The regional innovation paradox is the greater need of lagging regions to invest in innovation and their relatively lower capacity to absorb funding compared to more advanced regions. Using data on regional public spending, industry composition and economic performance, we test empirically whether there is a differential impact of European funding on regional economic growth between Eastern and Western European regions. We conclude that the paradox is proven and consider the extent to which smart specialisation strategies may help to improve the quality of governance of regional innovation systems.

There is growing political pressure on universities to intensify their interaction with industry and to enlarge their own research funding options, in a context characterised by increasing constraints on public spending. However, whether the successful achievement of such a political desired outcome is consistent with a restriction of government funding is not clear and requires further investigation. As a matter of fact, there is scant empirical evidence on whether and to what extent government funding affects the external funding options available to universities, in particular those related to research and consulting activities. By using a set of probit and tobit panel data models estimated on financial data for the whole population of Italian university departments engaged in research in the Engineering and Physical Sci- ences, this paper provides evidence that government funding to universities complements funding from research contracts and consulting, contributing to increasing universities’ collaboration with industry and activating knowledge transfer processes.

Although universities are generally under pressure to increase their interactions with industry, academic departments vary enormously in the extent to which they collaborate with businesses. There are several factors, which, to different extents, drive or hamper academics’ capabilities to engage in collaboration with the private sector. On the basis of original data from interviews with 197 university departments in Italy, this paper investigates the main obstacles to technology transfer activity as perceived by academic researchers, and their possible impact on university–industry collaborations. The analysis shows that three (out of four) perceived obstacles are barriers to university–industry interactions and negatively affect the probability of engaging in collaboration with industry. The estimated impact of these perceived obstacles on the frequency of collaborations is less clear-cut and requires further investigation.

Purpose. The most important purpose is to assess by a trial and error method the financial effects of efficient prevention programmes in our country. The study provides an empiric evidence that Government could reduce public spending thorough investments in projects of prevention about visual care. Materials and methods. Authors focus on the economic impact of four eye diseases that are the major cause of blindness (90%) and for this reason they were classificated as ‘diseases of social importance’ (DSI from hereforth) according to the WHO: Age – related Macular Degeneration (AMD), Glaucoma, Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), Cataract. Authors use a three-stage approach in order to estimate the impact of blindness prevention on public accounts: 1. Calculation of aggregate costs of the DSI in Italy; 2. Use of the estimated figures in the first stage of the alanysis to estimate the individual average costs; 3. Use of the estimated figures in the second stage of the analysis to run a simulation in capital budgeting comparing the costs associated with taking one of two possible choices: investing or not in a blindness prevention programme. Discussion: Authors simulate the economic effects of the adoption of a blindness prevention campaign and compare them to the calculated costs of blindness. This comparison was based on the creation of decision trees, which are typically used for the optimisation of investment portfolios, combined with another decision technique: the Net Present Value (NPV).

The academic systems of several countries are adapting to the consequences of progressive cuts in public research funding and the increasing engagement of academics in commercial contracts with both the private and public sector. While promoting the so-called third mission and encourag- ing university–industry collaboration agreements, there is the risk that commercial activities may distract academics from their traditional academic missions of teaching and research. This paper focuses on academic research output in several academic disciplines, expressed in terms of publi- cation and citation numbers. First, we investigate whether and how funding from research contracts and consultancies is related to research output. Secondly, we investigate how internal university policies and norms that regulate university–industry collaboration affect university re- search output. The empirical evidence is based on an original longitudinal dataset for 2006–2012 on scientific output and research funding for 60 Italian public universities and 173 groups of depart- ments classified by OECD scientific area.

Firms’ collaboration with academic institutions expands their range of expertise and can support the development of business innovations in several industries. For technological as well as structural reasons, university–industry collaborations are especially important in the case of the food industry. This paper aims at assessing the drivers of knowledge transfer from academic departments to industry. We analyse the dynamics of private funding of university research activities and investigate the drivers of university knowledge transfer from food science university departments, identifying how they differ from drivers in other areas of science. The empirical investigation is based on the econometric analysis of financial data on the whole population of university departments in Italy. We provide some implications for policy, highlighting whether and how university food science departments differ from university departments engaged in other areas of science, and how their interactions with industry can be increased.

There is increasing awareness that university–industry collaboration provides an important knowledge transfer channel and, thus, is a powerful driver of innovation. Universities are increasingly being asked to play incisive roles in the process of regional economic development. This paper assesses the extent to which university–industry collaboration, expressed in terms of private funding for university consulting research activities, is affected by the geographic proximity of an academic institution to an Industrial District (ID). Although the economic literature insists on the positive effects of proximity for these collaborations, empirical work on Italian ID so far shows no particular effects. This paper provides new insights into the effects of academic proximity to ID on university–industry collaboration, by presenting robust evidence that proximity to districts promotes the establishment of collaboration agreements. This sheds new light on the need for targeted policies to support local productive systems. The empirical evidence is based on an analysis of qualitative information and an econometric analysis of financial data for the whole population of Italian university departments engaged in research in the Engineering and Physical Sciences.

This paper provides an empirical investigation of the effects of public funding of academic research on external funding obtained via research contracts, consultancies and «research to order» activities more generally. These informal collaborations between university departments and business are relevant because of their high relational content and consequent spillover effects based on learning by interacting. This study uses data on the population of university departments and research institutes in Italy en- gaged in research in one of the 14 scientific areas identified by the Italian National Research Council. The results of our analysis show that the availability of external funding has a positive impact on the probabil- ity of accessing further external funding and on its amount. We also find some complementarity between the amount of public funding, from both the European Union and the Italian Ministry of Education, Uni- versity and Research and the capability of university departments to collect funding via research contracts and consultancies.

Universities have long been involved in knowledge transfer activities and are increasing their efforts to collaborate with industry. However, universities vary enormously in the extent to which they promote, and succeed in commercializing, academic research. In this paper, we focus on the concept of cognitive distance, intended as differences in the sets of basic values, norms and mental models in universities and firms. We assess the impact of cognitive distance on university-industry collaborations. Based on original data from interviews with 197 university departments in Italy, our analysis determines whether cognitive distance is perceived as a barrier to university-industry interactions, and esti- mates its effects on the frequency of their collaborations. Our results confirm that cogni- tive, albeit not affecting the probability of departments to collaborate with firms, significantly hinders the frequency of interactions.

It is generally acknowledged that the cuts in government funding for research imple- mented in several European countries will induce academic researchers to increase their interaction with non academic entities to promote the acquisition of external funding for research. Indirectly this implies that there will be a shift in the focus of academic scientific activity from basic to applied research via private research contracts and con- sultancy work. The aim of our paper is to assess the extent of the trade-off between basic research and applied activity in academic research departments. We use data for the uni- verse of Italian academic departments over the period 2006–2011 and estimate whether increased applied activity is substituting or complementing basic research activity. We provide empirical evidence of a strong substitution effect for life sciences departments and, to a lesser extent, for engineering and technology departments, while there does not seem to be evidence of a substitution effect for departments whose scientific activity revolves around basic science.

Universities have come under increasing pressure to become key drivers of economic development in the age of the knowledge economy. In the case of Italy, there has been concern in recent years about quality and funding of academic institutions, but hardly any reference has been made about the impact of university quality on students' access to the labour market, and therefore on the secondary potential benefits deriving from the definition of appropriate incentives for research performance. This article contributes to fill this gap with a detailed econometric analysis of the determinants of Italian graduates' employability one-year and three-years after graduation, with special reference to university quality measured in terms of research performance. The empirical evidence is based on an Italian National Statistical Institute (ISTAT) survey including information on 47,342 Italian graduates in all scientific disciplines, and on the results of the first national evaluation of academic research activity. It confirms that attending universities with good research performance raises the probability of finding work after graduation. This sheds light on the pivotal role of academic institutions in economic systems, showing that their contribution to employment growth could be substantial, both at the national and regional level.

In the last twenty years, universities' efforts to collaborate with industry and foster knowledge transfer have increased progressively. Many of these efforts have been directed at firms located at a distance from the university, and sometimes in a different country. Based on an original database of interviews with 197 Italian university departments, this paper determines the effects of geographical location, research performance and researcher mobility on the frequency of university-industry collaborations and on the probability of departments engaging in distant collaborations.