Geography of science: Competitiveness and inequality

Aurelio Patelli, Lorenzo Napolitano, Giulio Cimini, Andrea Gabrielli

Abstract: Highlights•We analyse the dynamics of regional Scientific Fitness and R&D expenditure•The Fitness of developing nations is quickly catching up with advanced economies•Scientific Fitness allows comparing regional competitiveness across research sectors•Most nations display considerable inequality in the Scientific Fitness across regions•Chinese regions converging at an impressive rate with the most developed regions