The Statistical Measurement of Intangible Assets. Methodological Implications of the Results of the ISFOL 2011 Pilot Survey

This paper addresses some measurement issues concerning intangible assets (IA) by stemming from a recent pilot survey carried out on a sample of Italian firms. The survey has been sponsored by Isfol, the Italian Institute for the Development of Vocational Training for Workers (a public research body), with the technical co-operation of Istat, the Italian National Institute of Statistics. The aim of the paper is twofold: presenting the results of the pilot survey (although not being the realised sample representative of the population of Italian enterprises) and discussing some guidelines for future “intangible assets” surveys to be undertaken in the EU or OECD context. With a broader perspective, the proposal for a standard survey on the “Intangible Assets” in enterprises will be discussed by considering potential synergies, as well as infrastructural barriers, associated with the inclusion of an IA survey in the framework of official business statistics.