Liguria is the capital of the sea: investments in research and development are higher than the national average. The territory hosts research centres of excellence and UniGe is the second Italian University as far as spin-offs are concerned .
Liguria is the first region in Italy for:
- incidence of Sea Economy enterprises
- concentration of shipbuilding companies
- handling of containers
- pleasure crafts registered in the maritime offices and by number of berths
- cruise passengers
- amount of bandiere blu (blue flags)
- percentage of graduates in relation to the population
- ICT patents.
Moreover, Liguria is:
- leader in the field of maritime cargo insurance companies
- venue for events of international importance, such as the International Boat Show, Genoa Shipping Week, the Blue Economy Summit and the Festival del Mare
- second Italian region for kms of protected coastline
- third region for employees in high-tech sectors.