Good practice:

Apulian Innovation Overview

Apulian Innovation Overview is a web-based informative tool aimed at the systematic valorisation of the information resulting from the institutional activity of survey, monitoring, elaboration and analysis of the Regional Innovative System carried out by the Regional Agency for Technology and Innovation (ARTI) and support policy makers decision process..
It has a flexible structure: it is both dynamic, since it is continuously updated, and integrated, since it allows over time to add further indicators elaborated on information taken from different sources belonging to other sectors of the regional administration.
For its implementation, an initial step-by-step approach was adopted. The tool can be accessed through institutional Agency portal via various navigation modes (selecting an area of interest; scrolling the full list of indicators; navigation for experienced users) and leads to pages dedicated to individual indicators, including detailed descriptions; comparative tables with time and other territorial breakdowns (usually, Italy and South of Italy); possible other disaggregation (by type, sector, etc.); direct connection to the data source; graph and other functionalities, including references to other information resources on the portal (thematic in-depth analysis, statistical information column).
The main beneficiaries are: policy-makers; researchers and entrepreneurs; civil society; subjects to be attracted to the region (researchers, investors).

Up to now, AIO has been financed by ordinary resources allocated to the Agency by the regional administration.
Currently, AIO requires three main human resources: n. 1 project coordinator (economist); n. 1 IT technical specialist; n. 1 statistician for data elaboration and uploading.

The tool is consulted and used for a rapid response to information needs expressed by the regional offices (at least 5 requests/month) and for the preparation of context analyses necessary for regional programming (S3 Strategy, INTERREG Italy-Albania-Montenegro 2021-2027, etc.).
Only in the last year, the tool received almost 6,000 unique pageviews, with an average time on page of almost 2 minutes and a rather low bounce rate (44.5%).

The provision of systematic and reliable information is necessary in all the phases of the policy cycle: not only in the preparatory and implementation phases, but also in a later stage for accountability issues, as it improves the democratic control of policy makers by citizens.
AIO allows in a user-friendly way to analyse the degree and dynamics of specialization of the Apulian production and research system, with particular regard to phenomena that affect innovation and competitive advantages, in order to redefine and implement the new regional interventions inspired by the principles of the S3 Strategy.
The tool is especially addressed to policy makers and practitioners that can find it as a good practice on which to graft a useful comparison. This is especially true for public decision-making processes at sub-national level, which often lack those bodies, governmental and non-governmental, responsible for providing updated information and structured analysis.