Data on R&D

5th Italian Region for Expenditure in R&D

6th Italian Region for employees in R&D

Employees in R&D (over 10,000): 6.4% of the national total

Expenditure in R&D: 6.7% of the national total

545 research projects financed in 2003.

Various different actors are involved in research activities in Tuscany. The research capacity of Tuscany is mainly due to the presence of 3 University areas (5 University campuses) and to R&D centers.

Over 11,000 professors and staff employed in research. There are 240 public and private research centers, over 90 centers of service and technological transfer and 5 European centers of excellence.

The public sector (Universities and Public Administration) is the main investor (more than 67%). In 2003, just as in 2002, more than 53% of expenditure in R&D was incurred by Tuscan universities, where 52% of Tuscan researchers are (9.1% of researchers in Italian Universities).

Source: Istat.

In order to improve the private involvement in R&D, the regional government has recently committed itself to the implementation of a strategy based on technological transfer, towards the creation of innovative networks and the development of actions of private equity and innovative finance.

Top 10 Italian Regions per Expenditure in R&D (2003)

Source: Istat.


The positive result of the Technology Balance (95 million € in 2004, and 85.2 million € in 2005), confirms Tuscany's capacity in R&D also in comparison with the other main Italian Regions where the balance was negative, except for the Piedmont region (Source: Italy's National Exchange Office).

Source UIC - Italy's National Exchange Office

The study carried out by Confindustria (Association of Italian Manufacturers) in collaboration with MIUR (Ministry of Education, Universities and Research) and CILEA (Inter-University Consortium of Lombardy for Automatic Data Processing)," is a map of scientific-technological competencies" analyzing 5,169 research projects, submitted between 1998 and 2002 by companies from all over Italy benefiting from the main concessional funds granted at the national and European levels. It puts Tuscany in fourth place for number of projects and among the Regions with the highest concentration of research activities in biotechnology.