The multidimensionality of the academic performance in the applied sciences end engineering: Evidence from a case study

Previous investigations showed that Italian university professors are the authors of a considerable share of the EPO patents owned by firms in science-based technological classes. The analysis of USPTO patents conducted in this paper confirms those results. Moreover, data collected through interviews to patenting professors show that the realization of patents in the context of researches funded by firms involves undergraduate and PhD students, university fellows and technicians: thus, the role of the academy appears significantly augmented. The paper also brings to light the role of academic centres of excellence in the cooperation between university and industry. Focusing on the field of electronics and applying the methodology of Social Network Analysis, the importance of a centre of excellence is pointed out, not only in the production of codified knowledge, but also in the diffusion of know-how through personal relationships. It is shown that a centre of excellence, which is the core of the principal component of the network, gives rise to a real invisible college, in which the academic and the technological world are interpenetrated. And this interpenetration does not hinder purely scientific production, but rather it seems to favour it

Sistemi informativi e crescita delle imprese. Un'interpretazione del recente sviluppo di gruppi medio-grandi in Italia e una rivisitazione teorica di "crescita" e "dimensione"

This article provides an interpretative framework of the emergence in the Italian industry of a new generation of medium size entrepreneurial firms in traditional sector

La siderurgia italiana 1945-90. Tra controllo pubblico e incentivi del mercato

Il volume illustra l'evoluzione dell'industria siderurgica italiana nella seconda metà del 1900, ponendo l'accento sulle caratteristiche e la performance delle imprese pubbliche e delle imprese private del tipo miniacciaierie. Sono spiegate le ragioni che stanno alla base del declino delle prime e del successo delle seconde, il leader delle quali si è affermato tra i principali produttori mondiali

The social division and the integration of research and design labour: the case of microelectronic circuits

To exploit the opportunities generated by the increasing miniaturiation and density of semiconductor devices new circuit designs, systems and applications must be created incessantly. To circuit designers (both academic and industrial) this entails a host of new interesting problems that need a solution and to firms the possibility of profiting by a sustained market growth. This paper shows how the sum or combination of profit and reputation motives, the former especially driving the behaviour of incumbent firms and entrepreneurial start-ups and the latter the conduct of researchers and designers belonging to the epistemic community, have drawn a transformation of the innovation system towards a flexible, decentralised and highly connected architecture. In particular, the following developments are illustrated: i) the increasing reliance of firms upon universities with regard to the task of carrying out exploratory and risky research on systems. In order to account for the pattern of the relationship between university and industry the applied research black box is unpacked; ii) the exchange of blocks of design information through the emerging market of design modules and the limits of this market, due to the need of integrative knowledg

The notion of industry and knowledge bases: the evidence of steel and mini-mills

Drawing on the evidence of the steel sector, this essay suggests a notion of industry in terms of sets of firms sharing the same knowledge base. Industry segments are partitions of an industry corresponding to given pieces of the sectoral knowledge and each group of firms is defined in terms of the common domain of competence. The trajectory of competence development of the mini-mills group is described and the paradigm of flexibility, which characterizes their organizational pattern, is discussed

Technological capabilities, learning and codification of knowledge

Case study about the introduction of a radical innovation in the steel industr

Tacitness, codification of technological knowledge and the organisation of industry

This paper investigates the wave of codification of technological knowledge which has occurred over the last two decades due to the availability at low cost of electronic automation and measurement instruments. During this process, traditional tacit skills of workers have become largely obsolete and modern operators on the shop floor are mainly process controllers and low-level problem solvers. Alongside this, the acceleration of innovation has made high-level problem solvers increasingly important. Tacit knowledge has thus remained crucial, but it has become complementary to a codified knowledge base and concerns problem solving heuristic, interpretation of data, etc. After illustrating the benefits and costs of codification and the nature of tacit skills, three case studies are presented regarding the steel, semiconductor and mechanical sectors. The last part of the paper discusses the impact of codification/automation/ complexity and increased burden of fixed costs on industrial organisation. A story of co-evolution of technological knowledge, cost structures, transaction costs and social division of labour emerges