Technological networks and regional competitiveness: reading elements and assessment criteria

The purpose of this work is to identify the factors and the characteristics that can make a region competitive on international level. In the second half of this century, great transformations have occurred in the economic, the social, the technological and the political field. The extent of these transformations is so great that we can say we are living a real change of age. The theoretic hypothesis from which the study started is based on the opinion that the diffusion of technological innovation mainly depends on specific regional “qualities”. These qualities represent the real innovative potentialities. Therefore, the implementation of an innovative process is mostly based on the presence of strategic activities and of physical facilities as well as on vocations and susceptibilities of the regional itself. The result of this research mainly consists in working out a methodology to identify the factors which contribute to increase the propension of an area to innovation.