Technology transfer is critical to generating solid economic recovery. Nevertheless, in Italy, the knowledge transformation underway in applied technologies research finds itself having to contend with a shifting scenario: although the country boasts a good number of national champions, the aggregate data show delays in a range of areas, which impacts heavily on its capacity to create critical mass and competitiveness.
The country needs to support basic research, increase investments in R&D and encourage a more constant interface between university and business spheres. Then there is the shortage of STEM skill-prepared human capital as compared with other European economies. Finally, the major cultural barrier that prevents many SMEs from seeking out partnerships that would foster growth is accentuated precisely by their small size, which tends to preclude access to the resources and skills needed in the most complex phase of all: bringing products and services to market.
These limitations complicate the passage of knowledge from the university classroom to the industrial laboratory, inhibiting the development of start-ups in particular. Innovative firms need skilled actors capable of orienting and financing them, as well as grasping their potential. They must develop a vision for the future that includes both increasing size as well as the potential for acquisition by larger groups. This is a trend that has been growing steadily in sectors such as Life Sciences and in all those areas in need of “disruptive” innovation.
Creating a system capable of encouraging and financing the organized channeling of ideas from the university to the business world calls for adequate infrastructure and platforms. The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) offers a significant point of discontinuity: Italy must close the gap that has left its economy behind more competitive ones that have managed to become producers of innovation by combining private and public investments.
Intervention must focus on the efficiency and effectiveness of the technology transfer ecosystem. Indeed, those incoming resources must not be used simply to multiply existing actors but rather to underpin the development of the most active of them, eliminating redundancies that live off public monies. Only in this way, can the nation make the most of the Recovery Plan’s opportunities and, at the same time, assist businesses in increasing their medium- to long-term competitiveness.