Factors affecting the effectiveness of knowledge interactions between university and industry: the case of Italy

This paper presents the preliminary results of a research aimed at mapping the knowledge interactions between universities and industries in Southern Italy. We focused on a specific type of knowledge interactions, namely “research services”, that are activities that firms give to universities and that are regulated by specific contracts establishing objectives, deliverables and available financial resources. They include both research contracts and consulting activities. Despite the fact that research services, especially in technological departments, cover a significant percentage of the research funding in universities and results of these activities are also useful for the firms, allowing them to solve specific technological problems, scarce attention has been reserved to them by researchers.