New companies created from universities to exploit knowledge produced by academic activities in a profit making perspective.
Published in Chapter:
Consumerism and Innovation: The Starting Points for the Creation of University Spin-Off
Enrico M. Mosconi (‘Tuscia' University of Viterbo, Italy), Michela Piccarozzi (‘Tuscia' University of Viterbo, Italy), and Cecilia Silvestri (‘Tuscia' University of Viterbo, Italy)
Copyright: © 2014
|Pages: 25
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5880-6.ch015
Abstract
In the current economic environment companies are progressively required to focus in innovation. In particular, consumerism is one of the major pulses to innovation. Today, consumers are looking for more and more innovative and qualitative products and so companies seek to heavily invest in technological advancements to meet the needs of customers. Even universities try to follow the trend of consumerism and adapt their activities to the market demands: first of all, in the way of teaching and transferring culture, and secondly, using their knowledge to create innovative companies. So, this second mission that allows universities to commercialize research results, has assumed a strategic role and primary importance in government policies, in Europe as well as in the rest of the world. University spin-off (USOs) can be considered one of the most important vehicle to create innovative firms based on scientific and new technological product. The trend of consumerism can be followed with spin-offs. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the link between spin-off planning, especially during the business plan preparation, and consumerism. This area is investigated through a systematic review of the literature about the consumer, consumerism and the spin-off phenomenon.