Analysis and classification of public research institutes

摘要

Nowadays the government of industrialised countries, in the presence of reduced public resources, has to assign clear objectives to public research laboratories, to increase the technology transfer necessary to the competitiveness of firms. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the public research bodies of the National Research Council of Italy, to pinpoint the main typologies operating in the national system of innovation (NSI). This research shows four main types of research institutes as drivers of NSI. The results can supply useful information to policy makers on the behaviour of these structures and on their strengths and weaknesses.