Il rinnovamento dei sentieri di sviluppo locale in Italia: il modello 'University research-centric district' fra difficoltà e opportunità

The socio-economic benefits produced by the university and released into the economic system through higher education, research and technology transfer activities have been recognised for long time as fundamental inputs for industry innovation. More recently, the focus has gradually shifted to the importance of university-industry relations to local development. The analysis of the relevant literature let us identify a “university research-centric district”(UCRD) model, which combines some of the basic suggestions coming from the two strands of literature. Challenges and opportunities of the UCRD model are discussed with reference to the Italian context.