The world of work and job placement start from education.
If the engineers didn’t study, nobody would be able to build houses, buildings and bridges. If the lawyers didn’t deepen the study of the law, certainly they wouldn’t be able to create a defense.
These are just a few easy examples that help to understand the relationship between the world of work and education institutions, two worlds strongly linked by mutual influences.
Work together to grow and improve: the actors involved
As pointed out by the Report 2018 of the University-Company Observatory in the Conference of Italian University Rectors (CRUI) – the synergy between companies, students and Universities is increasingly important, and it’s producing more and more positive effects on society and on the Italian production fabric, making companies more competitive, universities more attractive and students well placed in the world of work.
Let’s find out more about roles and benefits of each actor involved in the relationship between universities and companies.
The company
Business success depends largely on the network in which the company is part of. Interaction with other companies is essential, especially for those that work for innovation like us. This is why it is important to be linked with similar realities which share the same vision of professional development and growth. (Read more about this in our blog).
It is the same if we think about the relationship that a company can have with the world of research and education.
This relationship has two directions. On the one hand, the company is the testing ground for academic research, implementation and application to reality.
On the other hand, there is a constant exchange of ideas, innovations and people, which constitute a great scientific inspiration. This is also why companies welcome many interns, who often conduct research projects for their dissertation by taking their first steps in the world of work and giving the company new ideas to be explored.
The University or research / education institutions
The University provides teaching, research and technology transfer, which it uses to provide new technologies, to improve services and to launch new products on the market.
The relationship with the world of work can only be bi-directional, considering that the skills required in the companies stimulate the definition of research and also of the study plans.
In fact, there are several external actors from the business world, which collaborate with the Universities and they are stakeholders involved in the definition of the study plans, considering the importance of their opinion to guide students and facilitate their professional choices.
The students
As said so far, it would be reductive to consider university-company interaction as a “study to work” contact. Indeed it is increasingly evident that experiences and students’ presence in the world of work, even before the graduation, make a person ready for future challenges in an increasingly dynamic world.
For this reason, students are links between University and company. For them it is a great opportunity to know a company from inside, to experience the teamwork and to apply to reality their theoretical studies, contributing to the success of a project.
BionIT Labs®’ experience
In our opinion a productive collaboration with Universities lead to good results and in our growth we have experienced each of the benefits coming from this interaction.
Sufficient to say that BionIT Labs® and Adam’s Hand® are the result of the dissertation of our CEO, Giovanni Zappatore, who involved many young students in his project. Some of them also developed other researches on Adam’s Hand®’s features and they are today members of the team.
This is also one of the reasons why we support students’ researches and internships, and we always make sure that there are at least 2 interns per quarter or semester.
Also for this reason we interact with universities and research bodies, and we currently have agreements with the University of Salento, the Polytechnic of Bari and the Polytechnic of Turin.
They are important interlocutors for the enhancement of our device and for our projects, and they follow with interest the development of Adam’s Hand®.
As stated by Giulio Reina, professor of Applied Mechanics at the Polytechnic of Bari, “our collaboration is a concrete example of the “open innovation” paradigm, which uses our skills to develop innovative solutions quickly and with efficient dynamism.
In fact, as Professor Reina explains, “we promote a win-win logic. On the one hand BionIT Labs® uses the academy as a starting point for research, on the other hand the Polytechnic has the opportunity to test its studies, applying it to a product, in a company, and therefore to reality.
Obviously, we can’t forget the importance that internships and dissertations represent for students. They are a real bridge of transmission of the theoretical skills that become practical in a business context that also carries out the precious task of guiding them to the future”.
Erasmo and Alessia: why BionIT Labs® for their dissertation
Erasmo Difonzo and Alessia Centonze tell us more about it. They are young students, both involved in researches for their dissertation at BionIT Labs.
Erasmo studies at the Polytechnic of Bari and he is also carrying out an internship experiencing the beating heart of BionIT Labs® every day.
Erasmo tells us that he chose to carry out both internship and dissertation in our startup “because it is a young, highly dynamic and formative environment“. In order to carry out his experimental study in the best way, he considers very important “the support and constant monitoring of his activities, which he finds in the team, 100% available for his needs”.
Erasmo is fascinated by “this international but so-close-“at home” reality, in an area that still today makes little use of research and technology transfer, and he is really excited to be part of it”.
Alessia, student at the Polytechnic of Turin, is also carrying out researches for her dissertation at BionIT Labs®.
She understood the importance of the teamwork, fundamental for a multidisciplinary exchange and constant interaction with the group “and she tells us that she greatly appreciates “the stimulating environment of a startup, which, by its natural conformation, has rhythms, situations and different challenging characteristics“. Alessia thinks that “this experience will allow her to put her theoretical study into practice, enhancing and improving her soft skills“.
Thanks to the students’ enthusiasm and the good results obtained with their contribution, we keep working in this direction. In fact, we are expanding our collaborations with other international Universities, signing agreements for internships thanks to the Erasmus + programme.
We truly believe that the contamination of education, research & development and companies is a great opportunity for the job placement of young people, but above all we are sure that “in unity, strength” when the mission is to improve services, products and to meet the needs of the society.
