Italy is not yet a country at the forefront of technological innovation, but it is becoming one. It is what emerges from Report of the Innovation and Technology Community by Ambrosetti Clubpresented yesterday at Technology Forum from Milan. In the presence of important international guests such as – among others – Aneesh Chopra, White House chief technology officer and Yossi Matias, vice president of engineering at Google, it was found that in an innovative ecosystem dominated by Switzerland and countries such as Korea, Singapore and Israel, Italy, while remaining penultimate in the sample of the thirteen countries-ecosystems of international reference, improves its score compared to 2014.
"The improvements should be considered structural as they are calculated on a three-year basis, and therefore not linked to a particular momentary exploit", explains Lorenzo Tavazzi, one of the authors of the research. Among the most positive aspects certainly emerges the human capital: even if the number of patents is still poor compared to other countries (0,24 patents per thousand inhabitants in the three-year period 2011-2013, against 5,22 in South Korea and 2,58 in the USA), Italy registers the third best score in terms of the number of citations for each researcher (5,39). And if it is true that the share of people employed in R&D activities is - albeit increasing - still low (9,8% in 2013), it should also be noted that the number of students in technical-scientific subjects between the ages of 19 and 25 it is absolutely average, and their scores are medium to high.
Brains that, it would seem, may be less and less inclined to flee. This is also thanks to some interventions by recent Governments, which however do not prevent Italy from being last for the development of venture capital, even if the country's attractiveness is still high and allows it to have the fourth score on the share of R&D financed from abroad (9,4%). “It should be considered a positive fact – explains Tavazzi di Ambrosetti – The European House – venture capital is only one of the aspects: it is true that we are behind and still too tied to classic bank financing, which is objectively limited with respect to some objectives, but each country has its own characteristics and in Italy venture capital could not work like in the States, for example. Its importance should not be overestimated and the fact that large foreign capitals invest in Italy is very positive”.
So how was it possible to partially get back on track and what directions still need to be followed? The models to follow, as reported by the Ambrosetti community and partly already implemented by the Government, are UK and Francerespectively for the “patent box” and for the streamlined public incentive scheme. The decree that will implement the patent box, provided for by the 2015 Stability Law along the lines of the one passed in the United Kingdom in 2013, is taking shape in recent weeks, also following the guidelines issued by the OECD. It is a facility that provides the Ires and Irap exemption up to 50% for those who have income (net of expenses relating to the asset itself and incurred in the same year in which the income was generated) deriving from the direct or indirect use of intangible assets such as patents for the concession of use to third parties , trademarks and intellectual property.
As far as facilitating the establishment of new innovative businesses is concerned, the model is the “tax holiday” French way. “La has already intervened in this too 2015 Stability Law – explains Tavazzi – canceling, as happens in France, the restrictions on access to the bonus and recognizing it for all, regardless of turnover and legal form”. In Paris, however, 30% of R&D expenditure up to 100 million (over 5%) is covered by the subsidy, while the Italian regime provides for an exemption for a maximum of 2015 million for the period of application 2019-5 euros per year for R&D expenses of less than 30 thousand euros, and in general 25% of expenses incurred in excess of the average of the same investments made in the three tax periods preceding the one in progress as at 31 December 2015.
Definitely more convoluted, but on the right track. Meanwhile, these measures allow France, which in terms of score is not so ahead of Italy, to have a more attractive regime: not only for foreign capital, as happens in Italy, but also in the ability to attract foreign human capital. Intellectual property protection puts the UK at the forefront of patent production and the ability to create Europe's best venture capital ecosystem. Not to mention that 16% of those enrolled in British universities are foreigners.
"However, the tax lever is not the only issue - recalls Tavazzi -: there is that of the distance between research and the business world": according to Ambrosetti's analysis, Italy is in fact last for the share of research and development conducted in the programs funded by the private sector (1,2% against 14% in Germany) and fourth last in exports in high R&D sectors: not even 9%, while Switzerland exports 44% of its technological products. “University and business still do not dialogue”, concludes Tavazzi, pointing out what is perhaps the real challenge of the institutions, which have already in some way moved towards something else.
A few surprises then came when reading the region-by-region index, compiled for the first time this year: while in fact it is not surprising to see that the Lombardia it is the only Italian region among the European top 20 (albeit with a score of about half compared to the first classified, the German region of Baden-Wurttemberg), with an expenditure of 4,5 billion euros in 2011 and 737 patents filed at the European Patent Office in 2010, a positive signal also comes from the South. In particular from Campania, which is positioned at the level of the central-northern regions with R&D expenditure of 2011 billion euros in 1,24, in line with that of Veneto and Tuscany and more than double that of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. “The data surprises up to a certain point – explains Tavazzi -, because Campania has a strong industrial base and is a highly competitive area at a technological level, thanks in particular to the aerospace hub”.
