Conference Program

The changes that have affected universities over the last three decades have sanctioned an epochal transformation in the relationship between academic knowledge and territorial development. Although within rather heterogeneous reformist approaches – and with particular reference to the national contexts of so-called developed countries – it is undeniable that the role and functions of knowledge have undergone a sort of Copernican revolution. Universities, no longer conceived as autonomous advanced centers of training and research (Pinto; 2019), have been compelled to periodically justify their utility and functionality within the framework of the priorities of the capitalist socio-economic system.

The transition from a Fordist accumulation system to a post-Fordist one has not proven to be a mere technical exercise. Instead, it has entailed a shift in the ways through which society and institutions – both public and private – participate in value production (The OECD Observer, 1980; Lebert e Vercellone 2006; Fraser, 2019; Braudel, 1977). Economies are framed as knowledge-based, and it is precisely through the knowledge society that they intend to compete. This conjuncture has been favoured by the development of network systems typical of cognitive capitalism, in which the university is conceptualized as an player directly involved in the economic and cultural development of the territory in which it is located (Perotti, 2010; Carayannis e Campbell 2009; Benneworth et al., 2009; Donolo, 1971)

The Third Mission (TM), understood as an organizational academic field, represents the outcome of the institutional modernization that has affected the University. It is common to distinguish between the economic and non-economic valorization of knowledge. Initially, academic activity with and for society were left to the discretion of individual researchers; today, they represent an expected counterpart for legitimation and recognition within and outside one's professional field. Drawing on data gathered through semi-structured interviews with academics from an Italian university, this article focuses on a specific area of the TM: public engagement. The aim is to understand the types of stakeholders with whom ties are forged (Bhattacharyya, 2004), the ways in which participation in development takes place, and the tools or actions employed (Benneworth, 2013); finally, it examines the limits and opportunities of this new mission (Hoye e Pries 2009; Baird, 2020; Tucker e Parker 2020).