In its “PoliTo4Impact” Strategic Plan, Politecnico recognizes a strategic role in the transfer of knowledge and technologies for the country's social, economic, and industrial development. Technology transfer activities within the University are aimed in the first place at systematizing the capacity to enhance research results and, through this enhancement, to support the growth and competitiveness of companies in the region. At the same time, these activities provide comprehensive support to public administrations in defining measures and standards that enable sustainable development, to cope with technological and social changes that impact the whole community.
For this reason, Politecnico together with other actors in the region is actively structuring an Innovation Ecosystem, which lays its foundations on the development of expertise and research results and culminates with the transfer of this knowledge to the overall society.
The innovation ecosystem built around Politecnico di Torino ensures complete coverage of the technology transfer process and is capable of accelerating both the development and adoption of new technologies by bringing together innovation supply, companies that constitute potential demand, and financial sector actors.
Politecnico’s technology transfer system - aligned with the models of the most prominent international universities - relies upon the joint activities of a network of actors (identified as bridging institutions), many of which were founded by the University. These actors strengthen Politecnico's action and impact on regional economic and entrepreneurial development.
The technology transfer system is based on three areas of intervention:
1) Generating knowledge and training on entrepreneurship;
2) Technological development;
3) Transfer of technologies to the industrial world and society.
Among the above, each step can be interpreted as a step in advancing an innovative idea to become a prototype that matures until a concrete application is found.
The activities undertaken by the university within the innovation ecosystem are part, therefore, of a wider system of actors that contribute to the formation of the Technology Transfer System, a model based on knowledge development and knowledge transfer capable of creating value for society.