The role of academic spin-offs in entrepreneurial innovation and regional development : the Apulia case

In a recession context, characterized from a slowing down of the productive activity and from an increment of the unemployment rate, regional development policies of local authorities should consider initiatives apt to stimulate enterprise creation. This paper focuses on the role of academic spin-offs in generating entrepreneurial opportunities for regional development. After an introduction about the importance of networks among universities for technology transfer and development of academic spin-offs and definition of relevant literature on entrepreneurship and processes of identification, evaluation and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities to create new business, the paper moves to the analysis of the enabling conditions for promoting the birth of new academic spin-offs. In particular, we investigate how business innovation could take place from patents and research at the university level, in order to contribute to the economic development of a region. Academic spin offs represents an important mechanism for technology transfer from universities and research institutions to the real economy. The paper highlights the results obtained in Apulia Region, which started in 2007 a network called “Rete ILO Apulia” (where ILO stands for Industrial Liaison Office), with the aim of putting together the efforts of Apulia universities and research institutes (ENEA and CNR), providing them a set of resources and capabilities for technological transfer and entrepreneurial innovation. This project has financed the birth of several spin-offs academic from 2007 to 2012, which have been examined at the end of the paper. The main hypothesis of the paper is that the sustainable growth of academic spin offs in this region contributed to the development of the Apulia area and entrepreneurial innovation.peer-reviewe