(AGI) Treia (Macerata), June 26 - Brand Italy is still strongworldwide, being synonymous with creativity, quality andbeauty, and recording a 22 percent increase in Google searchesover the last three years. This is reported in "Italy -Geographies of the new 'Made in Italy'" from the SymbolaFoundation, Unioncamere chambers of commerce and the EdisonFoundation. The report was presented on Friday in Treia(Macerata) in the opening session of the 13th summer seminarand is sponsored by the ministries of Foreign Affairs,Agriculture, Culture and Environment as well as Milan Expo2015. It looks at Italy's many talents, highlighting the Italythat is innovative, versatile, creative, responsive,competitive and successful, especially on global markets.Despite seven years of crisis there is a lot to talk about,with almost a thousand products and a record trade surplus.This substantial result has been achieved due to a strongemphasis on quality. And in line with Italy's strong tradesurplus, the country is one of five with a manufacturingsurplus of over 100 billion dollars. The others are the greatindustrial powers of China, Germany, Japan and Korea. It is nocoincidence that since the introduction of the euro Italy hasseen the average unit values of its products rise by 39percent, outstripping Great Britain's 36 percent and Germany's23. Moreover, a recent IPSOS survey shows that about 80 percentof Americans and Chinese recognise the great value of Italianproducts. Both at home and abroad Brand Italy is synonymouswith fashion, crafts, furniture, design and food, and above allbeauty and quality. Two out of three Italians are willing topay a premium for products that are wholly made in Italy - atrend reflected in global markets, especially in countries likeJapan, the United Arab Emirates, the U.S., Russia and Brazil.This report, without hiding the problems of the domesticmarket, measures the competitiveness of the production systemnot against "traditional" parameters such as market share ofworld exports, but with a new indicator that quickly picks upand accurately reads movements in the trade balance forindividual products.. .