Abstract

This paper deals with the issue of statistical information available for evaluating service business sector and innovation; these data are often inadequate to analyse the structure and the dynamics of these two key factors of economic growth. On the basis of the available data sets, it focuses on the main differences in the supply of services and innovative capacity between Italy and its main competitors, within and outside EU, underlying how this structural gap is becoming a strong obstacle for the productivity increase of local enterprises and, consequently, for the economic growth of the system as a whole. It also offers some considerations on the weakness of the statistical definitions in use of the aggregates investigated in order to point out the limits of representativeness of current classifications.