Contamination as a key toinnovation and entrepreneurship

Prof. Sauro LonghiRettore Università Politecnica delle Marche

Board of the Conference of Italian UniversityRectors (CRUI)

Promoting entrepreneurship has become a key issue for allEuropean countries.

Empirical evidence: it is not the number of new firms buttheir quality in terms of innovativeness.

Start-ups able to introduce innovations, product innovations,play a relevant role in increasing wealth creation andgenerating new employment.

The introduction of radical innovations dependent on theapplication of the new knowledge stemming from scientificresearch.

The context:

Universities are fundamental in stimulating the entrepreneurialorientation of their students and researchers.

Last few decades: European universities promoted thedevelopment of entrepreneurship centres, establishedentrepreneurship courses.

The efficiency depends on a complex chain that starts from theentrepreneurial attitude of people, their entrepreneurialorientation, and the subsequent phases of incubation andacceleration.

Universities intervene (in many cases) in the entrepreneurialorientation of researchers and students and the initial supportto the start-up of new firms.

The role of University:

After the incubation period within the university the growth of spin-offsdepends more on the external environment were they can findappropriate support services to scale-up and growth (incubators andaccelerators, venture capital, cluster of high-tech firms).

Universities support services for start-ups within the laboratories butalso in stimulating partnerships with private and public subjects at thelocal level to enhance the entrepreneurial ecosystem .

To improve the numbers of researchers and students involved in thecreation of spin-off. This is very important for stimulating anentrepreneurial ecosystem and to promote entrepreneurship; empiricalevidence demonstrates that a person involved in the start-up of abusiness has a much higher probability of starting other businessesduring his/her career (social investment).

The role of University:

It is important for universities to focus not only on shortterm objectives (such as promoting start-ups) but also tothe long-term effects of the educational process.

It is important to stimulate partnerships and exchangesbetween students coming from different disciplines (toreduce researchers and students coming from the sameacademic background).

Radical innovation is often the result of the merging ofideas originating in different, sometimes distant, sectors.

The strategy:

The cross fertilization of ideas arising from differentdisciplines is becoming more and more important, in theinitial conception of new products and services and forthe development of ideas into profitable businesses.

ICT & KETs

Entrepreneurs who are able to exchange ideas andcollaborate in an open and fruitful way with peoplecoming from different experience and background.

Contamination Lab

The strategy:

Contamination Lab UnivPM

c Lab: the ideaIt’s a place to favor the contamination between:• Students in different disciplines• Student at different levels (undergraduate, .. PhD)• Academy and industry

c Lab is active learningIt a process of active learningbased on:• team working• problem solving• focus on results• communication capabilities

c Lab: c Class, C House, c Work• Within the University, near other “classical” laboratories and

classrooms• The laboratories are available for students involved in group works

at every days and hours

Each academic year we select about 50 students, coming from otheruniversities in the Marche region (the University of Urbino and theUniversity of Macerata) and attending curricula in humanities (that arenot present at Univpm).

There are frequent meetings with entrepreneurs and other peopleinvolved in the entrepreneurial ecosystem (incubators, venturecapitalists, etc.) so that students may be aware of the different aspectsassociated with the start-up and development of a new venture.

The ideas, developed by interdisciplinary teams, are selected amongthose proposed by students at the beginning of the program (supportedby a mentor). Contrary to our expectation, students from medicine oragriculture were very active in proposing innovative ideas while studentsfrom business and economics or from information engineering are morewilling to provide their specific expertise to support the ideas proposedby others

The project:

The main aim of the Contamination Lab is not that of promotingstart-ups but to raise the entrepreneurial attitude andentrepreneurial orientation of students.

We are confident that the students who attended theContamination Lab will be able to make a difference in the placeswhere they will live and work irrespective of whether they willfollow an entrepreneurial career or will work as employees of acompany or as civil servants .

The Contamination Lab, looking at the long-term impact of oureducational programs; a student of medicine: “At present I do notknow exactly in which way my career as a doctor or medicine willdevelop. What I know is that after this program I look forward at myworking career and at my potential contribution in a very differentway than before”

The objectives:

• It is a way of overcoming the separation of curricula, which is typicalof the university system, that limit the possibility of students tointeract in a learning and working environment with colleaguescoming from different curricula;

• It is a way of experimenting new and innovative ways of organizingeducational activities, which stress the active involvement of studentsand the contribution of competences form outside the university;

• It is a way of stressing the importance of diversity and contaminationin originating and developing innovative ideas;

• It seems to be very effective in promoting the formation ofentrepreneurial teams and in promoting the entrepreneurial attitudesand entrepreneurial orientation of students.

The results:

Contamination refers not only to the exchanging of ideas betweenpeople coming from different educational background. It alsoimplies the ability of exchanging ideas and working together withpeople coming from different cultures and different economic andsocial background.

As European countries are becoming more and more multiculturalsocieties, I am proud that one of the key projects developed withinmy university is able to show to our students how differencesrather than homogeneity create value through dialogue and teamwork.

C Lab is an European model

Some other ideas inAdriatic-IonianMacro-Region

Second edition

Some other ideas inAdriatic-IonianMacro-Region

Second edition

Uniadrion project

A Virtual University: a Network of Universities

Some other experiencein Adriatic-Ionian Region:

UNIADRION

is a “network of universities”established with the purpose tocreate a permanent connectionamong universities and research

centres in the Adriatic-Ionian region

promotes cooperation among universitiesand research centres mainly through the

implementation of didactic initiatives(training and post-graduate courses,

research projects…)

was born within theframework of the Adriatic-

Ionian Initiative in year2000

1. Producing new Knowledge = RESEARCH

2. Disseminatig knowledge = TEACHING

3. Economic exploitation of knowledge

University as an economic partner for the territorialdevelopment

(Collaboration with Forum of the Cities and of the Chambers ofCommerce)

The 3 Missions of Universities

Uniadrion Strategic Objectives

Common platform(BONUS 185?)

Erasmus Mundus(SUNBEAM), Erasmus+…

TEACHING

S.U.N.B.E.A.M.Structured UNiversity mobility between the Balkans and Europe for

the Adriatic-ionian Macroregion

ERASMUS MUNDUS – Call EACEA/18/2013Geographical Lot “Western Balkans”

Total Grant: € 2.996.125

Partnership composition

Coordinator Università Politecnica delle Marche

Joint Coordinator “Dzemal Bijedic” University of Mostar

AlbaniaAgricultural University of Tirana“Aleksander Xhuvani” University of Elbasan

Bosnia-HerzegovinaUniversity of Banja LukaUniversity of SarajevoUniversity of Tuzla

CroatiaUniversity of SplitUniversity of Zadar

GreeceUniversity of Ioannina

ItalyUniversità degli Studi di Urbino “Carlo Bo”Università degli Studi di BolognaUniversità Ca’ Foscari Venezia

MontenegroUniversity of MontenegroUniversity Mediterranean Podgorica

SerbiaUniversity of Novi SadUniversity of Arts in Belgrade

SloveniaUniversity of PrimorskaUniversity of LjubljanaKosovo

Riinvest College

Enhancement of the academiccooperation among higher education

institutions with the purpose ofcreating a network of relationsrepresenting the academic and

cultural infrastructure of the Adriatic-Ionian Macro-region

SUNBEAM main objectives

Creation of a platform for sharingcommon educational paths in orderto implement joint programmes forthe awarding of joint titles amongthe universities in the countries of

the area

Exchange of expertise and identification of research areas of commoninterest, which the scientific resources of the area should be invested in,with the purpose of creating an adequate scientific background for the

Macro-region

Type of MobilityOutgoing

Thirdcountry

Incoming

Total Distributionper mobility

type

Europeans Third country nationals

TargetGroup

1

TargetGroup

2

TargetGroup 1

TargetGroup

2

TargetGroup 3

Undergraduates 9 - ALBAKosovoMERS

99158

-----

11111

46 25%

Masters 13 - ALBAKosovoMERS

67123

22123

-1---

43 23%

Doctorates 10 - ALBAKosovoMERS

45146

22123

11111

45 24%

Post-doctorates 4 - ALBAKosovoMERS

34123

11111

11111

27 15%

Staff 6 - ALBAKosovoMERS

44112

11111

-----

23 13%

TOTAL 42 - 96 30 16 184 100 %

UNIADRION and the EU STRATEGY FOR THEADRIATIC AND IONIAN REGION

• Protection, Cataloguing and Promotion ofCultural Heritage

• Environment and Sustainable Development

• Cultural Tourism and Development

• Economy, Communication, Ports andEconomic Relations

• Blue Growth

• Connecting the Region

• Environmental quality

• Sustainable tourism

----------

• Capacity Building

• Research, innovation and SMEsdevelopment

Art. 1 Uniadrion Statutes EUSAIR Action Plan

Thank you

Prof. Sauro LonghiRettore Università Politecnica delle Marche

Board of the Conference of Italian UniversityRectors (CRUI)