Superare l’immobilismo: alla ricerca dell’innovazione nelle politiche di LTC

Available analyses agree on the opportunity to follow some clear lines of innovation to address growing functional pressures exerted by demographic transformations on welfare systems’ sustainability. In spite of that, a sort of paralysis characterize Italian national policies for the elderly, based on the ongoing centrality of the family and direct cash transfers. At the subnational level, however, some innovations can be singled out. This article presents, on the one hand, some innovative projects developed in Lombardy since 2015. On the other hand, based on the evidence emerged from two focus groups among experts organized within the InnovaCAre research project, it explores some possible factors hindering or facilitating the innovation itself. The analysis highlights three sets of conditions – policy-making style, political and instrumental resources available to the actors – likely to expand or reduce the room for innovating LTC policies at the subnational level.