An associate professor of Economic Policy at the Department of Social Sciences at Naples’ Federico II University, Mita Marra is working earnestly and tirelessly to build an increasingly solid bridge between academic institutions and the business world, especially in the South.
With the Summer School organized in collaboration with Cornell Tech and with the support of the U.S. Embassy in Italy, it brought a group of Italian researchers into contact with the New York business ecosystem and Italian-American entrepreneurship, to enhance transversal skills and develop a technological and social innovation-oriented mindset in the participants. With a precise and ambitious goal in mind: to give Southern Italy the tools and human capital it needs to overcome the complex challenges of today and tomorrow. We spoke at length with her about this, while she is already at work on a second edition planned for fall 2024.
The Summer School “Bridging the Atlantic Pathways to Innovation and Entrepreneurship,” a training course aimed at strengthening collaboration between the world of research and small and medium-sized enterprises in the Campania region, has just concluded here in New York. How did this project come about?
It stems from research and discussion on university innovation policies, which we developed already last year here at Cornell Tech with an expert meeting, in collaboration between OECD , Cornell Tech and Federico II, to understand how internationally, especially in North America and Northern Europe, universities promote entrepreneurial ecosystems. In fact, it stems even earlier from a study on educational offerings put together by the University Federico II, and that gave rise to an educational offering poured into digital together with big tech – Apple, Cisco, Deloitte – but also in the industrial field, in collaboration with Leonardo, Ferrovie dello Stato, KPMG and other multinationals that have joined along the way. I have directly studied the rationale and early results of the academies highlighting how the interaction of the academic institution with multinational companies have created a different relationship between the university, its territory and the business world. The problem is to understand how to facilitate the transfer of technical and technological knowledge into the field of action of small and medium-sized enterprises, which are still not up to the digital, technological and even green transformation we are now going through. Precisely in order to facilitate this transformation, this upgrading, we came up with the idea of linking the worlds of research and business, through a real teaching project, thanks to funding from the U.S. Embassy in Rome. In 2023, in fact, the project was selected for a grant of $50,000, and this fund made it possible to create an educational path aimed at linking researchers and businesses in four sectors; aerospace, electronics, agribusiness, and art, culture and tourism in the territories of Campania. We selected ten emerging researchers including doctoral students in industrial engineering and chemical sciences, master’s students in social innovation, and startuppers who presented their research projects and interacted with a range of experts and more than sixty entrepreneurs. We went in search of entrepreneurs who operate directly in difficult areas, in adverse contexts, yet in many cases we discovered excellence. We conducted four workshops on the topics of g-local entrepreneurial ecosystems, responsible research and innovation, transition to sustainability, and enhancing cultural heritage. The itinerant training journey took its first steps at the end of January from the suburban area east of Naples at the San Giovanni a Teduccio technology hub, continuing on to Cava de’ Tirreni, towards Altavilla Irpina to reach Caggiano in the Vallo del Diano before landing in New York at the end of June. The goal has always been to encourage the university to listen to the needs of local operators and to create networks between local business ecosystems and New York’s more advanced ecosystem.
Italy’s and America’s are very different systems. What value does university education assume here in America and what can and do we learn from their academia?
Italian education has always been very good on the level of content, basic knowledge, theoretical knowledge. We are very strong on that level, so much so that our researchers are highly regarded internationally. I myself, having completed my undergraduate degree in Italy, have been able to see, in following other postgraduate training programs, how the Italian approach changes from that of the United States. What we still lack is first of all an ability to apply the theories we study and elaborate to concrete contexts, such as business contexts for example. But the discourse also extends to all that is policy making in institutions-that is, the ability to develop a vision with long-term policies and investments that require a holistic understanding of problems and a broad approach, not just technical or technological in nature. Very often, our students find themselves disoriented disempowered in the transition from the world of university education to the world of work, which requires them to interpret complex situations and experiment with new solutions under conditions of uncertainty. In particular, this is evident in the relationship between researchers and businesses. Another study I recently conducted shows that companies, especially in Campania, turn to consultants or intermediaries rather than research centers to acquire knowledge that is not yet available internally. The university is present but not as preeminent as in North America. This is where the Pathways to Innovation and Entrepreneurship / Pathways to Innovation and Entrepreneurship project comes from. The idea that guides us is precisely to develop entrepreneurial education or rather entrepreneurship education, which is aimed not so much and only at the creation of new businesses.
The university should therefore not only be an incubator of start-ups…
Not all our students need to become startuppers, but to acquire what is called a mindset: a mindset that is open to listening to problems, to explore them in the multidimensionality and complexity they often present, to understand what kind of needs are to be met even with a research project that has the ambition of generating social impact. This is especially important within our doctoral programs, which do not yet provide this kind of training in a systematic and cross-cutting way across all disciplinary fields. At the level of master’s degree programs we have definitely improved interaction with stakeholders. For example, I teach a course in social innovation, and we have active collaborations with so many local stakeholders. Indeed, it is important to emphasize that listening and interacting with businesses and nonprofit organizations, requires continuous, relentless, patient work of listening and sharing. The goal is not simply and slavishly to meet their needs, but also to co-create. The crux of the matter lies here, in the co-creation of new knowledge.
How are you strengthening relations with the States in this regard?
In this very wake, the Federico II University has decided to equip itself with an office here in New York in a few months. It has already been there for several years actually, but it is shared with two other universities – Sapienza University of Rome and University of Bologna – a fact that makes it necessary to coordinate between institutions to set it up and make it usable. Which is not so easy. In addition, Covid has slowed down processes and also international mobility, so the first event that Federico II held here at Cornell Tech was the one last year that we organized with the other experts on the topic of entrepreneurial ecosystems and the role of universities. The goal now is definitely to develop a systematic relationship with Cornell Tech, so much so that there is a new event planned for October that will also involve other colleagues from the University.
Let’s talk about Campania, an area rich in small and medium-sized enterprises that are getting stronger and stronger, growing and representing a significant part of the economic and social fabric of Italy. What did Campania’s entrepreneurs bring that was different about such an experience and what value can this experience bring back to Campania’s entrepreneurs? Why Campania and why the committee?
We went to Campania to explore the areas because the project was precisely devoted to exploring areas directly related to our catchment area. Especially those that have been classified as inland areas, not sufficiently served and listened to. We are talking about areas that are the subject of a specific territorial development policy in Italy, because they are strongly impacted by phenomena such as depopulation and climate change. Critical issues, these, that can also jeopardize the entrepreneurial excellence that exists in the territory with phenomena and crises still perhaps at an embryonic stage, which we should, however, promptly address. In the territory, we have examined problems such as the shortage of qualified personnel, depopulation, and the effects of climate change on agrifood production, but we have also and above all discovered the many natural, productive, and cultural resources that are still under-exploited and that can attract new residents and visitors if linked with more dynamic productive and socioeconomic realities.
Can New York be an answer?
New York can be an answer to the extent that we go to leverage the speed with which the network is activated as a way to find solutions to be tested. And we have done just that – , ceaselessly and patiently weaving a network of contacts among local production ecosystems to connect them to the more dynamic and productive New York reality in order to overcome the isolation of inland areas and accelerate innovation. For example, we met with wine producers as part of the consortium for the protection of Irpinia wines: they complained and still complain about critical economic conditions, especially for the remuneration of farmers, but also a lack of human capital, of personnel to be involved in vine-wine production. Low prices that still can grow, contexts, villages, beautiful hamlets that are increasingly depopulated. This case became the project work on which the summer school participants grappled-a group that included not only our emerging researchers but also professionals in the fields of innovation, local development and culture. What did we do? What was our value added with the group of researchers and experts involved? We tried to use technologies not just as ends in themselves, but to address the most recalcitrant social problems, starting with the context in which the problem fits. Again, there are formidable challenges at stake here: climate change, digital transformation, etc., and the project is only at the beginning of a transformational journey to which we intend to contribute over time.
How do you deal with all this complexity?
Integrated solutions need to be developed that can not only solve critical issues on the production side, but also on the social and economic side. This integrated approach to me is crucial and is very often underestimated. For example, all the phenomena of infusion of technology into traditional industries that we ourselves have observed, very often overlook what are the consequent social transformations. They do not look at the changing culture that has to change in order to acquire technology, master it and spread it. It is not simply an injection of technology that is what we need, but a much deeper and multi-level cultural change, for which the social and economic aspect-think, for example, of understanding how relationships between businesses and local communities change-are crucial issues. Otherwise, technologies are likely to fail, not going to affect the causes of the problems of lagging development. Because, when you infuse technology, you very often also create particularly sophisticated human capital that can then be sucked into more competitive and rewarding contexts and labor markets. So paradoxically, the more human capital is formed, the more technology is transferred, and the more risk that in those areas that are not within the dynamic circuits and productive agglomerations, that human capital will be lost. Thus giving rise to investments without the expected return.
However, it seems to us that the New York experience of this project, which ended very recently, went well, what are the future plans then?
The experience went very well, beyond expectations! Now we need some reflection on what was done, because the discussion and engagement was really very – I would say – vibrant. So there are potential solutions at many levels, starting from the local planning level. What do we do now with the village and wine redevelopment project? But also what reflections do we take out of this nontraditional training experience in order to propose it again in the future? On this front, in my opinion, we need to treasure some of the issues that emerged in the interaction with the New York ecosystem, with the network of Italian companies and researchers that we met both in Italy and in the States to be involved in edition number two; how then to interact with companies in other sectors as well, not only in agri-food, but also in more technology-intensive fields. Regarding relations with the American university, we have had the pleasure of welcoming several colleagues, with whom cooperation is long-standing. But we also want to understand what kind of institutional relations can be developed between Federico II and the network of American universities that we have helped build with the project.
Here’s to an excellent second edition, then!
The article Mita Marra: Naples University calls New York comes from TheNewyorker.
