Innovation is one of the key elements for the economic, cultural and social growth of each country. Creating new technologies, new services, new paths of producing and doing business are ways of generating value for the enterprises involved in the innovation process. Furthermore, it attracts talents and creates room for the most creative and capable individuals, hence contributing to build a model of inclusive and sustainable growth.

Fostering, stimulating and supporting innovation is, then, an essential objcetive, especially in a time in which growth seems to be needed.

Especially Italy, now, has yearning for innovation. As highlighted in the report “Idee per la Crescita” of April 23: “Since Italy is a rich country, it has already exploited the growth opportunities that his technologies and past social organization offered. It cannot grow anymore by imitating. Moreover, the massive stock of public debt does not allow Italy to rely on public expenditures, which instead will have to decline in order to reduce the fiscal burden on families and companies. Innovation-led growth is the only viable alternative for Italy, and it comes from the production of ideas and their transformation into companies”.

Innovation has a spill-over effect on the society. It becomes a source of competitive advantage for companies, it creates new jobs and sustains public finance. This is the reason why Action Institute considers innovation as a priority, that must be at the core of the public debate. It must be considered in all of its forms, as a tool to rethink the Italian industrial environment, as the engine of a sustainable growth and as a factor to foster social mobility.

Our Task Force has the goal of elaborating proposals that can help creating the best ecosystem for innovation in our country, following four tracks:

1. Identifying mechanisms able to promote and protect the Entrepreneurship, the R&D, the diffusion of patents and the flow of knowledge. In this way, new enterprises play the key role to foster the regeneration of the productive fabric, by means of creating job opportunities and allowing the brightest researchers to transfer their know-how to marketable products and process innovations. The existence of a regulatory environment that fosters the creation and the development of new enterprises is also essential to reactivate the productive development, hence launching the country towards new economic growth.

2. Acknowledging that the R&D activity is a priority for Italian enterprises, even for the small ones and for those linked to the most traditional sectors of the Made in Italy. Taking this into account, we believe that mechanisms of “combinatory” innovation, which act across the products and the industries in which Italian entrepreneurs stand out, should be supported. With this aim, we are favourable to strengthen the links between universities, research centres/institutions and companies, even through the creation of technology transfer platforms.

3. Creating and developing a Capital Market that is able to support innovation during the start-up and chain-mechanisms that support them in their growth and in the process of acquisition / sale of innovation to more mature companies.

4. Promoting a solid culture for innovation in the Country and a shift in the mind-set, to be grounded on the assumption that the technology is not a cost but rather an enabler to create more added value and new jobs. We want to spread the awareness that the so-called value-added is the actual space where we will compete globally in the next years. In this sense, a primary challenge is to promote a sound culture for innovation within the Public Administration and it could become an exceptional opportunity and stimulus for the whole country.