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RESEARCH. ITALIAN SCIENTISTS HIGHLY VALUED BUT ONLY ABROAD |
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The central institute for statistics of Italy, ISTAT, in December 2011 recorded that in 2009 the overall spending of the country in research was only 1.26% of the GDP— roughly half of which from public money. This is much less than the average percentage in R&Dspent by the other European partners and this amount has since been subjected to further reduction. In addition, if the overall goal of the EU is for countries to spend at least 3% of their GDP on R&D by the horizon of 2020, Italy’s target remains 1.53%, as for Bulgaria and Latvia. By comparison, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Spain, France and Portugal aim at 3.00%, Austria at 3.76% while Sweden and Finland at 4%. The general average in scientific literacy itself is quite unsatisfactory. But a disaggregated analysis shows an additional strong cause for concern since only the North of Italy is at the European level or above, whereas the other regions are behind. Despite all of these considerations, the fact remains that Italian researchers fare very favourably on the international market. This trend, in itself, represents a positive evaluation of our research. We now need the ruling political class to realise how important research is for the welfare and the economy of our country. This notion is gaining international support and the hope is that Italy will go along following the indications that come from the most advanced sectors of society. Learning should be a must and more so in times of crisis.
(Fonte: E. Predazzi, emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics and Chairman of the Center Agorà Scienza – The University of Torino, Italy http://euroscientist.com maggio 2013)
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