REGIONAL INNOVATION SYSTEMS OR INNOVATIVE REGIONS? EVIDENCE FROM ITALY

The literature on regional innovation systems (RIS) has focused so far just on a few exemplary cases of regions where innovation resulted from systemic interactions between firms and institutions. This paper aims at evaluating quantitatively which regions can be considered RIS using Community Innovation Survey data on Italy. The analysis reveals a new geography of innovation in the country as compared to results emerging from studies on the 1990s, suggesting a high dynamism in innovation capabilities of Italian regions. Four clusters of regions are identified, but none of them can be described as a true RIS: the most innovative ones lack 'systemicness' and those that come closest to the RIS model have not the best innovative performance.