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Nowadays innovation is a central driver of economic growth and productivity. The capacity to innovate is a strategic tool for those firms that want to maintain their competitive position in the global market (De Jong et al., 2004; Laforet and Tann 2006). This is especially true for the agrifood sector that is the largest manufacturing sector within the EU and is one of the main drivers of the EU economy, contributing to both economic output and employment (Avermaete, 2002; Menrad, 2004). Nevertheless, the agrifood sector has traditionally been viewed as a low-tech sector with slow rates of innovation respect to other sectors (Grunert et al., 1997; Garcia-Martinez et al., 2000, Dalla Corte et al., 2015; Bentivoglio et al., 2016). When defining innovation in the agro-food domain different dimensions should be dealt with as new feeding systems, new types of packaging, new types of conservation, new additives, new consumer products introduced continuously on the market and food chain management (Nielsen, 2008; Christensen et al., 2008). In this context, Horizon 2020 and new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2014-2020 (Reg. EU 1305/2013; art. 53. 55, 56, 57) emphasize the role of innovation. In details, the new Rural Development Policy introduced some new instruments as the European Innovation Partnership (EIP), the Operational Groups (OGs) and different technological clusters to encourage and transfer the innovation over the coming decade. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, it aims to identify the role of a Regional Cluster in spreading innovation in the associated firms. Second, this study seeks to identify determinants of innovation by analysing a sample of agrifood SMEs associated in Cluster Agrifood Marche. To obtain the necessary information for this study, a web questionnaire was developed and send by mail to Cluster Agrifood Marche members. In addition, a liner regression model is used to analize the determinants of innovation. This study highlights that Small Size Agrifood Firms can not individually achieve innovation. Small farms show a strong interest in innovation, but they stress that it is a difficult task due to some constraints. Therefore, Cluster are seen as successful way to develop new innovation strategies and to increase the competitiveness. Moreover, the results suggest that innovation is not a random process. The propensity for innovation depends both on each firm characteristics and on several variables.

Extra virgin olive oil is one of the most important product of the Italian agri-food sector. Starting from this point of view, the present analysis enhances Italy’s effort to create quality food products with higher added value and valorise the local extra virgin olive oil for the domestic and global market. This paper aims to estimate consumers’ willingness to pay (wtp) for extra virgin olive oil available in the Italian local market (Marche region) with a view to providing some useful insights to outline strategies for promotion of olive oil production. The notion of willingness to pay could be defined as the amount of money represented by the difference between consumers’ surplus before and after adding or improving a given food product attribute. The consumer might be willing to pay more for higher quality, thus compensating for the higher production costs, if the differences in the quality were efficiently communicated to the consumers. The method used in this study is the contingent valuation method that requires a survey in which the consumers are asked how much they would be willing to pay for a higher quality product. The data derives from a survey conducted in Marche region’s supermarkets. The questionnaire contained 4 sections: consumption habits and quality perceptions (section 1), consumers’ opinion (section 2), elicitation willingness to pay (section 3) and socio-economic characteristics (section 4). The elicitation format adapted is a dichotomic choice - double bounded. The empirical results reveal that the consumers are willing to pay a premium for the local extra virgin olive oil certified by the public administration (qm-Quality Marche). The consumers consider the local product as an additional assurance concerning food safety and quality. The paper is divided into six sections. After the introductory section, in the section 1 we discuss the conceptual framework of contingent evaluation. Section 2 and 3 present the methodology in terms of survey design and the model’s specifi- cation. The results of the study are shown and discussed in Section 4. The last section provides the summary and conclusion of the study

International trade of Italian Olive Oil: a perspective analysis - The paper analyses the dynamics of the Italian olive oil trade and gives a preliminary explanation of the opportunity in the international market. The paper starts showing the description of olive oil chain and production and underlining the main factors affecting the import export system. The aim of this work is to explain the magnitude of the trade flows for olive oil from Italy to its main importing countries. This objective has been reached by establishing an appropriate econometric model derived from an extended form of the "Gravity Model". This model has been broadly applied to the analysis of international trade because it provides robust estimates. The results obtained and the model itself are useful in forecasting potential trends in the exportation of high quality Italian olive oil. JEL Codes: Q13, Q17, C20 Key words: Italian Olive Oil, Food-Trade, Gravity Models, Export Analysis