The project aims to enhance the cooperation between higher education institutions (HEIs) and businesses, public administration and civil society. In particular, it responds to the national need to reach a consensus on the main challenges facing knowledge exchange within the national context and about the policy responses to put in place. The project will lead to the creation of a set of evidence-based policy reform options to boost knowledge exchange and collaboration (KEC). Reaching beyond “technology transfer”, the project will promote a broad approach to KEC, highlighting the relevance of dimensions such as sustainability and inclusiveness.
In Italy, there are many examples of KEC between HEIs and society. Several universities, for example, have used the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework for their institutional strategies, including KEC. In the same vein, examples of collaboration involve social and economic inclusion of migrants and refugees through training, and cultural partnerships with museums and theatres, promoting the country’s cultural wealth.
KEC is a major driver for boosting the added value of labour (i.e. the GDP per hour worked), and data show that the rise of this crucial indicator in Italy is, at best, sluggish since more than two decades. These data support the view that the KEC system has wide scope for improvement, the more so in the recovery phase from the COVID-19 pandemic.