Abstract:

Nowadays an extremely up-to-date theme is that of the reorganization of the relations among industrial system, university/technological research and the rules which are being issued by the governments. Such reorganization is needed in order to regain the competitivity of the western economic system which is suffering due to globalization, and therefore due to the great expansion of the new competitors coming especially from Asia and South America.

In Europe, and in particular in Italy, the new dimension of these relations is developing following two different paths: down-up and top-down in order to carry out an important structural development within the existing industrial organization, with reference especially to the use and the development of applied Technological Research. The study will, therefore, at first deal with the indication of the characteristics of the existing situation, especially as far as the medium dimensions of the European and in particular of the Italian industrial system are concerned, considering it as a limitative element relevant to R&D investments and the unavoidable consequence connected to the rearticulation also of the universities, at least in Italy.

Thereafter, it will be carried out a schematic comparison among the industrial organization systems, with reference to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, existing in the different European countries and in particular among clusters, poles de competitivités, industrial districts and networks of enterprises, which represent the new frontier of the industrial structure.

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises establish, by means of the networks, relations of aggregation without fusions or acquisitions, in order to overcome the minimum dimensional thresholds which characterize them and be able to:
- reduce costs and thus amortize technological developments
- increase revenues because the unitary legal entities which are created have a bigger dimension and may be considered suppliers for bigger orders.
The creation of such entities involves, within the field of R&D and of the relations with state institutions, two important novelties:
- increase in the requests of innovation to the Research Centres ant to the Universities
- legal involvement of such institutions in the relations among enterprises. Sometimes it is even possible that a participation of public and state-run bodies may occur; such organizations would act as solicitors of this reorganization of the territories, thus overcoming the old Industrial Districts.
Networks require a unitary governance and new rules should be issued by the Governments which should integrate, anyway, in their national legislation the SMA (Small Business Act), to which also the rules relevant to the networks should obviously be conformed.

Changes in the interlocution Public Administration – Enterprises are also foreseen.
Nowadays, the triangulation technology-industry-government is very dynamic and many organizations of category (CONFINDUSTRIA, Chambers of commerce, etc.) are developing many activities and formulating a number of interventions of Government and Parliament.