No. 30 (2025): TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSFER AND NEW RESEARCH HORIZON. Connecting university, industry and communities to innovate and transform society
Research and Experimentation

Research-action and third mission: innovative experiences in European design

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  • Rossella Roversi,
  • Andrea Boeri,
  • Francesca Sabatini
Rossella Roversi
Dipartimento di Architettura, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Italia
Andrea Boeri
Dipartimento di Architettura, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Italia
Francesca Sabatini
Dipartimento di Architettura, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Italia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/techne-17385

Published 2025-11-07

Keywords

  • University third mission,
  • Open innovation,
  • Data-driven methodologies,
  • Urban resilience

How to Cite

Roversi, R., Boeri, A., & Sabatini, F. (2025). Research-action and third mission: innovative experiences in European design. TECHNE - Journal of Technology for Architecture and Environment, (30), 83–94. https://doi.org/10.36253/techne-17385

Copyright (c) 2025 Rossella Roversi, Andrea Boeri, Francesca Sabatini

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Abstract

The university today is called upon to play a key role in the innovation and regeneration of territorial systems through the Third Mission, which combines research and teaching with technology transfer and knowledge co-creation initiatives. However, there remains a gap between theory and practice, which tends to reduce Third Mission to mere dissemination. This paper contributes to bridging the gap by presenting an integrated, co-designed and data-driven approach to open innovation that integrates stakeholders from the earliest stages of the process. Strategies and actions are presented in the framework of action-research in European projects where digital tools and quintuple helix collaboration generate impacts and enable long-term technology transfer.

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