Innovation and growth - Evidences from italian regional systems

The role of innovation for global competition as well as its influence upon economic growth have gradually increased the interest for this subject, both from an economic and from a political point of view. Basing on the existing literature, this paper aims at measuring and describing the innovative capability of italian regional systems, so as to improve the comprehension of this phenomenon as well as of its effects. Plenty of input, output and context conditions are considered, since the systemic nature of innovation requires a simultaneous analysis of all possible variables, actors and relationships involved. Eighty indicators are selected and used to create syntetic measures about innovation and regional economic development. Best solutions are pointed out, paying attention to their score, internal composition and sustainability. Not only the intensity but also the nature of the relationship between innovation input and output and between innovation and economic growth is studied by means of independence, cograduation and interdependence indicators, as well as through the application of regression models.