An analysis of Italian innovation policies

In spite of the many support measures taken by Government in the past five years, Italy's innovation performance remains modest. The lack of a true system of innovation based on dense interactions between the main stakeholders in a conducive environment represents the main stumbling block, as impediments lie on several fronts spanning from supply and demand of innovation to its diffusion across firms, the ecosystem and policy governance. A role can also be attributed to the prevailing small dimension of most firms, their «traditional» specialization model, and some aversion in gaining competitiveness trough r&d. Far from tackling all these impediments, public intervention spread out in a host of measures with relatively small financial impact, while lacking a vision, a fully fledged strategy focused on the main hindrances, forward-looking and mindful of past shortcomings. In such a context, useful hints can be drawn from the most innovative countries' policies, especially in policy coordination, leveraging specialized agencies in policy implementation, providing all-encompassing services to innovating firms, investing in knowledge and innovation diffusion, as well as in training, and resorting to simple and flexible procedures.