Italy always behind Germany and France in research and development. Sustainable economic growth must make a leap in quality, and it must not be just a rhetorical announcement. It must be kept under control to tell the country system and politics in which sectors to intervene.
At the States General of the Green Economy 2023 the Observatory on the ecological transition of the Italian economy and businesses presented an evolving but not exciting picture.
The Observatory is one summa of excellence which starts from the Ministry of the Environment and reaches ISPRA, ENEA, RSE, CNR, ISTAT, CREA, CENSIS, Confindustria, CNA, Legacoop, FLC-CGIL. Cassa Depositi e Presiti University and Intesa Sanpaolo.
The report illustrated by the former Minister of the Environment Edo Ronchi it examined circular waste management, the state of decarbonisation, sustainable construction, circular water management. The weak point remains research and development: 1,6% of GDP on average 2019-2020: Who should increase this share? With all the budget problems can we hope that this will be done? If we don't want to be left behind compared to those countries that have put more money into their budgets during the energy transition, it is urgent to get moving. Even keeping young researchers and talents who go abroad in Italy, but only the President talks about it Sergio Mattarella.
The need for technologies
It is the case of "accompany consolidation processes of operators active along the advanced technology supply chain, supporting the identification of national champions” says the Report. Between 2018-2020, 40,3 percent of innovative companies declared they had introduced one or more eco-sustainable innovations and 25,4 percent introduced innovations that led to greater energy efficiency. Is it time to be happy?
In the two years following the Report the situation has changed. For a year there has been a Meloni government which doesn't seem to have much passion for research:. The most active laboratories are in companies. Italy imports technologies from all over the world. In 2021, the technology balance of payments surplus, which includes compensation for the use of intellectual property and trade in IT, architecture and engineering research and development services, reached an all-time high of 2,6 billion euros, wrote Bank of Italy. We are really good customers in the global market.
Furthermore, the laws that must stimulate renewable sources are at a standstill, the authorizations for energy structures are a drag. Should the race towards green technologies - with direct spending increases - rest only on the shoulders of companies?
The average of research applied to industrial processes in Europe is 2,3% of GDP. The United States, Japan and South Korea are at 4%. If in the twentieth century economies grew thanks to expansionary policies that were regardless of the environment and the living conditions of workers, in 2000 growth means a technological challenge that is attentive (not always) to climate impacts, sophisticated experiments, artificial intelligence, discoveries which group countries into one large global village. Staying out of it, because you spend little, is a prelude to decline.
