The number of large industrial groups, essential for the spread of new technologies, is limited. The system of industrial districts, which in past decades helped to generate the synergies and efficiencies typical of large groups within clusters of small firms, now seems less able on its own to sustain a further drive to improve competitiveness.
The shortage of infrastructure and the cost of energy and services for firms are a drag at national level. Spending on research by both the public sector and the private sector is particularly low in Italy by comparison with the other advanced economies. The proportion of value added by high-technology sectors is very small. This affects Italian products’ penetration of international markets.