Effective Technology Transfer for the Italian smes: the need of Knowledge Integrator

In this paper we focus on one aspect of the so called technology transfer, namely the matching between demand and supply of technology, in order to identify a model to enhance the effective and efficient matching of demand and supply; in particular we examine the tacit knowledge for the system of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMES). The central thesis of this paper is that the form in which knowledge exists («frozen», for example, in patents or publications, or tacit owned by researchers) is not sufficient to activate the transfer but requires the presence of actors (which we will call «knowledge integrators») that facilitate the process convergence; it is easy to arouse the interest of a businessman showing of scientific results, but when you move to a further level of detail are born a series of misunderstandings due essentially to the different language and the different objectives of the actors, which prevent or at least slow down the convergence of the transfer process. The system that we analyse sees «entrepreneurs », mostly related to micro, small and medium enterprises or otherwise to companies that do not have at home, for different choices, a person who can play the role of integrator of knowledge; entrepreneurs are the source of the «demand» that we are going to explain. In the system there are also the «researchers» seen as a source of «offer». As anticipated, we believe it is necessary to have qualified individuals as «integrators knowledge» to allow the process of encounter between supply and demand to converge on shared projects. In the paper we present the model which we believe describes effectively the process of transfer of tacit knowledge between the world of public research and the world of SMES.