Research & Innovation
In terms of the level of investment in Research and Development activities, Abruzzo currently ranks close to the national average.
Almost half of all expenditure for R&D in Abruzzo (47.6%) is generated by the business sector, with an index score that places it amongst the regions of southern Italy with the highest level of investment. In this regard, Abruzzo boasts the collaboration of the Chamber of Commerce network which acts as a real driving force concerning economic performance. Universities account for 38.8% of economic output and public authorities for 13.6% of the total (the contribution from non-profit organisations is still low).
The innovative capacity of the Abruzzo production system, indispensible for improved competitiveness between production systems, is far greater than it used to be: the current context as defined using the parameters of the European Innovation Scoreboard is more or less in line with what is found nationally. In fact, on the 2006 Regional Innovation Index Scoreboard (RIIS), the Abruzzo Region figures amongst the top 10 Italian regions, with an innovation score of 0.42 together with other Italian regions that are fully committed to innovation such as Lazio, Lombardy, Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Liguria, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Tuscany and Umbria.
The level of public spending in R&TD and the spread of internet-related technologies are similar to the overall averages for Italy and similarly the workforce (7.4% of the population are graduates in technical/scientific fields) is in line with the national average. In particular, R&TD expenditure in Abruzzo in 2003 (1.06% of GDP) is within the national average (1.11 of GDP) and significantly higher than that of the south (0.78 of GDP). In fact, the 2001 data relating to the situation in the Provinces shows the Province of Chieti to be extremely dynamic; the Province holds the 32nd position amongst Italian provinces in terms of R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP.
Thus, Abruzzo boasts a level of investment in research and development activities that is in line with the national trend, with a particularly varied public research network in the region. In Abruzzo, there are actually three universities with all faculties which have specialisations related to technological, organisational and management innovations in industry. Many laboratories in the universities are involved in applied research activities impacting, or with the potential to impact, on innovation in the production system: of the 71 laboratories appearing on the Register of the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, a good 55 of them report to departments of the faculties of medicine, pharmacy and engineering at the universities of L'Aquila and Chieti. There are also many public applied research centres, able or potentially able to offer innovation to local industry in the fields of agro-biotechnologies, pharmacology, human and veterinary medicine and environmental and food quality.
According to this analysis, there is a high level of class attendance by schoolchildren which continues long after the compulsory schooling period and an average level of education that is relatively higher than the national average; there is a markedly higher percentage of graduates in technical/scientific subjects than the national average and a level of attendance of training courses throughout people's working lives that is also higher than the Italian average, with 7.1% of workers attending courses against a national average of 5.9%.
Two projects currently being implemented are providing a great stimulus towards achieving an innovation culture in Abruzzo.
The first provides for participation in the Galileo Programme, which aims to create a European satellite control system, whilst the second relates to the Technology District for Food Quality, which is funding technological research and innovation in the agri-food sector, conducted by the universities in Abruzzo.
There is no doubt about the interest provoked by the creation of a Regional Innovation Monitoring Centre, as proposed in the Regional Development Programme of June 2008. This Monitoring Centre is to be responsible for analysis and monitoring of the region and will operate as part of a network, setting up organised collaboration with other parties where applicable.
The strategy for regional development, based on competitiveness, is thus to try to put research and innovation at the heart of economic growth and employment.
Given the characteristics of the area, intervention must aim on the one hand to develop high-tech sectors and on the other, to increase R&I in more traditional sectors in which research is less intensive and, most of all, within small companies. Naturally, all these activities must be carried out within the framework of the multi-annual scenario described in Axis I of the ERDF PEP ‘R&TD, Innovation and Competitiveness' and in line with the PRIA, the Abruzzo Regional Programme for Innovation.
Within this scenario, the regional authorities are asked to make a particular effort to create a favourable environment for innovation and to boost relations between the parties operating in the area. It was precisely in order to give effect to this strategy, that the Programma Ricerca ed Innovazione Abruzzo (Abruzzo Research and Innovation Programme) or PRIA was defined, the strategic document that guides the choice of regional programmes in the field of research and innovation.
The PRIA finds itself within a dynamic context of transition allowing it to create synergies with measures at national and Community level. The programme, with the objective of reviving investments in industry in the region, brings into focus both new financing mechanisms at national level and general support mechanisms, including automatic ones, existing in the system.
Specifically, the main tools used are the Fund for Competitiveness and Development and the Fund for Business Financing. The first aims to operate in favour of areas considered to be strategic for development (technologies, industrial innovation projects, energy efficiency, etc.); the purpose of the second is to have an impact on business financing and access to credit.
