Public research bodies in Sardinia: the University of Cagliari

The University of Cagliari actively works with the entrepreneurial world, in particular with regional companies, through a series of exchanges constantly enriched by new ideas and innovative networking initiatives, ranging from applied research to technological transfer. The interaction process between the University of Cagliari and the “planet enterprise” rests on keywords such as listening, openness, innovation, multidisciplinarity and contamination.

The main initiatives are:

• “UniCa&Imprese”: gathers the initiatives promoted to allow matching between research groups and companies interested in collaboration on development and research projects. Three main events have been organized, addressed to all companies, and other events dedicated to a single company or a consortium. Companies may ask the University to organise matching events with the researchers who works in their field of interest.

The web portal “Unica&Imprese”, currently under restyling, will soon gather more than 200 profiles of professors and researcher groups, browsable by title, text, keywords, images and videos. Those info will allow to know more easily the sectors in which is possible to start collaborations. The e-mail address imprese@unica.it is the contact point for info and for a first orientation to “UniCa” addressed to enterprises.

• Patents: to be able to exploit for production processes an invention protected by a patent is a strategic level able to make a difference. “UniCa” is holder of 33 patent families (patent groups deposited in different countries, according to a jointly defined protection strategy by the inventor and the University). Priority areas are electronic engineering, science of materials and biomedical sciences. The UniCa patents office is online and the university can be contacted to purchase, or acquire the exploitation license of the intellectual property title.

The University can enter into contracts with companies for research and licensing of know-how or patents. Thus, the company finds a complete answer to its needs for innovation thanks to the very high level of research projects. If the scientific path leads to new results, the company can exploit them on the basis of conditions already established by contract.

• Infrastructures: the web portal “Sardegna Laboratori” gathers the equipment of the research laboratories of the Universities of Cagliari and Sassari and of other public research institutions of the island. On the web portal, it is possible to browse 1286 services, 279 laboratories and 1392 research and analysis instruments available at the University of Cagliari. This patrimony of competences, equipment and services is also accessible to companies and citizens. For info is necessary to contact online referents of each structure, as indicated on the website.
• Doctorates: The innovative research Doctorates with a strong industrial content are a new experience, started last year with funding from the Ministry of Education, University and Research. Despite being a training programme, the doctorate is also the first step in the university research career. The doctorates with industrial characterization are three-year courses that involve periods of six to eighteen months to spend in a company and equally long periods to spend abroad. They are research projects defined by professors and companies to respond to specific innovation needs. In 2016, the doctorate scholarships with industrial characterization in UniCa were eleven.
• Spin off: at UniCa, companies are created. Currently the University has 23 spin off, i.e. innovative companies born thanks to ideas developed by the research groups. The main UniCa spin off sectors are ICT and energy. Recently, to the students and former students (for not more than 15 months) has been given the opportunity to create a “junior spin off” accredited by the University. Companies may collaborate with a spin off to accelerate the innovative drive of their products or services, with a view to “open innovation”.
• The “Contamination Lab” of the University of Cagliari is a six-month training course in entrepreneurial culture, addressed to students, PhD students and graduates coming from all the disciplinary areas. It foresees extracurricular activities for the development of skills related to the management of the entrepreneurial process and innovation, in order to promote a better understanding of issues related to business creation. In the last editions, have been created companies able to attract world-class investments and to be awarded with national and international prizes. In 2016, won the European Enterprise Promotion Award, which awards the most efficient European initiatives for enterprise promotion and entrepreneurship. Since 2017, the “Contamination Lab UniCa” is the leader of the “Italian CLab Network”: it will coordinate the “Contamination Lab Network” of the Italian Univerities and will make available the know how and the best practices in order to capitalize the results obtained.
• “Crea Unica”: the University Service Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship directs and supports the “Contamination Lab” activities for entrepreneurial culture promotion, the “Contamination Up” for university incubation and the “UniCa&Imprese”. It carries out excellent training activities to develop and integrate managerial, entrepreneurial and scientific knowledge and increase management and problem-solving skills related to group work. Finally, it selects opportunities related to scientific-technological knowledge and entrepreneurial ideas, offering young people in the area the opportunity to enrich their relational skills and to use innovative tools for presenting ideas according to international standards.
• Jobs: the University provides job orientation services to its undergraduates and graduates and to those who have completed a post-graduate path (master's, specialization, research doctorate). Through the “Almalaurea” platform allows to manage the matching between job demand and job and traineeship offers. As of today, 1507 companies have been accredited, 11 thousand curriculum vitae downloaded, 572 job advertisements published by companies and 48 events organized. The service also supports companies in the signing of the apprenticeship contract for advanced training and research, which is addressed at young people up to the age of 29 and has numerous advantages for young people and businesses. The apprenticeship is addressed to people enrolled in a university or post-graduate course. Private employers in any industry can hire apprentices.