Abstract

This report examines a new representative dataset on the adoption of 4IR digital technologies in Italy between 2016 and 2018. It provides new evidence on the heterogeneity in adoption rates across economic sectors (at the Ateco 2-digit level) and provinces (at the NUTS-2 level). Beside constructing new maps of the diffusion of robotics and other 4IR technologies across the Italian provinces, this work solves in an innovative way a series of entropy maximisation problems to generate estimates of the distribution of technology adoption rates at the 2-digit sector and province level in Italy. The analysis reveals the relevance of the sectoral dimension of heterogeneity in technology adoption, a feature that is not always adequately accounted for in regional studies using aggregated provincial data.
JEL Classification Codes: D22, J23, J24, M51, M53, O33.

*This publication is financed by the European Union - Next Generation EU - Mission 4 Component 2, as part of the call PRIN 2022, project ‘The geography and economics of new technological transformationsrelated jobs in Italy’ (2022EE33TA) - CUP E53D23010150006.