Which factors are perceived as obstacles for the growth of Italian academic spin-offs?

ABSTRACT

During the last decades, academic spin-offs have received increasing attention from both researchers and practitioners, mainly due to their ability to advance industrial application of scientific knowledge. In the past, scholars believed that these organisations were subjected to fast growth after their establishment. Only in the last decade, scholars realise that the fast-growing perspective hypothesised was an oversimplification, as the majority of high-tech academic spin-offs growth slowly or remain small in size for long time. The aim of our study is to investigate the reasons that inhibit the growth of established academic spin-offs, focusing on the Italian context. Through the implementation of the Delphi technique and of the fuzzy logic we derive new and relevant results, for scholars, spin-offs’ managers and policy-makers.

KEYWORDS:

• Obstacles
• growth
• academic spin-offs
• Italy

Notes on contributors

Francesco Galati graduated (with distinction) in 2009 in Industrial Engineering and Management at the University of Parma and holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of the Republic of San Marino in 2013. His research activities mainly concern technology transfer, university spin-off, knowledge asset & intellectual capital management, innovation and entrepreneurship. He has authored or co-authored more than 30 papers published in international journals, as well as in national and international conference proceedings. He acts as referee for more than 20 international scientific journals.

Giuliano Marolla graduated in Industrial Engineering and Management at the University of Parma and holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of the Republic of San Marino in 2013. His research activities mainly concern technology transfer and university spin-off.

Barbara Bigliardi graduated (with distinction) in 2004 in Industrial Engineering and Management at the University of Parma. She is associate professor at the same university. Her primary research interests focus around knowledge asset & intellectual capital management, innovation and entrepreneurship. She has authored or co-authored more than 60 papers published in international journals, as well as on national and international conference proceedings. She acts as referee for more than 50 international scientific journals and conferences. She is also member of the editorial board of three international journals and Associate Editor of two international journals.

Alberto Petroni graduated in Business Administration at “Luigi Bocconi” University, Milan, holds his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Management at the University of Padua (Italy). He is full professor at the University of Parma. He has authored or co-authored more than 70 papers published in international journals, as well as on national and international conference proceedings. His research activities mainly concern technology transfer, technology management, human resource management and knowledge management.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCiD

Francesco Galati http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7294-6183

Barbara Bigliardi http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8588-7066