Scientific research and “third University mission” what role for the University

In recent years, in relation to socio-economic and legal-institutional changes, universities faced a significant internal change that contributed to deepen the crisis of the traditional teaching-learning structure. This change can be understood within the broader transition from modern society to post-modern society, characterized by a double recurrence: the paradigm change from a rational and linear vision to an unidirectional relationship between system and actor; the strategic weight held by information, in the “knowledge society”. In this framework, we can understand the lively debate within the academy that develops under the label of “Third University Mission”, aimed to understand how the enhancement of economic and social outcomes of scientific and technological research is possible.