Research, in 2023 increases in the EU (+6.7 per cent) but not in Italy

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Italy, which ranks very low in terms of national research spending, does not respond to the EU’s call for innovation to become more competitive. In 2023, Eurostat notes, the government allocated 1.31 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to research, placing the country 18th out of 27 in terms of spending rate. An effort practically similar to that of a decade ago, the European Statistics Institute notes again: in 2013, Italy invested 1.29 per cent of its GDP in the sector.

On the contrary, at the EU level, over a decade, the policy has been one of increase (from 2.08 per cent to 2.22 per cent), and the 2023 figure also confirms an established trend. In the year under review, the EU spent €381.4 billion on research and development, 6.7 per cent more than the previous year (€357.4 billion). Italy remains practically at a standstill.

Compared with the major eurozone economies, Italy is not keeping pace. At the end of 2023, Germany invested 3.11 per cent of its GDP in research, France 2.19 per cent, and Spain 1.49 per cent. Major competitors are investing more to be more innovative and competitive, and Italy faces the risk of widening the economic gap with its partners, including the risk felt within the Italian government of an overtaking by Spain.

The EU invests little, and Italy invests even less; the push for research and development comes from the secondary sector. The European Statistical Institute notes how “​the business enterprise sector continued to account for the largest share of spending.” In 2023, it accounted for 66 per cent of research and development spending in the entire European Union, totalling €253.1 billion. It is followed by the university sector (€81.7 billion, or 21 per cent of the total), only then by the public sector, i.e. governments (€41 billion, or 11 per cent). Added to this is the contribution from the non-profit private sector (€5.5 billion, 1 per cent).