Sviluppo, competitività e innovazione nell’UE a 28. Un’analisi a scala regionale.

There seems to be a general consensus in literature in identifying science, technology and innovation as the driving forces of economic growth in the long run. In this perspective, the differences in development of countries and regions depend also and above all by differences in terms of knowled- ge, productivity and technology in the various territories. This means that competitiveness and innovation are determined pri- marily at regional and local level. For this reason too, the political de- centralization processes for innovation and their governance have led to a widespread increase in the powers and responsibilities of the re- gions in this specific area. In this framework the paper, after a brief review of the literature, analyzes the dynamics of economic development, competitiveness and innovation at the regions NUTS II scale allowing to grasp the connections between the different variables.