Universities are one of the key actors within national and regional innovation systems. The nature of university-industry collaboration has changed during the last decades and it varies across countries and regions. Different factors determine the interaction among both organizations, from those related to the industrial structure\ud of the territory to others related to institutional and legal frameworks. In this paper we aim at adding to the understanding of this process based on the comparison between two European regions, Apulia in Italy and Galicia in Spain. Our results show that a progressive transition from a separated to a more integrated approach has\ud occurred at the relational framework affecting universities and industry in both regions. Public policies, particularly from the regional level, have been relevant for promoting university-industry collaboration in Galicia and Apulia.\ud Nevertheless, there still remain cultural and institutional barriers, both from the academy and business sphere, which impede a closer and more fruitful interaction.\ud Besides, the poor innovative culture of traditional industries which dominate in both regions, might affect university-industry interaction. However, an adjustment of the university offer in terms of research is also needed as we observe that collaboration is too much biased by the university scientific and departmental specialization and too\ud little by local and regional industrial specialization

The ITSs (Intelligent Transportation Systems) are part of the ICT infrastructure and are built taking into account numerous legal and organisational conditions and individual needs of the users. They are the answer for wide requirements due to implementation of innovations in road transport. The primary objective of using ITSs is to improve the efficiency of traffic and traffic safety. The aim of this paper is to present a technical approach aiming to model the impact of environmental conditions such as urban traffic, visibility, other weather conditions and road conditions on road traffic safety, using the fuzzy logic and trying to explain also the economic and legal determinants of road safety as "non technical" parts.

In order to overcome the limitations of defining industrial specializations in digital industries through SIC codes, this paper suggests measuring the specializations and competences of these industries on the basis of the degree of digital technologies present in the products and services supplied. Metadata from CrunchBase are employed, as proxies of firms' specializations and competences which are defined as the fields of activity in which firms are involved. Applying a network analysis, these specializations and competences are linked to the recognition of emerging digital technologies and the strongest combinations of products and services. We tested the proposed methodology on London, a leading centre for the digital economy.

This paper investigates socio-economic and perceptual factors affecting the likelihood of being a total early-stage entrepreneur in selected EU countries (Denmark, Germany, Finland, Sweden and Latvia) during 2005-2012. The data used for our empirical research comes from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). Our findings show that the probability to become a total early-stage entrepreneur increases for males and younger individuals with a bachelor's degree or secondary education and who are working part time or full time. Furthermore, these entrepreneurs are characterised by a lower fear of failure and higher entrepreneurial skills and perception of opportunity. Policy makers should improve the institutional framework that involves measures aimed at empowering potential entrepreneurs in finding new market opportunities. Territorial cooperation in a macro-regional perspective may be a facilitator aimed at entrepreneurial development.

Universities are one of the key actors within national and regional innovation systems. The nature of university-industry collaboration has changed during the last decades and it varies across countries and regions. Different factors determine the interaction among both organizations, from those related to the industrial structure of the territory to others related to institutional and legal frameworks. In this paper we aim at adding to the understanding of this process based on the comparison between two European regions (nuts-2), Apulia in Italy and Galicia in Spain. Our results show that a progressive transition from a separated to a more integrated approach has occurred at the relational framework affecting universities and industry in both regions. Public policies, particularly from the regional level, have been relevant for promoting university-industry collaboration in Galicia and Apulia. Nevertheless, there still remain cultural and institutional barriers, both from the academy and business sphere, which impede a narrower and more fruitful interaction. Besides, the poor innovative culture of traditional industries which dominate in both regions, might affect university-industry interaction. However, an adjustment of the university offer in terms of research is also needed as we observe that collaboration is too much biased by the university scientific and departmental specialization and too little by local and regional industrial specialization.