Italy has done substantial forward steps to fosters the ‘Entrepreneurship Knowledge Triangle’ and to support employability of qualified human capital able to translate Research & Development (R&D) results into commercial opportunities. The number of actors implementing the new employment policies and regulations is indeed growing although many barriers still need to be tackled and conditions aligned to European frameworks to achieve maximum growth impact within the Italian ecosystem.
The ‘SCIENT’ project A European University-Business Alliance aiming to foster young SCIEntists’ ENTrepreneurial spirit euscient.eu contributes to this process by empowering the circumcentre of the Knowledge Triangle, the students, in our case the STEM PhD students and/or graduates – in finding their place in the competitive global STEM market environment.
The Italian Needs Analysis on Entrepreneurship for STEM PhD students and graduates belongs to a series of national reports (produced in Cyprus, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Lithuania, Malta, the United Kingdom and Italy), aiming at identifying best practices, strengths, weaknesses and success stories on entrepreneurship and accelerator programmes throughout Europe, as well as understanding the perceived enablers and barriers of STEM PhD students/graduates in using their scientific knowledge, in developing their entrepreneurial skills and finally start their own business.
To discuss the national reports and embed the findings into the learning material for the upcoming SCIENT entrepreneurship course, the partnership hold its third coordination meeting at the University of Beira Interior in Covilhã, Portugal, on 15 and 16 December 2015.
The project aims ultimately to launch an innovative entrepreneurship programme for PhD STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) students and graduates that will focus on the development of their transversal skills and provide them with a new professional path.
Stay tuned – call for applications for the PhD Entrepreneurship course at CESIE is opening in March 2016!
All meeting participants were given the opportunity to discuss the progress made in the second half of 2015, identify problems, explore ideas and create the project’s roadmap for the coming months. The meeting was attended by members of the SCIENT consortium, comprising 15 partners from 8 countries.
For more information about the SCIENT project, visit: euscient.eu or contact at CESIE, research@cesie.org.
The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
