Lo sviluppo scientifico italiano nell'ultimo sessantennio: due modelli a confronto

Research and innovation in Italy in the past sixty years: a comparison between two models
This paper starts from the observation that the origin of Italian economic structural problems go back to the 1960’s when the favourable conditions which allowed the so called «Italian miracle», first of all that of being a latecomer, faded away. To face the challenge of being a modern industrial economy, Italy needed an effective and integrated research system that, actually, was never established. The paper reconstructs the main episodes in the disappointing history of Italian research and innovation and points to the responsibilities both of entrepreneurs and government as well as of some structural factors that shaped their choices and behaviour.