure associ-ated with austerity programmes and the fall of private R&D and investment efforts. Italy’s GDP has fallen in 2012 (-2,8%) and in 2013 (-1,7%) (Eurostat, 2015; Nascia, L. & Pianta, M., 2015). Real GDP contracted by 0,4% in 2014, with a stabilisation in the final quarter of the year (EU Commission, 2014). In fact, 2015 remains marginally negative. However, supported by positive external factors, Italy’s economy is ex-pected to strengthen in 2016 (EU Commission, 2014).
6.1.2
overviewoftheresearchandinnovationactorsandactivitiesinthecountry1
As highlighted in the Erawatch- Italy country profile (Erawatch, 2014), the gover-nance structure of Italy’s R&I system maintains a top role of the Council of Min-istries which defines priorities and outlines policies in the National Research Pro-gramme (PNR), which is the main government document for R&D planning. The research policy development in Italy is based on large multi-annual plans (DEFs) that are enacted through annual budget cycles established by the Financial Law (public budget) of the State. DEF includes also the National Programme of Reform PNR, relevant for the monitoring of the impact political agenda on the R&I sys-tem. The resources to implement public policies are chiefly distributed through the State’s annual financial law approved by the Parliament every December and the DEF (economic and financial policy document of the Government).
The main actors in the R&I system as highlighted are as follows:
• The Ministry for education, research and universities (MIUR) is the main player in R&I, in charge of coordinating national and international scientific activities, su-pervising the academic system, funding universities and research agencies, and supporting public and private research and technological development. MIUR co-ordinates the preparation of the three year National Research Programme (PNR) in consultation with other Ministries, Regions and other stakeholders. The stra-tegic lines and priorities for the Italian national research system are mainly set by MIUR. They are outlined in the PNR National Research Programme 2011-2013 and in Horizon Italia 2020, HIT2020. HIT2020, released by MIUR during March 2013, enlightens the multiannual (2014-2020) research and innovation strategy in Italy within the EU framework.
• The Inter Ministry Committee for Economic Planning (CIPE) has the role of coordi-nating science and technology policy – focusing on medium and long term actions. • The Ministry for economic development (MISE, previously Ministry for Produc-tion Activities) manages industrial innovaProduc-tion. The Department for Competitive-ness within MISE is in charge of technological innovation and responsible for industrial policy, industrial districts, energy policies, policies for SMEs, and in-struments to support the production system. The Department of development and social cohesion (DPS) within MISE is in charge of the planning, coordination and management and the structural funds
1 The information in this section is based on the data retrieved in September 2015 from the Italian
• The National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes (ANVUR) is the institution in charge of the evaluation of HEIs and PROs and it regularly provides criteria for the institutional funds allocation.
• The National Research Council (CNR) is the largest public research organisation (PRO) under the supervision of MIUR. The National Agency for New Technolo-gies, Energy and Sustainable Development (ENEA) has the mission to develop R&D on energy and environmental fields.
• The Digital Italy Agency (AgID), established in 2012 but not yet fully operational, is in charge of the Italian Digital Agenda (IDA) under the control of the Prime Minister’s office.
• Other Ministries (Health, Agriculture, Defence, etc) manage research funds in their specific fields. Regions, under the concurrency principle, develop local ini-tiatives in R&I and contribute to policy making on R&D; in some cases, research organisations are funded and managed by Regions.
Overall, the structure of the research system in Italy can be seen in three levels: POLITICAL LEVEL
The Parliament and the Council of Ministries is the most important political level for R&D policies.
The coordination of Science and Technology policy within the government is under the responsibility of Ministry Committee for the Economic Planning CIPE especially for medium long term actions. The CIPE role became more effective after a special section “Sessione Ricerca” dedicated to research and education was created during the last decade. The CIPE also reviews the so-called Document Economic and Fi-nancial (DEF), including the National Reform Programme and release the three-year PNR under proposal of MIUR.
OPERATIONAL LEVEL
In Italy the Ministry for Education University and Research (MIUR) coordinates na-tional and internana-tional scientific activities, distributes funding to universities and research agencies, and establishes the means for supporting public and private re-search and technological development (RTD) funding. Since 2007 MIUR has been included in the Inter-ministerial Committee for Economic Planning (CIPE).
The Ministry for Economic Development (previously called Ministry for Production Activities) supports and manages industrial innovation. Other Ministries (Health, Agriculture, etc) manage research funding in their specific fields.
cur-ricula and recruitment; the CNVSU and the CIVR respectively in charge of the eval-uation of the University system and of the research system, now replaced by the ANVUR, the National Agency for the Evaluation of the University and the Research. PERFORMER LEVEL
Public research is based on Universities and Public research organisations. In 2013, 95 universities were active, of which 67 are public institutions and 11 are telematic based. The National Research Council (CNR) is the largest public research organisa-tion (PRO) under the supervision of MIUR. The Naorganisa-tional Agency for New Technolo-gies, Energy and Sustainable Development (ENEA) has the mission to develop R&D on energy and environmental fields.
In the private sector Fiat (automotive), Finmeccanica (aerospace and military), Tele-com Italia (teleTele-communications), Unicredit and Intesa San Paolo (banking) are the most relevant R&D players, included in the top 100 EU companies ranked by R&D.
Figure 6.1 – The structure of the Italian R&D system
The economic depression and austerity policies cutting public expenditure have been a major constraint on public and private R&D and innovation efforts. Consid-ering Research and Development (R&D) efforts, in 2012 GERD recorded an increase over 2011 of 1,9% in real terms, but provisional data for 2013 show a fall of 2,9% (about €300m) over 2012. The R&D intensity national target – R&D expenditure equal to 1,53% of GDP – is still far away and the gap with the EU-28 average is per-sisting. In 2011 the R&D to GDP ratio was 1,21% as opposed to a EU-28 average of 1,97%. In 2013 the R&D to GDP ratio was 1,25%, as opposed to a EU-28 average of 2,02. In 2013 Italy’s total R&D personnel (in full time equivalent units) amounted to 252,648, of which 117,973 researchers. In 2013 Italy’s share of R&D personnel on total employment was 1,13%, as opposed to a EU-28 average of 1,25%; the share of researchers was 0,53% as opposed to 0,79% in the EU-28 average. Expenditure for universities accounts for 1% of Italy’s GDP, as opposed to 1,5% in the EU average (Nascia, L. & Pianta, M., 2015).
The structure of expenditure for R&D in Italy shows about a quarter of funds going to upstream basic research, half going to applied research and a quarter going to experimental development (Nascia, L. & Pianta, M., 2015).
6.1.3
recentchangesinr&
dandinnovationsysteminthecountryR&I policy has shown a broad continuity, but there have been some effects brought about by the two changes of government in May 2013 (Letta government) and Feb-ruary 2014 (Renzi government). The new ‘Programma Nazionale per la Ricerca 2014-2020’ was drafted in February 2014; however, with the new government, it has not yet obtained the required approval from Inter-ministerial Committee for Economic Programming (CIPE). Despite a growing share of distributed R&I, either to univer-sities, PROs or private firms, on the basis of performances or specific projects, the general reduction of resources is offsetting the expected benefits from improved al-location efficiency. Public support to firms’ R&D has been provided, on the one hand, through tax credits, with measures that have been characterised, however, by fre-quent changes. On the other hand, the government has provided direct incentives to firms through a variety of funds, including the “Fondo delle agevolazioni alla ricerca” for industrial R&D, MISE’s “Fondo per la Crescita Sostenibile” fund and the PONREC plan for cohesion projects, but these have limited resources. No funds were available for the research programmes of PRIN or FIRB –mainly oriented towards universities and PROs, and no calls have been launched in 2014 (Nascia, L. & Pianta, M., 2015).
implemented, as is the reform of PROs under MIUR, launched in 2009. In 2013, MIUR allocated new resources under the Cohesion Action Plan (CAP) to strength-en public research infrastructures, particularly in the country’s southern regions (OECD, 2014b).
In 2014, the results of the first ‘Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale’ (ASN), a na-tional ‘Qualification’ system for scholars who want to become candidates for po-sitions of Full and Associate Professor, were published and the second round was carried out, with full results that came out in 2015 (Nascia, L. & Pianta, M., 2015). Currently, the ASN is in the process of being modified; candidates to positions of Full and Associate Professor will be able to ask for the qualification at any time during the year, with evaluating committees that will change every two years.
Business innovation performance varies across the regions and much R&D and innovation capacity is concentrated in Italy’s northern and central regions. In 2012, MIUR launched a national call for the creation and strengthening of technological clusters. A project to support regional governments in designing and implementing their smart specialisation strategies was launched in 2013 (OECD, 2014b).
Over 2012-14, Italy has reinforced its network of bilateral agreements for scien-tific and technological cooperation with partner countries, in particular with Swe-den, renewed for the period 2014-16. Since 2013, the Italian Trade Promotion Agency (ICE), which replaced the former Institute for Foreign Trade, supports the interna-tionalisation of Italian firms. Strengthening the internainterna-tionalisation of Italian uni-versities, PROs and businesses is also an aim of Destination Italy (OECD, 2014b). Also, in terms of communication of research and innovation activities, strong im-provements have been made in recent years, starting with the portal ResearchItaly2.
New regulations to support the creation and the development of innovative new ventures were converted into law by Parliament on 13 December 2012. The regula-tions draw on the report “Restart, Italia!3”, elaborated by the task force of the Italian
Minister of Economic Development made up of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, academics, journalists and civil servants. The new legislations, together with fur-ther measures, introduce a new definition of ‘start-up’ and ‘certified incubator’; establish an online directory for start-ups and incubators; support their access to credit, through a public guarantee fund (Fondo Centrale di Garanzia), and to equity market, through the establishment of a specific regulation of equity crowdfunding; and introduce tax incentives and credits deriving from tax returns.
2 https://www.researchitaly.it/en/understanding.
6.2 macro-level analysis of innovation enablers and
inhibitors
In this section, the most relevant macro-indicators of innovation in the country are presented4. These indicators concern six categories of the national innovation
system: the economic situation of the country, figures regarding human resourc-es as well as the education system, the innovation invresourc-estments made by both the public and private sectors and the scientific output. The indicators are syn-thetically represented in Figure 6.2 and described after that. In the figure, 100 represents the EU average, while the dotted part of the histograms shows the Adriatic Region average.
Figure 6.2 – Italian Innovation System, selected indicators
The economic data include the general economic figures of the country, such as GDP per capita, total exports, unemployment rate, current account deficit, etc. In the analysis for Italy we have included GDP per capita and compared it to the Adriatic Region mean, as well as the EU-28 mean.
The Italian GDP per capita places the country significantly above the average of the Adriatic Region and slightly over the average of the EU-28. However, it is
also true that the Region itself is also positioned lower than the EU-28 average GDP per capita.
The human factor plays a critical role in innovation, as the competitive advantage built on human resources is not easily imitable. In order to assess and compare hu-man resources in Italy with the Regional average and EU 20 average, we have includ-ed the total number of new PhD graduates (as a percentage of the active population) in the analysis. With regards to the total number of new PhD graduates, Italy stands equal to the regional mean, while slightly lower than the EU-28 mean.
Education plays a central role in building the country’s innovation capacity. The indi-cator of educational capabilities that was taken into account in this dimension was the total number of students. The total number of students in Italy is below the Regional mean and the EU-28 mean, which may be interpreted in a positive way, as a possible enabler of innovation activities and growth of future knowledge sector participants.
The public sector is a part of the economy that consists of state-owned institutions, including nationalised industries and services provided by local authorities. The com-mitment of the public sector to the generation of new ideas is measured with gov-ernment expenditure on R&D.
In Italy, government expenditure on R&D, relative to the GDP, is below both the Regional mean and the EU-28 mean.
The private sector represents an engine of economic growth and job creation, as commercial enterprises constantly incorporate new technologies in their business, due to market pressures and an imperative to stay competitive. To measure this, we have used Business expenditure on R&D in the country, where Italy lags behind the EU-28 countries.
The scientific output of a country is closely related to its innovation capacity; at the same time, it can be used as an indicator of a country’s innovation performance. To measure this, the number of SCImago scientific journal articles (per million active population) has been used.
6.3 meso-level analysis of innovation enablers
and inhibitors
The survey of innovative micro, small and medium companies in Italy included en-terprises within the Italian Adriatic Region and particularly from the Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Marche and Emilia-Romagna regions, which are part of the IPA Adri-atic eligible area.
Accordingly with EU recommendation 2003/361, only those enterprises that employed fewer than 250 persons, and which had an annual turnover above EUR 1 million but not exceeding EUR 50 million, were considered. Since the interest was in innovative firms, rather than high-tech industries, low, medium/low, and medium/ high-tech industries were also considered. The starting population generated on the basis of the Aida Bureau van Dijk database allowed us to identify a sample of 16,686 SMEs located in the eligible area.
Overall, a stratified sample of 5,475 Italian companies (in terms of industries, sales volume, and regional location) was contacted by phone and or by email to participate in the study. We used the questionnaire technique to collect data, ad-ministered through CATI and CAWI interviews conducted in the period between Oc-tober and December 2014. Five hundred and fifteen questionnaires were received, of which 434 had completed the questionnaire.
The average turnover of the firms in the sample was above EUR 8 million and the average number of employees was 45. The ratio of foreign sales to total sales averaged 27%. In line with the stratification strategy, the composition of the sam-ple showed a wide scope in terms of industries covered. Firms from manufacturing industries represented more than 75% of the sample, while service firms represent-ed around 25%. Mechanical engineering (machinery and equipment and metal prod-ucts) was the most represented industry, accounting for more than the 27% of the total of the firms. The average sales and exports in terms of the total sales ratio increased in the period from 2010–2013. Most enterprises mainly employed a ma-jority of lower qualified workers (including secondary school education), followed by employees with a college education and 14% with a master’s degree.
113
6. ITALY
6.3.1
organizationalinnovationThe analysis of collected data on different aspects of organizational innovation points to no major differences between Italy and the Adriatic Region average. “Re-newal of internal rules and procedures” and “changes in the employees’ tasks” holds the highest ranking in Italy, where both reached almost 5 points on the scale from 1 to 7. The biggest disparities in favour of the Adriatic Region can be seen in the changes in “update of compensation policies”, which have the lowest ranking in both Italy and the Adriatic Region as a whole.
Chart 6.1 – Organizational innovation
(Italy in comparison to the Adriatic Region average)
4,45
4,78
4,07
4,60
4,53
4,27
4,09
4,65
3,83
5,22
4,29
4,84
4,31
4,13
3,80
4,13
4,01
4,62
4,05
4,70
-
1,00
2,00
3,00
4,00
5,00
6,00
Organizational Innovation (mean)
Renewal of internal rules and procedures
Changes in our employees’ tasks
New management systems implementation
Update of compensation policies
Restructuring of intra-communications system
Updating of organizational structure
Different roles within the organization
Developing the structure effectiveness
Albania
Adriatic region
Italy4,45
4,78
4,07
4,60
4,53
4,27
4,09
4,65
3,83
5,22
4,29
4,84
4,31
4,13
3,80
4,13
4,01
4,62
4,05
4,70
-
1,00
2,00
3,00
4,00
5,00
6,00
Organizational Innovation (mean)
Renewal of internal rules and procedures
Changes in our employees’ tasks
New management systems implementation
Update of compensation policies
Restructuring of intra-communications system
Updating of organizational structure
Different roles within the organization
We usually alter the way in which we set objectives
Developing the structure effectiveness
Albania
Adriatic region
114
6.3.2
internationalizationlevelasinnovationenablerIn the period from 2011-2013, less than half of the surveyed companies in Italy (30%) were present only on the domestic market, where the majority of turnover was also earned. Companies that exported their products were mostly present in Western and Central Europe, considerably less so in Eastern Europe, and only to some extent in North America, East Asia, South and Central America, the Middle East and North Africa. Companies that were export-oriented were exporting to up to five countries (40,7%) and very few companies (29,7%) were exporting to more than five markets.
Chart 6.2 – Geographic markets where enterprises sold goods and/or services during 2011, 2012 and 2013
(Italy in comparison to the Adriatic Region average)
4,45
4,78
4,07
4,60
4,53
4,27
4,09
4,65
3,83
5,22
4,29
4,84
4,31
4,13
3,80
4,13
4,01
4,62
4,05
4,70
-
1,00
2,00
3,00
4,00
5,00
6,00
Organizational Innovation (mean)
Renewal of internal rules and procedures
Changes in our employees’ tasks
New management systems implementation
Update of compensation policies
Restructuring of intra-communications system
Updating of organizational structure
Different roles within the organization
Developing the structure effectiveness
Albania
Adriatic region
Italy4,45
4,78
4,07
4,60
4,53
4,27
4,09
4,65
3,83
5,22
4,29
4,84
4,31
4,13
3,80
4,13
4,01
4,62
4,05
4,70
-
1,00
2,00
3,00
4,00
5,00
6,00
Organizational Innovation (mean)
Renewal of internal rules and procedures
Changes in our employees’ tasks
New management systems implementation
Update of compensation policies
Restructuring of intra-communications system
Updating of organizational structure
Different roles within the organization
We usually alter the way in which we set objectives
Developing the structure effectiveness
Albania
Adriatic region
Adriatic Region
115
6. ITALY
next most prevalent markets where companies sold their goods and services were in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the Adriatic Region countries. However, while Italy has a higher than average presence in all markets, interestingly enough this is not the case in Adriatic countries. Discrepancies exist between Italy and the Adriatic Region’s average in the markets, by which Italy lags behind the Region’s average by 12%.
6.3.3
innovationincentivesasinnovationenablersThe majority of innovating companies in Italy within the three-year period of 2011-2013 did not receive any kind of public financial support for innovative activities. However, although at rather a small rate, in most cases the financial support came from local or Regional authorities (22%), and less so from the European Union (7,6%). This fact again confirms that the significant factor preventing innovative activities is the lack of financial support.
Chart 6.3 – Public financial support (%) for the innovation activities in enterprises during the 2011, 2012 and 2013 coming from the government
(Italy in comparison to the Adriatic Region average)
4,45
4,78
4,07
4,60
4,53
4,27
4,09
4,65
3,83
5,22
4,29
4,84
4,31
4,13
3,80
4,13
4,01
4,62
4,05
4,70
-
1,00
2,00
3,00
4,00
5,00
6,00
Organizational Innovation (mean)
Renewal of internal rules and procedures
Changes in our employees’ tasks
New management systems implementation
Update of compensation policies
Restructuring of intra-communications system
Updating of organizational structure
Different roles within the organization
Developing the structure effectiveness
Albania
Adriatic region
Italy4,45
4,78
4,07
4,60
4,53
4,27
4,09
4,65
3,83
5,22
4,29
4,84
4,31
4,13
3,80
4,13
4,01
4,62
4,05
4,70
-
1,00
2,00
3,00
4,00
5,00
6,00
Organizational Innovation (mean)
Renewal of internal rules and procedures
Changes in our employees’ tasks
New management systems implementation
Update of compensation policies
Restructuring of intra-communications system
Updating of organizational structure
Different roles within the organization
We usually alter the way in which we set objectives
Developing the structure effectiveness
Albania
Adriatic region
116
It is evident that the level of received support was low for all three forms of financ-ing and in both, Italy and the Region as a whole. However local and regional author-ities have played a stronger role in providing financial sources, as compared to the Adriatic average.
6.4 micro foundations of innovation
Two innovative companies participated from Italy. The first company is a mechani-cal manufacturer having a turnover of 27,5 Mil. Euro (2013 data; source Bureau Van Dijk) selling in multiple markets. The second company is a producer of awnings that is fast growing as well as fast expanding in foreign markets. At the end of 2013 the company had a turnover of 19,1 Mil. Euro.
Chart 6.4 – Micro-determinants of innovation in Italy and the Adriatic Region
4,45
4,78
4,07
4,60
4,53
4,27
4,09
4,65
3,83
5,22
4,29
4,84
4,31
4,13
3,80
4,13
4,01
4,62
4,05
4,70
-
1,00
2,00
3,00
4,00
5,00
6,00
Organizational Innovation (mean)
Renewal of internal rules and procedures
Changes in our employees’ tasks
New management systems implementation
Update of compensation policies
Restructuring of intra-communications system
Updating of organizational structure
Different roles within the organization
Developing the structure effectiveness
Albania
Adriatic region
Italy4,45
4,78
4,07
4,60
4,53
4,27
4,09
4,65
3,83
5,22
4,29
4,84
4,31
4,13
3,80
4,13
4,01
4,62
4,05
4,70
-
1,00
2,00
3,00
4,00
5,00
6,00
Organizational Innovation (mean)
Renewal of internal rules and procedures
Changes in our employees’ tasks
New management systems implementation
Update of compensation policies
Restructuring of intra-communications system
Updating of organizational structure
Different roles within the organization
We usually alter the way in which we set objectives
Developing the structure effectiveness
Albania
Adriatic region
Regarding the demographic characteristics of the sample, the gender structure in the analysed Italian companies was rather misbalanced, with the ratio of men to women being 64% and 36%, respectively The average employee age was 39,2, with youngest being 20 years old and oldest 60 years old. The majority of employees held a High School diploma (48,2%), which was amongst the highest in the Region, followed by a Master’s degree diploma (Laurea) (44,3%).
The graph presents the average descriptive results for Italy in comparison with the Adriatic Region Here, it is important to take into account certain cross-coun-try interpretation limitations, since the provided answers could be culturally con-ditioned, due to the fact that the questions in the survey mostly deal with percep-tions. In the case of Italy, factors that could have influenced the results were also related to the companies’ specific settings. The Italian companies that participated in the study belonged to the mechanical and outdoor furniture industries. The ob-tained results could have been significantly different if companies from some other innovative sectors had been recruited for the study.
Specific behaviours such as knowledge hiding and employee silence have strong impacts on individual-level innovativeness. The data show that knowledge hiding in both Italy (1,86) and the Adriatic Region (2,31) does not occur often. Interestingly, the econometric data analysis on the Adriatic Region level has shown a slightly pos-itive correlation between knowledge hiding and individual innovativeness, which is contradictory to the previous empirical studies that claim that knowledge hiding negatively affects innovativeness.
The construct employee silence is significantly negatively related to innova-tiveness in our research at the Adriatic level. This is connected to the fact that the employees do not share their ideas openly and if they feel fear, this holds back their innovativeness. However, this construct was ranked rather low in both Italy (2,10) and the Adriatic Region (2,71), therefore, it may be interpreted that employees do not show substantial proclivity to silent behaviour.
According to the results of the analysis, on the level of the Adriatic Region, cul-tural intelligence is significantly correlated with individual-level innovativeness, which means that the more culturally conscious the employees are, and the more knowledgeable they are about different languages, cultural values, etc., the more innovative they are likely to be. This determinant is ranked almost equally highly in both Italy (5,01) and Adriatic Region (4,54).
Idea championing and individual innovation are also ranked equally high, Italy (5,19) and Adriatic Region (4,66). As already pointed out, according to this study, the gender and age of employees are strongly related to innovativeness at the Adriat-ic Region level. Therefore, there are certain differences between male and female employees, as well as younger and older employees, in terms of the level of their innovativeness and the process of individual innovation emergence.
Task conflict, as a measure of disagreement between group members, is not present to a large extent, in either the Adriatic Region as a whole(3,24), or in the case of the Italian study respondents (3,31). Since in some empirical studies task conflict has been identified as a potential innovation inhibitor, the low representa-tion of this determinant may be interpreted in a positive way.
The concept of flow at work has three dimensions: absorption, work enjoyment and intrinsic work motivation. None of these constructs has a direct significant link with the individual-level innovativeness for the surveyed firms in the Region.
Regarding time perspectives, this research has shown that on the level of the Adriatic Region, only past positive and present hedonistic time perspectives sig-nificantly correlate with innovativeness. Past positive time perspective is negatively correlated with innovativeness at the Adriatic level, while present hedonistic time perspective is marginally positive correlated to innovativeness. In contrast, past negative and future time perspectives did not show any significant correlation. For Italy, past positive time perspective is (4,24) slightly higher than that of the Adriatic Region (3,62). Present hedonistic time perspective is ranked very high in the case of Italy (5,51), in comparison with the Adriatic Region (3,52).
According to the conducted data analysis, time management is highly correlat-ed with innovativeness and it is one of the largest determinants of individual-level innovativeness at the Adriatic level. This determinant is ranked equally high in Italy (5,61) and the Adriatic Region (5,1).
Entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial intentions are shown to be significantly re-lated with employees’ innovativeness on the Region level, which implies that entre-preneurial skills may be of potential benefit for the company, as they stimulate the innovation processes. This determinant is mid-ranked and it does not differ much between Italy (3,87) and the Adriatic Region (4,03).
Self-efficacy, reflecting an optimistic belief in oneself that creates an impulse to perform new or difficult tasks, has the strongest impact on individual-level in-novativeness in the surveyed companies of the Adriatic Region. In fact, the ranking between Italy (4,92) and the Adriatic Region (5,12) is rather equal, highlighting a comparable relationship also in the case of Italy.
explain-ing the individual-level innovativeness in the surveyed companies of the Adriatic Region.
However, uncertainty avoidance holds rather high and equal rank in both Italy (5,60) and the Adriatic Region (5,43), which implies some specific cultural character-istics of risk aversion in the Region. Individualism, as another construct, is ranked lower in Italy (3,61) than in the Adriatic Region (4,48).
6.5 conclusions
In the past couple of decades, Italy has been experiencing slow growth or outright recession, the demise of many of its industrial districts and persistent political is-sues. This has resulted in a need to change its whole socio-economic system. Its innovation system holds the promise to facilitate this change, but it is currently not delivering the transformation of its economy into innovation-driven development; in fact, its innovation results put Italy below the EU average.
devel-opment of the regional innovation system. This would not only leverage its own system, but also help open it. With its great diversity, geographical proximity and similar culture (including the widespread understanding of the Italian language), it could act as a test region for Italian companies and their and internationalisation strategies. They could facilitate their learning on how to expand their innovative solutions to other, broader markets in the future.
Unfortunately, Italian companies do not seem to cooperate within the Region. While Italy has a higher than average orientation towards all export markets, Italian companies are less open to internationalisation in the Adriatic countries, with Italy lagging behind the Region’s average by 12%. Changes on this meso-level of the Ital-ian innovation system would, thus, also require the promotion of the opportunities that regional innovation systems offers for their growth and innovation strategies. Finally, the policy measures that would help establish a regional innovation sys-tem cannot only target the macroeconomic environment and meso-level measures, but will also aim to change the nature of innovation activities within companies. Italian companies share high uncertainty avoidance with other companies in the Region and remain fairly closed to new, innovative solutions and ideas. Their pro-clivity to innovate could be enhanced by targeting micro-level changes within the companies that would encourage more risk-taking and openness to novelties and innovation. Perhaps systematic collaboration with similar companies from other nearby countries would enable the removal of this risk avoidance and embrace more open and risk-taking attitudes. Policy-measures aiming to establish transnation-al and cross-border collaboration in innovation activities would have a chance to create a truly regional innovation system and help transform the companies in the whole Region, including Italy.
1. Cozza, C., Zanfei, A. (2014). The cross border R&D activity of italian business firms. Economia e politica industriale, 41(3), 39-64.
2. Erawatch. (2014). Erawatch: Italy country profile. Retrieved 07/09/2015, from http://erawatch.jrc.ec.europa.eu/erawatch/opencms/information/country_ pages/it/country.
3. EU Commission. (2014). European Economic Forecast Spring 2015. Retrieved 07/09/2015, from http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/europe-an_economy/2015/pdf/ee2_en.pdf.
4. Eurostat. (2015). Online Database. Retrieved 07/09/2015, from http://ec.europa. eu/eurostat/help/first-visit/database.
5. Focus Economics. (2015). Focus Economics: Italy. Retrieved 21/07/2015, from http://www.focus-economics.com/countries/italy.
6. Italian National Institute of Statistics ISTAT. (2015). 07/09/2015, from http:// demo.istat.it/pop2015/index_e.html.
7. IUS. (2015). Innovation Union Scoreboard 2015. Retrieved 07/09/2015, from http://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/innovation/facts-figures/scoreboards/ files/ius-2015_en.pdf.
8. Moncada-Paternò-Castello, P., Grassano, G. (2014). Innovation, competitiveness and growth without R&D? Analysis of corporate R&D investment – A country approach: Italy.
9. Nascia, L., Pianta, M. (2015). RIO Country Report Italy 2014.
10. OECD. (2014a). OECD Development Co-operation Peer Review: Italy 2014. Re-trieved 07/09/2015, from http://www.oecd.org/dac/peer-reviews/Italy_peerre-view2014.pdf.
11. OECD. (2014b). OECD Science, Technology and Industry Outlook 2014. Retrieved 07/09/2015, from http://www.oecd.org/sti/oecd-science-technology-and-in-dustry-outlook-19991428.htm.
12. World Economic Forum. (2014). The Global Competitiveness Report 2014–2015. Retrieved 07/09/2015, from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GlobalCom-petitivenessReport_2014-15.pdf.
