3. TO FIRMS

The research activities and the territory

The importance that the territory has for the University is reflected by the industrial spillovers of its research activities as well as by the involvement of local institutions and firms in the transfer of the scientific results achieved.

Since the ‘80s, the University of Ferrara has been among the first universities to promote actions for the creation of high-tech spin-offs on the territory. Created to enhance the results of the research carried out within the University, spin-off companies promote and increase the value on the market of the University’s technologies and know-how, creating jobs and helping local, regional and national economic development.

In March 2008, a new spin-off company called Verdenora S.r.l. was founded, with the aim of disseminating technologies able to reduce microbiologic pollution in agriculture, particularly in vegetables and fruit production. Until 2010, the spin-off company will be engaged in the improvement of the above mentioned technologies and in insecticide experimentations for plants such as the apple and the pear tree.

The interaction between the territory and the innovation produced within the University is supervised by the Industrial Liaison Office (ILO). Created in 2004, its aim is the promotion of relations between the University and local, national and international firms; the facilitation of technology transfer and the protection of intellectual property rights; the supervision of relations with institutions, association and agencies for local industrial development.

The ILO works together with the University Commission for Patents and Spin-Offs. The Commission is in charge of planning actions for technology transfer. In coordination with the Commission, the ILO provides assistance for patent registration, for the creation and development of spin-offs, for licensing and for the projects of technology transfer on the territory.

The table below shows all spin-offs created by the University in 2008, for a total of 16 companies. Spin-offs were 16 in 2007[1] too and 15 in 2006.

The activities of the Industrial Liaison Office and their outcome on the territory are described in detail in the paragraphs 5.3 and 6.3 of the Social Report.

The University facilities for innovation

The University’s endowment of facilities and instruments, both in terms of specialized research laboratories and equipment, reflects the University ability to compete in research both at the national and international level.

The University of Ferrara has numerous centres and laboratories where research projects in various fields are developed and completed. Thanks to external scholars and experts, the University can strengthen its cooperation with both other national and international universities/research centres and private companies. Furthermore, thanks to the highly skilled human resources working in them and to the newest technologies they dispose of, the University research facilities constitute an important reference for companies, local and not, carrying out highly innovative industrial research projects.

The University’s facilities for innovation have a surface of 77.310 square meters, most of them being laboratories of the Scientific and Technological Campus as well as of the Chemical – Biomedical Campus. With respect to 2007, in 2008 the total surface expanded as a consequence of the opening of several important research facilities:

-       The Anechoic Chamber, located in the ‘E Building’ of the Scientific and Technological Campus, completed in 2008;

-       The White Chambers, located in the ‘G building’ of the Scientific and Technological Campus, completed in 2008.

Next to the Scientific and Technological Campus is the Incubator for start-ups, a facility created to host about ten University spin-offs and to assist them in their start-up period. In 2008 the Incubator, built by the Municipality of Ferrara, was completed and its research activities started. The Incubator is managed by SIPRO, the Provincial Agency for Development.

The Anechoic Chamber

The Anechoic Chamber is a facility conceived to carry out research activities in the field of sound communication. Built within the laboratories of the Department of Engineering and activated in March 2008, the Chamber is a large space delimited by soundproof walls able to reduce sounds and noise from the outside.

The White Chambers

The White Chambers, built within the Department of Physics, are devoted to research and prototyping in the field of solar photovoltaic energy and gas sensors. Widely used in electronics (in those cases where devises may risk to be damaged by the dust in the air), the White Chambers are an aseptic work environment where the air is ten up to fifty times cleaner than in normal environments.

The detailed description of the University’s facilities for innovation can be found in paragraph 5.4 of the Social Report.

The relations with China

Within the University of Ferrara’s international relations, those with China are particularly relevant. Since 1999, Professors and Researchers at the University have promoted several events in the Asiatic country, in order to exchange ideas and experiences in fields such as industry and economic development. They have also taken part in conferences, forums, meetings, etc.

Within this framework, the University succeeded in establishing a stable partnership with the Canton South China University of Technology (SCUT). Since 1999, five formal collaboration agreements were signed. In 2008, the two Universities agreed on a Memorandum, in order to formally sum up all initiatives carried out jointly: the exchange of Professors, Researchers and doctoral candidates in the field of Economics and Territorial Industrial Policies; joint research activities; 34 Seminars and Workshops (20 in Economics and 13 on Territorial Industrial Policies).

The Memorandum also suggests the guidelines for future development: partnership consolidation in the current research activities, definition of joint research training programs and identification of new research areas for cooperation.

In 2008 too, the University of Ferrara hosted the China and Italy School of Policy. The School, supported by the Italian Foreign Ministry and the Emilia-Romagna Region, offers advanced education for Chinese governmental officers in the field of industrial, local and business development policies. Besides lectures at the University’s Faculty of Economics, the School offered to participants the opportunity to meet companies (Marposs SpA, IMA SpA, Ferrari, Ducati SpA, Basell). Participants were 28 in 2008, selected out of 150 applications.

With regards to joint research activities, the partnership between the two Universities’ working team in Economics continued in 2008 with the “CHIRLP” Project: China and Italy Research and Learning Project. The Project – coordinated by the Faculty of Economics and promoted in cooperation with the Foreign Affair Ministry, the University Ministry, the Emilia-Romagna Region, the Lombardy Region and the Tuscany Region – is dedicated to the study of economic relations between Italy and China, with particular focus on industry, business and development and innovation policies.

The University Structural Capital – Growth and Innovation Attitude Indicators

The Structural Capital represents the University ability to create an efficient work environment for its employees, in order to allow them to use their knowledge and professional skills at best. The Growth and Innovative Attitude indicators assess the University’s ability to acquire new research projects at the national and international level, and to develop new patents as well as to invest in high quality spaces and facilities for its employees.

In the autumn 2008, the University obtained 152 new research project, most of them (106) being carried out on behalf of third parties. This category comprises all funding (both in the form of payment for a service and funding of a research project) obtained from outside and without participation to any announcement of competition.

The number of research projects for the development of patents supervised by the Industrial Liaison Office (ILO) in 2008 was 8, 3 of them having registered a patent.

The Structural Capital and the research activities for patents carried out by the University are described in detail in the paragraphs 3.3 and 5.3 of the Social Report.

The University Relational Capital – Efficiency Indicators

The relational capital efficiency indicators measure the satisfaction rate of partners and customers obout research activities as well as the reasons behind any complain related to the activities carried out by the University. In April 2009, a survey has been carried out by the University aimed at investigating the relations with its spin-offs[2]. Altogether, 11 spin-offs out of 16 were involved. The opinions collected dealt in particular with cooperation with other spin-offs, the reasons behind the creation of the company, quality of their offices as well the relations with the University and the planning of future developments, above all for the post-incubation phase.

The University’s Relational Capital is described in detail in paragraph 3.4 of the Social Report.

[1] In 2007 the University gave up its shares in the spin-off Active Technologies.

[2] The survey methodology was based on that used by SIPRO – the Provincial Agency for Development - in a similar survey carried out in 2008 on behalf of the Province of Ferrara and reported in the University of Ferrara’s 2007 Social Report. The SIPRO survey involved 13 spin-offs (two spin-offs were not available for the meetings, while another one had just been created and information it might have delivered were too recent for the survey). All opinions collected were positive.