Do we really need regional innovation agencies? Some insights from the experience of an Italian region

Increasing globalization, if properly exploited, can provide interesting opportunities for regional economies. Nevertheless, when they are not managed with a far-sighted approach, regions, and particularly those at an intermediate level of development, can lose their comparative advantages compared to regions of developing countries. Innovation is the main instrument for improving and ensuring competitiveness to enterprises and growth opportunities to local economies. The aim of this paper is to discuss the importance of public policies in reinforcing regional innovation systems, and the role of regional innovation agencies. With this in mind, we describe the policies implemented by the Regional Agency for Technology and Innovation (ARTI) of Apulia, a region in Southern Italy. We also provide the first assessment of ARTI’s activities and provide some suggestions on how to improve regional R&D policies.public policy; innovation; regional innovation system; regional competitiveness

Public expenditure in time of crisis: are Italian policymakers choosing the right mix?

In the ‘austerity debate’ a crucial issue is the composition of fiscal adjustment. This article provides empirical evidence on the relationship between economic crisis episodes and composition of public expenditure by examining the impact of economic crises on the share of different types of public spending in total public expenditure in the Italian regions. Our results suggest that fiscal consolidation strategies have not had growth-friendly expenditure composition. The crisis aggravated budgetary trade-offs by reducing the share of discretionary spending such as public investments

The short and the long run relationship between fiscal decentralization and public expenditure composition in Italy

This article is an original contribution to the understanding of the relationship between fiscal decentralization and public expenditure composition. Relying on recent panel cointegration techniques, our findings show that the level of decentralization influences the expenditure composition of the Italian regional administrations in the long run

Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale e Valutazione della Qualità della Ricerca. Un confronto a livello territoriale

In December 2010, a comprehensive reform (Law 240/2010, or 'Gelmini reform') changed the institutional governance and internal organization of Italian universities. Among the major changes introduced by the reform there are a new university research evaluation assessment, the so-called Valutazione della Qualità della Ricerca, and a new recruitment process for professor positions, the so-called Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale. This paper analyses the results of the research evaluation assessment for the period 2004- 2010 and of the first two rounds of the habilitation procedure in a comparative perspective. We want to analyse whether the universities localised in the different areas of the country (North, Centre, and South) show different performance in the two procedures

Importance of Baseline Prognostic Factors With Increasing Time Since Initiation of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy: Collaborative Analysis of Cohorts of HIV-1-Infected Patients

Background: The extent to which the prognosis for AIDS and death of patients initiating highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) continues to be affected by their characteristics at the time of initiation (baseline) is unclear. Methods: We analyzed data on 20,379 treatment-naive HIV-1- infected adults who started HAART in 1 of 12 cohort studies in Europe and North America (61,798 person-years of follow-up, 1844 AIDS events, and 1005 deaths). Results: Although baseline CD4 cell count became less prognostic with time, individuals with a baseline CD4 count 350 cells/μL (hazard ratio for AIDS = 2.3, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.0 to 2.3; mortality hazard ratio = 2.5, 95% CI: 1.2 to 5.5, 4 to 6 years after starting HAART). Rates of AIDS were persistently higher in individuals who had experienced an AIDS event before starting HAART. Individuals with presumed transmission by means of injection drug use experienced substantially higher rates of AIDS and death than other individuals throughout follow-up (AIDS hazard ratio = 1.6, 95% CI: 0.8 to 3.0; mortality hazard ratio = 3.5, 95% CI: 2.2 to 5.5, 4 to 6 years after starting HAART). Conclusions: Compared with other patient groups, injection drug users and patients with advanced immunodeficiency at baseline experience substantially increased rates of AIDS and death up to 6 years after starting HAART