Descrizione 1
Nicolò G. Tria
After the decline recorded between 2019 and 2020, due to the contraction in economic activity caused by the pandemic, in 2021 intramural Research & Development (R&D) spending by industrial enterprises began to grow again, rising from €10.7 to €11.1 billion (+3.3%), although it did not return to pre-pandemic levels. Nearly all of the expenditure (98.2%) is borne by manufacturing companies. Looking at the ten-year trend from 2012 to 2021, total spending increased by 32.5%. The share of business R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP stood at 0.86% in 2021 and 0.78% in 2022 (provisional data). Among European industrialized countries, Italy is the one whose companies spend the least on R&D in proportion to GDP, remaining below the euro area average (1.5%). However, between 2012 and 2021, Italian companies increased their R&D spending relative to GDP by 26.5%. The main source of funding is the companies themselves.
The indicator reports the value of intramural expenditures incurred by industrial enterprises (industry in the strict sense) for Research & Development (R&D) activities, which include basic research, applied research, and experimental development. Research and development (R&D) is defined as the set of creative work undertaken systematically to increase the stock of knowledge (including knowledge of humanity, culture, and society) and to use this knowledge for new applications. Intramural expenditures refer to the costs incurred for R&D activities carried out by enterprises using their own personnel and equipment (external projects are excluded). Intramural R&D spending includes both current expenditures (personnel costs + purchases of goods and services) and capital expenditures.
The expenditures incurred by industrial enterprises for Research & Development represent a source of information for assessing their capacity for technological advancement and competitive innovation.
The collection of data on research and development (R&D) expenditure is mandatory for European Union Member States under Regulation (EU) No. 995/2012. At the European level, the indicator measuring R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP was included in the Europe 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth. In line with the overall objective of Europe 2020, Italy set a national target of allocating 1.53% of GDP to R&D—an effort involving all economic actors, both public and private. In 2021, the long-standing EU target of investing 3% of the EU's GDP in R&D was reaffirmed, although its achievement was postponed to 2030. This target is part of the new European Research Area (ERA), of which the “Pact for Research and Innovation” is one of the key pillars. Furthermore, the indicator is part of the core set used to monitor progress toward SDG 9 of the 2030 Agenda, which focuses on building resilient infrastructure, promoting innovation, and fostering inclusive, responsible, and sustainable industrialization. R&D spending by businesses contributes to achieving both national and EU-wide goals.
Descrizione 2
ISTAT. Statistical Survey on Research and Development in Enterprises. Available at: https://siqual.istat.it/SIQual/visualizza.do?id=5000075
ISTAT. Statistical Reports, various years, “Research and Development in Italy”
Eurostat. Statistics Explained, various years, “Expenditure on Environmental Protection”
OECD. (2002, first edition 1964). Frascati Manual: Proposed Standard Practice for Surveys on Research and Experimental Development
La spesa in R&S non è necessariamente correlata positivamente al miglioramento delle prestazioni ambientali dell’imprese: essa è riferita a diverse discipline tecnico-scientifiche che possono avere un impatto positivo, neutro o negativo e che può in ogni caso prodursi anche nel lungo periodo. L’indicatore è stato classificato come di “Risposta” secondo il modello DPSIR, ma ciò è da intendersi solo per la parte di spesa in R&S delle imprese che ha un verificato effetto positivo in termini di protezione ambientale. Tuttavia allo stato attuale della metodologia di raccolta delle informazioni questo “di cui” è indistinguibile dall’aggregato. Nel suo complesso l’indicatore va interpretato come puramente contestuale.
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Qualificazione dati
ISTAT Official Database
Data source: https://dati.istat.it
Path: Enterprises / Research and Development / Expenditure
Eurostat Data Browser
Data source: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser
Path: Science, technology, digital society / Science and technology / Research and development (R&D) / Research and development expenditure, by sectors of performance
National
2012-2021; forecasts for 2022-2023
Qualificazione indicatore
The underlying data used for the construction of tables and charts are derived from the official statistics of ISTAT and Eurostat and are presented as-is or with minimal revisions, such as the calculation of percentage changes.
In 2021, intramural expenditure on research and development (R&D) by the industrial sector amounted to €11.1 billion, an increase of 3.3% compared to 2020. Manufacturing activities accounted for 98.2% of the industrial sector's spending, while 1.8% came from extractive activities, the supply of electricity, gas, and water, and waste treatment and disposal (Table 1). The primary source of funding for R&D expenditure by enterprises (all sectors) remains the enterprises themselves (domiciled in the national territory), accounting for 90.6% of the total. The "rest of the world" (non-resident entities) contributes 6.3%. The remaining portion is distributed among "public institutions," "universities," and "non-profit private institutions" (Table 2). When relating expenditure to GDP, in 2021 (0.86%), it remained below that of the two other major European industrial countries, France (1.46%) and Germany (2.09%), as well as below the average of the Euro area (1.52%) (Table 4). The estimated and provisional data for 2022 confirm this gap.
Between 2012 and 2021, intramural R&D expenditure by industrial enterprises increased by 32.5%, rising from €8.3 billion to €11.1 billion. Although expenditure in the extractive activities, electricity, gas, and water supply, and waste treatment and disposal sector remains a minority share, it more than doubled over the decade (+115.3%). Manufacturing activities as a whole saw a trend change of +31.6%. All industrial sectors experienced a contraction in R&D spending in 2020 due to the pandemic crisis, and despite the rapid recovery, the 2021 level remained slightly below the peak reached in 2019 (Table 1 and Figure 1). Expenditure as a percentage of GDP shows a slight but steady upward trend between 2012 and 2020, rising from 0.68% to 0.93%, before decreasing to 0.78% in 2022, returning to the 2015 level. The trend remains consistently below that of the major European industrialized countries (1.23 percentage points less than Germany) and the average of the Euro area (0.62 percentage points less) (Table 4 and Figure 2).
Dati
Table 1: In-house Research & Development Expenditure by Enterprises in the Manufacturing Industry (2012–2021)
ISPRA elaboration on ISTAT data
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Table 2: R&D Expenditure of the Manufacturing Industry by Source of Funding (2012–2021)
| ISPRA elaboration based on ISTAT data |
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Table 3: In-house R&D expenditure of industrial enterprises by economic activity sector (2012-2021)
| ISPRA elaborations based on ISTAT data |
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Table 4: R&D expenditure of enterprises as a percentage of GDP, major industrialized countries and European geopolitical aggregates (2011-2022)
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Table 5: In-house R&D expenditure by institutional sector (2012-2021; forecasts for 2022-2023)
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Figure 1: In-house R&D expenditure of enterprises in the narrow sense of industry (2012-2021)
| ISPRA elaboration based on ISTAT data |
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Figure 2: In-house R&D expenditure of industrial enterprises by economic activity sector (2012-2021)
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Figure 3: R&D expenditure of enterprises as a percentage of GDP, major industrialized countries and European geopolitical aggregates (2011-2022).
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Focusing on the industrial sectors conventionally considered to have the most significant environmental impact, it can be observed (Table 3 and Figure 3) that the chemical products industry spends the most in absolute terms on R&D (€512.0 million in 2021, +5.3% compared to the previous year and a 44.8% trend increase over ten years); followed by the metal products industry, excluding machinery and equipment (€364.7 million in 2021, -2.4% compared to the previous year and a 31.2% trend increase over ten years). Next is the non-metallic mineral products industry (€138.0 million in 2021, +1.6% compared to the previous year and a 43.3% trend increase over ten years); the metallurgy products industry (€93.8 million in 2021, +8.3% compared to the previous year, with a counter-trend compared to other industries, -6.7% over ten years); and finally, the paper and paper products industry (€66.9 million in 2021, -11.5% compared to the previous year, but with a 57.7% increase in the 2012-2021 period). The extraction of minerals from quarries and mines seems to have been severely affected by the pandemic shock of 2020: R&D expenditure dropped from €76.0 million in 2019 to €7.7 million in 2020, before recovering to €70.6 million in 2021.