This research proposes an investigation into the creation and the later development, in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, of a private company called CRIT Srl, constituted by a group of large and medium-sized mechanical firms. The purpose of CRIT is not only to act as a technology broker,...

Recent developments in innovation theory and policy have led policymakers to assign particular importance to supporting networks of cooperation among heterogeneous economic actors, especially in production systems composed of small and medium enterprises. Such innovative policies call for...

We discuss how the outcomes of policy evaluation processes can provide valuable feedback in order to design more effective policy interventions. We address our analysis to policies directed at promoting innovation by fostering generative relationships among heterogeneous organizations. The...

Following the growing interest towards the role of the knowledge in the modern economies the economic literature has focused a lot of studies into the role of the producers of new knowledge, e.g. universities and public research institutions. The relations between these bodies and the firms, the...

The Italian and European regulatory framework for patents would benefit from further improvements in order to foster dynamic competition between Italian firms. At the national level the exclusive allocation of the right to patent inventions to universities, rather than to researchers, would...

This paper will discuss two fundamental concepts of industrial policy devel-oped by Sebastiano Brusco: the role of real services to support district firms and the role of real services needed to transform groups of isolated firms into systems of firms; and the promotion of widespread changes at...

The financing of innovation impacts on economic growth. What’s, among bank-based or market-based system, the best organizational form? The paper supports the view that both forms have to be merged into a unique approach (law and finance view) embracing not only the overall quality of the...

The concept of Smart City is considered increasingly strategic for the solution to the questions related to the irreversible urban agglomeration growth. Created in the nineties in parallel to the liberalisation process of telecommunications and the development of internet services, this...

Questo contributo, dopo un excursus riguardante l’esperienza dei distretti produttivi siciliani nel primo periodo della loro esistenza dal 2007 al 2010 a seguito del riconoscimento da parte della Regione Siciliana, si sofferma sui “Patti di Sviluppo” dei distretti produttivi per il periodo...