Southern Italy and the Factories of Knowledge

In the knowledge economy, research centres and Universities represent - especially in areas with a lagging development and a low rate of hi-tech businesses - advanced production facilities as to dimensions, numbers, policies and activities, contributing to create and spread cultural, organizational and social innovation. These promote the growth and mobility of human capital, the attraction of investments, the enhancement of the territory and urban qualification. Furthermore, even in view of regulatory and procedural rigour, they experiment and disseminate new forms of public-private inter-institutional cooperation with remarkable repercussions both for the territory and local policies. Among the possible examples, we may mention the learning by doing project of the iOS Developer Academy, created by the agreement between the University of Naples «Federico II» and Apple Inc., progressively extended to all Campania's Universities.