University regulation and university\u2013industry interaction: a performance analysis of Italian academic departments

In a context characterized by public spending reviews and research funding shortages, governments in several countries are putting pressure on universities to increase their applied research activity, intensify their interaction with industry, and attract funding from the nonacademic domain. The economic literature provides rich evidence on the convergence between institutional factors and individual-level characteristics that are influencing university involvement in knowledge transfer activities. The aim of this article is to investigate the impact of universities\u2019 regulation of knowledge transfer activities on the institutional capability to raise funding from research contracts and consultancies. Based on extensive department- level data on university funding, we address the characteristics of institutional knowledge transfer practices and investigate how these activities influence the intensity of funding to Italian universities

Economia dei big data: lineamenti del dibattito in corso e alcune riflessioni di policy

There is increasing awareness that the collection of big data and the new data analytics capabilities will have deep social and economic impacts. Benefits are expected in terms of higher quality and variety of goods and services, higher firms' productivity and, ultimately, more sustainable and robust economic development. At the same time, some concerns are raised in terms of possible negative consequences on the way the competitive processes in the big data and related markets will unfold. This paper presents an overview of the most significant features of the ongoing scientific debate, with the aim of critically deriving some implications on the most relevant policy dimensions, with an eye to the Italian case

Stay or emigrate? How social capital influences selective migration in Italy

ABSTRACTInternal migration in Italy has been characterised by deep changes in its composition, because of the growing share of high-skilled migrants (the emigration of which contributes to widening the internal brain drain) and the decreasing proportion of low-skilled migrants. Furthermore, recent interest in the literature in the role played by noneconomic elements in affecting migration decisions has highlighted the importance of a nonpecuniary factor, namely social capital (SC). For these reasons, this paper empirically investigates the role played by SC in interprovincial selective migration, considering migrants according to two education levels using data on 103 Italian provinces (2004–2012). The main findings reveal that provincial SC mainly contributes to reducing the migration flows of low-skilled individuals, albeit while also deterring the emigration of high-skilled individuals. Control variables confirm that better income conditions represent an important determinant of high-skilled migrants most likely because they seek to earn more, while better socioeconomic conditions such as labour market efficiency mostly influence those with a lower level of education

The effects of university rules on spinoff creation: The case of academia in Italy

The economics literature provides rich evidence on the convergence between the institutional factors and individual-level characteristics influencing the involvement of academia in knowledge transfer activities and spinoff creation. However, little is known about the effects of internal university regulations on academic entrepreneurship. In the last ten years, spinoff activity from academia in Italy has been intensive and most academic institutions have policies related to the regulation of academic entrepreneurship practices, known as 'Regolamento Spinoff'. This paper investigates the impact of the set of university rules governing the creation of spinoffs, on institutional capability to generate new ventures. Based on panel-data analysis using detailed university-level data on academic spinoffs, we identify three classes of institutionally-defined rules that can motivate faculty members to establish a spinoff company. These are: general rules and procedures; rules regulating monetary incentives; rules related to the entrepreneurial risk. We find that at least some rules pertaining to each of these three classes have some effect on spinoff creation. In particular, we find that monetary incentives play a significant role in promoting academic spinoff activity, and that overly-restrictive university rules regarding contract research have a negative effect on spinoff creation

Does government funding complement or substitute private research funding to universities?

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 Sciences, this paper provides evidence that government funding to universities complements funding from research contracts and consulting, contributing to increasing universities\u2019 collaboration with industry and activating knowledge transfer processes

Does Government Research Funding to Universities Substitute, Complement or Leverage Industry Funding?. CeLEG Working Papers

There is increasing political pressures on universities to raise research funding from industry and contribute actively to economic development. However, whether or not promotion of the so called third mission in universities, of interacting with industry, is effective without government funding remains an open question, and we do not know whether government funding \u2018crowds-\uad\u2010out\u2019 or \u2018crowds-\uad\u2010in\u2019 business funding. In this paper we argue that government funding provides universities with the vital resources to carry out research activities whose results can be transferred at a later stage to industry, leveraging private funding. It is inevitable, therefore, that without government support to academic institutions knowledge transfer activities will be hampered, and financial cuts to universities may reduce rather than foster their self-\uad\u2010financing capability. The empirical analysis presented in this paper is based on financial data for the whole population of Italian university departments engaged in research in the Engineering and Physical Sciences. Based on a set of probit and tobit cross-\uad\u2010 section and panel data models this paper investigates the impact of different forms of public funding to university departments, on their abilities to attract private funding

The effects of public research funding on academic engagement

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 engaged 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 probability 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, University and Research and the capability of university departments to collect funding via research contracts and consultancies

The Effects of Public Research Funding on Academic Engagement

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

The two sides of academic research: do basic and applied activities complement each other?

It is generally acknowledged that the cuts in government funding for research implemented in several European countries will induce academic researchers to increase their interaction with industry to promote the acquisition of private 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 consultancy 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 universe of Italian academic departments over the period 2006\u20132011 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, but this was less 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