Geography and demography
Tuscany is located in the centre of Italy. It covers an area of approximately of 23,000 square kilometers (7,6% of national territory) with a population slightly over 3.5 millions (6,2% of italian population) and a density of 155 inhabitants per km² (lower than the italian average 189/km²). This datum is the result of the combination between high-density zones (especially the Florentine metropolitan area) and lowly inhabited wide zones (southern Tuscany). It ranges from the 87 inh/km² of the mountainous zones (25,1% of the total surface) to the 152 inh/km² of the hilly zones (66,5%), up to the 361 inh/km² of the flat zones of the Region (8,4%).

Economy
Tuscany’s economic system features a large number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). 35.2% of Tuscany labour forces is provided by fi rms with less than 10 employees, 39.3% in enterprises with more than 10 but less than 50 employees, and only 25.5% in those with more than 50 workers. Therefore, SMEs in Tuscany refers to very small firms whose number is basically higher than in similar regional economic systems. The low structural dimension of firms reflects on the composition of productive sectors. Almost 32.3% of employees is in the manifacturing sector (as against almost 28% in the UE25 european average). About 14% of total workers are employed in the Textile, Clothing and Footwear sector, while workers employed in Investment Goods sectors are only 12%. However, SMEs in Tuscany are present in almost all sectors including such industrial sectors as Mechanics and Electronics. it is to be recalled, anyway, that SMEs are mostly integrating with each other, and in many cases they form proper clusters or industrial districts. Tuscany’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 88,204 million euro (2005) corresponds to 6.8% of the Italian total, with a somewhat slow growth rate of 1.1%. The region’s foreign export amounts to about 8.5 % of the national total; the 47% is directed towards other European countries and 14% towards north America. Tuscany foreign export mainly deals with fashion related products, (amounting to 40% of the total export) and mechanics. The region per capita GDP in relation to the European Union (EU-25) average (100) is 116.7.

Labour market
The average employment rate in 2005 was 63.7%, corresponding to 1,5 millions employees. Regarding employment distribution between sectors: 64% of the workforce are employed in services, 32,3% in industry and 3,68% in agriculture. The figures reveal that Tuscany is one of the most manufacturing-dependent regions in Europe. The gender divide in employment rates is notably high. In 2005 the employment rate for men stood at 73,5% while for women it reached only 54,1%. In 2005 unemployment in Tuscany reached low levels, to 5,3%, as against an Italian national average of 7,7%.

Research and development
In 2003 Tuscany invested approximately 1 billion euro in Research and Development, accounting for 1.14% of the regional GDP (EU25: 1,9%). Several actors are involved in research in Tuscany. Five Universities located in three cities (Firenze, Pisa, Siena) boast over 100,000 students a year in 37 faculties - with over 11,000 professors and staff employed in research. There are 240 public and private research centres, over 90 service and technological transfer centres in the technological and productive sectors and 5 European centres of excellence (CEO - Centre of Excellence in Optronics, CERM - Magnetic Resonance Centre, LENS - European Laboratory for non-Linear Spectroscopy, Department of Molecular Biology and the Institute of Clinical Physiology). The most outstanding feature for Tuscany is the high rate of public investment - around 70% of the total amount - as against the low level of private investment - around 30%. Difficulties and weaknesses due to the small dimension are associated with limited growth and diffusion of technologies with credit eligibility, as well as with limited scale and net economies.