1. The Ghost in the Attic ? The Italian National Innovation System in Historical Perspective
Alessandro Nuvolari | Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa
Michelangelo Vasta | University of Siena
SAPIENZA UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA
25-26 NOVEMBRE 2016
CONVEGNO SCIENTIFICO
LA SOCIETÀ ITALIANA E LE GRANDI CRISI ECONOMICHE

2. Italy’s economic decline Our Interpretation:
25-26 NOVEMBRE 2016 | SAPIENZA UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA
The Ghost in the Attic ? The Italian National Innovation System in Historical Perspective
Italy’s economic
decline
Our Interpretation:
It is a long-term productivity crisis with deep historical roots
The «original sin» is a development model based on limited investments in science and technology and on the intensive use of unskilled labour
This development model is not feasible in the new globalization wave
Source: Felice and Vecchi (2015)

3. National Innovation Systems: pre-history
25-26 NOVEMBRE 2016 | SAPIENZA UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA
The Ghost in the Attic ? The Italian National Innovation Systems in Historical Perspective
National Innovation Systems: pre-history
Role of “systemic interactions” among various actors/institutions in determining innovation performance and the wealth of nations
Alexander Hamilton (1790s): idea of “infant industries”
Friedrich List: “intellectual capital” and absorption of invention and discoveries (1841)
Alexander Gerschenkron: technology gaps and institutional substitutes (1962)

4. National Innovation Systems: current approaches
25-26 NOVEMBRE 2016 | SAPIENZA UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA
The Ghost in the Attic ? The Italian National Innovation in Historical Perspective
National Innovation Systems: current approaches
“The network of institutions in the public and private sectors whose activities and interactions initiate, import and modify and diffuse new technologies” (Freeman 1987)
Focus on: corporate R&D, scientific production, human capital, policies and coordinating role of government (developmental state)
“All parts and aspects of the economic structure and the institutional setup affecting learning as well as searching and exploring” (Lundvall 1992)
Focus on: learning processes (including importance of incremental innovation, non R&D sources of innovation and diffusion), routines, non market interactions user-producers, trust (and social capital ?)
“A set of institutions whose interactions determine the innovative performance of national firms” (Nelson 1993)
Focus on: R&D system, universities, public research organizations

5. The decline and fall of the Italian Science and Technology ? 1700-…..
25-26 NOVEMBRE 2016 | SAPIENZA UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA
The Ghost in the Attic? The Italian National Innovation System in Historical Perspective
The decline and fall of the Italian Science and Technology ? 1700-…..
Pitirim Sorokin, Social and Cultural Dynamics, 1941

6. Average years of schooling on population (15-64 years)
25-26 NOVEMBRE 2016 | SAPIENZA UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA
TITOLO INTERVENTO SOTTOTITOLO
Average years of schooling on population (15-64 years)

7. R&D expenditure on GDP (%) for benchmark years (1955-2010)
25-26 NOVEMBRE 2016 | SAPIENZA UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA
The Ghost in the Attic ? The Italian National Innovation System in Historical Perspective
R&D expenditure on GDP (%) for benchmark years ( )

8. 25-26 NOVEMBRE 2016 | SAPIENZA UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA
TITOLO INTERVENTO SOTTOTITOLO
Patents granted in the United States (%) to foreign residents ( )
Years
United Kingdom
Germany
France
Switzerland
Belgium
Sweden
Norway
Italy
Spain
Japan
Netherlands
South Korea
China
Others
Total
1883
43.2
23.3
17.8
2.2
2.0
1.2
0.4
0.3
0.2 -
9.3
100
1890
43.9
26.1
10.3
3.2
1.0
1.8
0.1
12.3
1900
34.1
34.3
10.9
2.5
1.5
0.5
0.8
12.4
1913
26.8
39.2
3.6
2.4
0.0
13.6
1927
25.8
33.1
11.4
4.5
3.3
0.7
1.7
13.9
1938
24.2
40.8
9.9
4.0
1.3
0.6
1.6
8.9
1950
40.5
17.5
11.0
7.5
1.1
9.1
1960
26.4
30.9
11.8
7.7
5.0
5.3
4.3
1970
18.1
27.3
10.6
6.8
1.4
3.9
3.5
16.1
8.1
1980
24.7
5.4
3.4
30.5
2.8
8.7
1990
18.5
7.0
3.1
1.9
47.5
2.3
7.8
2000
14.8
5.5
45.4
4.8
13.8
2010
11.6
4.2
41.9
17.4

9. 25-26 NOVEMBRE 2016 | SAPIENZA UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA
The Ghost in the Attic ? The Italian National Innovation System in Historical Perspective
Patents granted to foreign residents in the US by per millions habitants

10. Average % by countries of total publication in Scopus (1860-2011)
25-26 NOVEMBRE 2016 | SAPIENZA UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA
The Ghost in the Attic ?
The Italian National Innovation System in Historical Perspective
Average % by countries of total publication in Scopus ( )
Period
Italy
United Kingdom
France
Germany
United States
Japan
Spain
Netherlands
China
South Korea
Sweden
Others
0.6
73.6
0.9
8.8
5.7
0.1
0.0
0.2 -
10.0
1.6
46.6
1.1
22.2
9.2
0.5
0.4
0.3
18.0
0.7
11.3
34.2
27.3
1.3
1.4
22.5
2.1
9.6
12.0
49.3
4.0
1.5
18.6
8.9
5.8
8.1
35.7
7.8
2.0
0.8
1.7
23.7
4.1
7.9
5.6
7.7
28.9
8.2
3.1
2.3
9.5

11. Geographical distribution of patents:
25-26 NOVEMBRE 2016 | SAPIENZA UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA
The Ghost in the Attic ? The Italian National Innovation System in Historical Perspective
Geographical distribution of patents:

12. A contextual factor: the dynamics of real wages
25-26 NOVEMBRE 2016 | SAPIENZA UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA
The Ghost in the Attic ? The Italian National Innovation System in Historical Perspective
A contextual factor: the dynamics of real wages
Italy-UK real wages

13. 25-26 NOVEMBRE 2016 | SAPIENZA UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA
The Ghost in the Attic ? The Italian National Innovation System In Historical Perspective
Weak “ideological” drive towards industrialization (Gerschenkron): the case of science and technology
Italian marxism full of concerns for “peasants” and the “peasants question”
Italian policy makers of the liberal age have a limited understanding of critical role of science and technology:
Baccelli (ministro pubblica istruzione):
“Our universities should have all what they need, but nothing more since vexatio dat intellectum!” (1894)
Rizzetti (deputato)
“In Italy, we should work more and study less. We have first to become wealthy and powerful and later on we will become a learned and science-minded nation” (1894)
Fascists’ love with innovation is more rhetoric than real (eg, riforma Gentile emphasizes the central role of humanities)
The rhetoric of the “small is beautiful”/ “industrial districts” view of international competitiveness (cfr. E. Nesi, Storia della mia gente, 2011)

14. Conclusions 1 Main features of Italian NIS
25-26 NOVEMBRE 2016 | SAPIENZA UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA
The Ghost in the Attic ? The Italian National Innovation System in Historical Perspective
Conclusions 1
Main features of Italian NIS
Long term gap in education with sporadic attention to technical education
Limited investment in R&D (public and private)
Unsatisfactory performance in patenting activities
Innovation activities specialised in less dynamic fields
Export specialisation in less dynamic fields
Institutional setting not well designed (no tradition of research excellence, “dispersion” of resources)
Performance in terms of scientific output is “reasonable” (taking into account the limited investment)
Lack of suitable bridging institutions for ensuring an effective knowledge transfer from science to industrial applications
Early 1960s as a turning point ?

15. 25-26 NOVEMBRE 2016 | SAPIENZA UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA
The Ghost in the Attic ? The Italian National Innovation System in Historical Perspective
Conclusions 2
Italian NIS was characterized by a “ghostly” nature. Failure of Italian NIS resulted in a peculiar road towards modern economic growth based on the combination of low real wages and the intensive use of unskilled labour
The sporadic appearance of the NIS in Italy is more due to lucky accidents than to planning and design and thus fit the analogy of the ghost rather well….One may even be tempted to extend the analogy to the frail and ineffectual Canterville ghost described by Oscar Wilde.