Entrepreneurship Education, Spin-offs Generation, Technology Transfer Implementation: Towards the 'Entrepreneurial University'. What's the Situation in Italy?

摘要

It is largely recognized that universities and other research institutions become critical sources of economic growth through the promoting of the so called "capitalisation of knowledge". This requires a structural coupling of the science and economic systems of society, overcoming the traditional division of labour and functions between academic science and industry. As the university crosses traditional boundaries through linkages with the economic system, it must devise ways to make it able to communicate with each other. In this regard, a "second academic revolution", integrating a mission for economic and social development, is transforming the traditional teaching and research university into an entrepreneurial university. This paper aims to provide a picture of the current situation in Italy, identifying the diffusion among the 84 Italian universities of measures and programmes in line with their new tasks (entrepreneurship education, spin-offs support, patents registration, Technology Transfer Offices and Liason Offices creation etc.). The overall goal is to reach a better understanding of the engagement of the Italian universities in the social and economic development and the organizational models they are developing in doing that.