Tracing Inventions and Inventors in Italy (1861–1938): Evidence from a New Patent Dataset, Historical Italian Patents (HIP)

Abstract This article introduces a new large-scale historical database, Historical Italian Patents (HIP), containing all 270,000 patents registered in Italy from the political unification (1861) to 1938. Drawing on this database, we provide a reappraisal of the sources and structure of inventive activities, considering both domestic and foreign inventions and inventors. The major findings of the article are as follows: (i) foreign patentees registered more patents and of higher quality than domestic patentees, highlighting the technological dependence of the Italian economy; (ii) France and Germany were the most prominent countries active in the Italian patent system: French were initially the leaders, but they were overtaken by Germans during the 1890s; (iii) within Italy, since the unification, there was a significant North-South divide in patenting activities; (iv) although patenting was concentrated in the traditional “Industrial Triangle” (Genova, Milano, and Torino) and in major urban centers such as Roma and Napoli, significant clusters of innovation also emerged in Tuscany and Emilia; and (v) we find that patenting activities were dominated by independent inventors rather than firms, even after the onset and consolidation of the Second Industrial Revolution. We interpret these results against the background of the historiography on Italian industrialization, concluding that, notwithstanding this expansion and growth of patenting activities, the development of Italian technological capabilities remained limited, especially in high-tech sectors.