Italy improves overall its capacity for innovation, but still shows important gaps that place it in 22nd place in Europe and 35th in the world. This is what emerges from the Global Innovation Index elaborated by Insead, one of the leading business schools on the planet, in collaboration with the Institute for the Protection and the Security of the Citizen (IPSC). The analysis concerns 125 countries representing 93,2% of the world population and about 98% of global GDP. Switzerland takes first place in the ranking of innovation, thus gaining three places compared to 2010. Close behind are Sweden and Singapore, while Iceland slips from the first step to eleventh position.
Italy marks an improvement compared to the thirty-eighth place last year but fails to regain the levels of 2009, when it was positioned thirty-first. However, the comparison with other European realities weighs significantly on the figure for our country. In fact, the top ten also includes four other states of the old continent (Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) and most of the countries of the European Union are in the top thirty. In particular, it is the states that have recently joined the EU that show significant progress: Estonia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Slovenia.
Italy is penalized above all by an unfavorable environment for investments (we even occupy the eighty-fifth position), due to the high costs necessary to start a business and the enormous tax burden on profits, lower only than Brazil , Algeria, Colombia, Bolivia, Tajikistan and Argentina. Added to this is the very low commercial competitiveness of our country (eighty-ninth place), which sees us behind almost all European nations, even Albania and Macedonia. As far as the enhancement of human capital is concerned, we are apparently in a good position but the comparison with the countries that precede us leads to further reflections.
In the ranking that calculates the quality of training we are twenty-fourth, however our score is far from the more virtuous realities such as Denmark and Ireland. In addition, such states as Moldova, Latvia, Bosnia, Hungary and Venezuela also appear before us. The indicator that concerns the efficiency of research then relegates us even to forty-seventh place, even behind countries such as Bangladesh, Tanzania and Malawi. This is mainly due to the low productivity of our research institutes, which occupy the XNUMXth place and which are less efficient than those in Thailand, Vietnam and Ghana. Also noteworthy is the low degree of collaboration between universities and companies (sixty-third place), which is also higher in Kenya, Rwanda and Botswana. Another sore point concerns the computerization of Italian government structures which reveals the enormous backwardness of our country: we are eightieth, better than only some African state or realities returning from war scenarios. Another fact that stands out is the indicator relating to political stability and the presence of violence and terrorism. Italy ranks in fortieth position, behind most of the Central and Northern European countries and also behind Botswana, Oman, Namibia and Costa Rica. As a partial consolation, however, it must be emphasized that the United States is worse off than us and Spain. Furthermore, our country does not stand out for widespread freedom of the press, as we are behind almost all European nations: only Romania, Greece and Russia are sailing in worse waters.
However, the element that leads to greater reflections remains the comparison between Italy and the rest of Europe. The Scandinavian countries produce excellent performances in relation to all indicators, making that area at the forefront of innovation and development. Among the fifteen countries of the original nucleus of the European Union, the Netherlands, Germany, the surprising Ireland and Luxembourg stand out above all. A discreet response also for Austria, France and Belgium, while the states of the Mediterranean area represent the authentic Achilles' heel of the continent. Italy precedes Greece but sails behind Spain and Portugal, demonstrating that the road ahead in terms of innovation is still extremely long.
