Entrepreneurship and University Spin-offs for (Academic) Employment?

[ES] In the new Millennium Italian universities have lived many changes deeply reshaping academic institutions. A relevant aspect was the more and more significant need to answer the demand of society and respond the social pressure to accountability through the transfer of knowledge, innovation and technology to economy. It led to an extension of the so-called university Fourth Mission, an instrument dedicated to create spin-offs to share scientific research results with society. The paper investigates the present reality of university spin-offs in Italy by considering their growing number also in the light of their role ofinstrument for academic job substitution. In particular, a tool to respond to the current condition of young Italian academic researchers increasingly affected by job offer reduction due to budget constraints, consequent university policies and new management issues.Boffo, S.; Cocorullo, A.; Gagliardi, F. (2020). Entrepreneurship and University Spin-offs for (Academic) Employment?. En 6th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'20). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. (30-05-2020):793-800. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd20.2020.1114579380030-05-202

University Fourth Mission, Spin-offs and Academic Entrepreneurship: Connecting public policies with new missions and management issues of universities

Universities are presently considered vital players in the transfer of knowledge, innovation and technology to the economy. This is one of the roots of the diffuse reform processes evident in most European tertiary sectors. In almost 25 years Italian universities have experienced many changes that deeply reshaped their academic institutions. Among other aspects, the need to make an adequate contribution in answer to the demands of society led to an extension and deepening of universities’ so-called Fourth Mission (Geiger, 2006; Kretz & Sá, 2013). A multifaceted set of activities were therefore introduced to strengthen the liaison between academia and society. In the past, this role was mainly concerned with granting patents to outsiders, but today universities are also increasingly dedicated to the creation and promotion of spin-off activities. These are instruments designed to respond to social pressures towards accountability and establish a dialogue with the economy through the sharing of academic research findings. In this framework, the main features of each academic institution are an important variable in the spin-offs’ development process. Through the use of 4 case studies (University of Messina; Polytechnic of Turin; Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna of Pisa; University of Trento) and the analysis of 40 qualitative interviews with key actors in each spin-off (directly and indirectly involved in the entrepreneurial projects), the paper investigates university spin-offs in Italy from two different perspectives. First, the growing number of spin-offs as related to the present conditions of young Italian academic researchers (increasingly affected by budget constraints), university policies, and new management issues. Second, the identity and self-perception of academic actors involved in the spin-offs’ creative process

Kultúra, identitás, képviselet: a szervezett munkanélküliek mozgalma Nápolyban

Our contribution addresses the link between struggles for “redistribution” on the one hand and struggles for “recognition” on the other hand through a case study of the movimento dei disoccupati organizzati in Naples, a grassroots organization of unemployed born in the Seventies in the historical centre of Naples. Their request has been basically the creation of jobs in public services or in urban renewal. It has been characterized by relatively high dynamics in its social composition. The actors of this movement are mostly urban unemployed, precarious workers and women employed in unskilled and unprotected jobs. Our research on the movimento is based on a overview of documentary sources and on meetings and interviews with the local actors involved. The aim is to explore whether and how the need of representation of this part of the workers is met and which relations are established with other actors (unions, political parties, institutions). Another question we address is how protest activity of this group of marginal and vulnerable workers has fostered the emergence of a "counter-narrative" capable of opposing the categories and labels attached to them

Targeted DNA oxidation by LSD1–SMAD2/3 primes TGF-β1/ EMT genes for activation or repression

Abstract The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a complex transcriptional program induced by transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1). Histone lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1) has been recognized as a key mediator of EMT in cancer cells, but the precise mechanism that underlies the activation and repression of EMT genes still remains elusive. Here, we characterized the early events induced by TGF-β1 during EMT initiation and establishment. TGF-β1 triggered, 30–90 min post-treatment, a nuclear oxidative wave throughout the genome, documented by confocal microscopy and mass spectrometry, mediated by LSD1. LSD1 was recruited with phosphorylated SMAD2/3 to the promoters of prototypic genes activated and repressed by TGF-β1. After 90 min, phospho-SMAD2/3 downregulation reduced the complex and LSD1 was then recruited with the newly synthesized SNAI1 and repressors, NCoR1 and HDAC3, to the promoters of TGF-β1-repressed genes such as the Wnt soluble inhibitor factor 1 gene (WIF1), a change that induced a late oxidative burst. However, TGF-β1 early (90 min) repression of transcription also required synchronous signaling by reactive oxygen species and the stress-activated kinase c-Jun N-terminal kinase. These data elucidate the early events elicited by TGF-β1 and the priming role of DNA oxidation that marks TGF-β1-induced and -repressed genes involved in the EMT

Manlio Rossi-Doria, l'inchiesta e la ricerca sociale del Centro di Portici negli anni settanta

L'articolo analizza l'attività del Centro di Ricerche Economico-Agrarie per il Mezzogiorno di Portici nel campo della ricerca sociale negli anni settanta del '900. Esso focalizza in particolare la continuità tra il pensiero di Manlio Rossi-Doria e l'attività di ricerca che si è andata sviluppando in quel periodo nel Centro di portici, tanto sul terreno metodologico quanto su quelli specificamente legati all0 studio delle modificazioni dell'agricoltura e del mercato del lavoro

Lo spirito della legge Gelmini

Lo scritto analizza la prospettiva che ha ispirato l'ultima legge sull'università e sottolinea come i concetti funzionali applicati all'istituzione universitaria siano meglio riferibili ad un universo valoriale di tipo aziendale e managerial

Il modello mediterraneo nel quadro delle nuove migrazioni internazionali

I paesi UE del bacino del Mediterraneo evidenziano molti elementi comuni, relativi tanto ai sistemi di mercato del lavoro che di welfare, che consentono di parlare di un vero e proprio modello migratorio mediterrane