New alliances to face the challenges of the future

A way to update skills and retrain resources that involves an increasingly widespread contamination between the business world and universities. On the one hand, universities are important research partners that businesses can rely on to support their quest for innovation. On the other hand, an increasing number of universities are taking into account the need to update their educational programs and implement the related R&D sectors in line with the evolution of the job market. The benefits of this collaboration also include a greater attractiveness of universities, as well as faster job placement for students. The goal is to create a strategic dimension to overcome the challenges of global competitiveness by activating a policy aimed at promoting knowledge sharing and strengthening the economic and social performance of the players involved.

To ensure that universities and businesses engage in innovative projects together, governance models that make the two parties interact according to their respective needs are necessary. The aim is to generate shared value by linking best practices and transforming them into standard procedures. In order to manage and develop this kind of collaboration, operating units such as Industrial Liaison Offices are used: strategic interfaces at the service of technology transfer and innovation.

The open innovation formula is a great opportunity for companies engaged in innovation. It is a process of growth and mutual benefit thanks to the collaboration and exchange between different realities. Multinationals and companies can choose to initiate strategic partnerships by promoting projects that significantly contribute to the development of new action scenarios.

The Industrial Liaison Program of MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology - one of the most prestigious U.S. universities of research applied to industry and the development of production processes - is the perfect example. It offers a path aimed at sharing its resources with companies from all over the world to better face the future of technological progress. In 2022, Angelini Industries joined the Boston University program with a two-year membership agreement, activated by the Angelini Academy. This collaboration includes the possibility for the Italian company to broaden its network of relationships by coming into contact with researchers and startups linked to MIT. It is a unique opportunity to strengthen the entire corporate ecosystem. It is a strategic tool to fill gaps in knowledge and skills and an educational alliance capable of activating flexible and personalized methods of lifelong learning. Angelini Academy will identify ad hoc training programs of the U.S. university for its employees to enhance their skills in the field of technology. On the other hand, the university’s students will be able to participate in PhD and research projects at all Angelini Industries companies. The beginning of this collaboration between MIT and Angelini Industries will involve Fameccanica - a Group company specializing in automation and robotics for the consumer goods industry - which will implement a six-month plan to identify the points of contact between the university’s research programs and company development projects in the areas of robotics, industrial automation and sustainable manufacturing.

In the future, collaboration will also extend to the pharmaceutical, venture capital and consumer goods sectors of Angelini Industries.

The launch and development of this kind of collaboration can yield cognitive, economic and socio-institutional benefits such as to make excellence a constant.