Concetta Ferrara - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Concetta Ferrara
Regional Science Policy & Practice
Universities have long been considered key players in regional innovation systems and innovation-... more Universities have long been considered key players in regional innovation systems and innovation-driven regional development. In addition, as part of the quadruple helix, they can play a major role in RIS3 design and implementation by acting as civic universities. This contribution differs depending on external and internal factors as well as their interaction. This paper aims to shed light on the main challenges and drivers experienced by five universities whilst taking part in an Erasmus+ project. Adopting a reflexive narrative approach, it investigates to what extent and how they acted as Civic Universities and what they could learn from this quadruple helix interaction. The results show that, even in their diversity, all universities perceived themselves to have acted as CUs in the context of the project.
Il Capitale Culturale: Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage, 2020
This paper analyzes the opportunities related to public-private cooperation for the implementatio... more This paper analyzes the opportunities related to public-private cooperation for the implementation of information communication technologies (ICTs) to promote cultural heritage tourism. After a literature review on the role of cooperation between private and public sectors and the most relevant information communication technologies (ICTs) for the promotion of cultural heritage, the analysis moves to travel apps, by illustrating features, main trends and some applications of this technology to cultural heritage and tourism. In the second part, the connection between tourism, cultural heritage and digital technologies is analyzed through the description of Smart Marca app, which, starting from the cooperation between local public and private entities, exploited ICTs to promote cultural tourism in Fermo area (Marche Region, Italy). Il contributo analizza le potenzialita della cooperazione pubblico-privata nella progettazione e realizzazione di nuove tecnologie dell’informazione (ICT)...
COVID-19: Paving the Way for a More Sustainable World, 2021
In this paper, a decision-making framework for the design of redistributed manufacturing (RdM) ne... more In this paper, a decision-making framework for the design of redistributed manufacturing (RdM) networks is developed. Redistributed manufacturing, a manufacturing paradigm greatly empowered by the Industry 4.0 toolset, is the shift in production towards geographically dispersed interconnected facilities. The framework is context independent, accounts for the collective impact of all decision-making levels on one another in an iterative manner, and incorporates uncertainty. The framework has been applied to a case study in the aerospace spare parts production sector. Results indicated that the RdM paradigm demonstrated considerable improvements in service level when compared with a traditional centralized counterpart, while it was not as competitive with regards to total cost. This paper contributes to the literature on model-based distributed manufacturing systems design under uncertainty, and enables informed decision-making regarding the redistribution of resources and decentralization of decision-making. The novelty of this paper is the approach employed to handle complexity, nonlinear interrelationships and uncertainty, within the domain of RdM network design. These computationally demanding attributes are handled through simulation, and only their impact is passed back to an analytical model that generates the RdM network.
Journal of International Food & Agribusiness Marketing, 2021
Participatory approaches can play a pivotal role in the fishery sector to stimulate innovation an... more Participatory approaches can play a pivotal role in the fishery sector to stimulate innovation and knowledge exchange among stakeholders and orientation of policy decision making. Starting from these premises, this paper presents a multiple case study based on a EU funded project (namely, ARIEL project, under the egis of the INTERREG VB ADRION Programme 2014–2020) and aimed at promoting technological and non-technological solutions for innovation of small–scale fisheries and aquaculture in some countries of the Adriatic-Ionian Region. Some innovation brokerage events were organized in the first month of 2019, to boost a dialogue between regional stakeholders involved in the fishery sector. This research provides the content analysis of the outcome of the events in order to identify national peculiarities and transnational common points. Implications for marketing strategies and practices are then summarized.
Il Capitale Culturale: Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage, 2020
In regional development strategies, universities are playing an increasingly decisive role as a k... more In regional development strategies, universities are playing an increasingly decisive role as a knowledge generator and facilitator in the dialogue between local actors. This paper aims to understand the role that the University of Macerata can play in the process of interaction between business, public sector and research. Following a series of events organized by the University of Macerata with this objective, in this context will be analyzed the results of a focus group within an Entrepreneurial Discovery Process event. The participating stakeholders identified the university as the centre of a regional innovation ecosystem, where knowledge can be generated and transmitted. Nelle strategie di sviluppo regionale le universita stanno assumendo un ruolo sempre piu decisivo, quale generatore di conoscenza e facilitatore nel dialogo tra gli attori locali. Questo contributo ha l’obiettivo di capire il ruolo che puo ricoprire l’Universita di Macerata nel processo di interazione tra impr...
Moving from the diffusion of hubs in the last decade and the potential role they can play in fost... more Moving from the diffusion of hubs in the last decade and the potential role they can play in fostering community empowerment and developing social innovation, this paper describes steps, activities and implications related to the setting up of the Tuscan Wine Hub, within the European project The Wine Lab . After the definition of the wine business scenario and hub main peculiarities, the analysis moves to the description of the main outcomes of the activities carried out within the Tuscany Wine Hub, highlighting the potential of this tool to foster collaboration among different stakeholders and promote innovative practices in rural and disadvantaged areas. Partendo dalla diffusione che hanno avuto gli hub nell’ultimo decennio e dal ruolo potenziale che possono svolgere in termini di rafforzamento della comunita e innovazione sociale, il contributo descrive le principali fasi, attivita e implicazioni legate al Wine Hub nato in Toscana nell’ambito del progetto europeo The Wine Lab. Il...
Agriculture, 2020
This exploratory study focuses on the role of the university in supporting sustainable developmen... more This exploratory study focuses on the role of the university in supporting sustainable development in rural areas, focusing on small wine producers, particularly those located in remote and disadvantaged areas. Disadvantaged areas have distinctive features. Firstly, they are fragile areas from a sociodemographic point of view because of population ageing. Secondly, they are unstable from an environmental (physical, eco-systemic) point of view, as a consequence of insufficient maintenance of their seminatural capital. University–business cooperation with companies located in those areas thus needs to be designed by considering the specific characteristic of the place. Therefore, this exploratory study sought to understand how the university can work with small wineries and support them and their rural area to face inequalities and low growth, and foster social innovation. We present a case study based on field research in Italy. The results—based on the analysis of 26 semistructured ...
Tourism in Southern and Eastern Europe, 2021
Purpose – In last decades, digital technologies have progressively transformed tourism becoming a... more Purpose – In last decades, digital technologies have progressively transformed tourism becoming an opportunity to satisfy the demand for cultural tourism, increasingly asking for immersive and interactive experiences. This paper investigates the connections among tourism, cultural heritage, and ICT, by providing an assessment of how these applications can influence customers’ intentions to visit a destination. To this aim, the case of Smart Marca - a mobile tourism app aimed at promoting cultural tourism in Fermo area (Marche Region, Italy)- is presented. Methodology – The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been adopted as a framework to explore customer intentions to adopt tourism apps and visit a destination. A survey on a sample of 128 university students has been conducted. Starting from the TAM framework elaborated by Kuo and colleagues (2019), a grid of 8 influencing factors has been built, in order to investigate young users’ attitudes towards continuing using the app, ado...
The paper reports about a case study about the regional role of universities, by focusing on the ... more The paper reports about a case study about the regional role of universities, by focusing on the implementation and management of living labs to promote local tourism. The aim is to provide evidence of effective approaches to involve stakeholders in initiatives of regional development. To this aim, the stakeholder engagement activities that took place at the University of Macerata (Italy) were analysed. The conclusions highlight the usefulness of the methodologies and techniques used to facilitate university-business cooperation under the aegis of a living lab.
PRN: Political Processes, 2015
Italian Abstract: Partendo dalla crescente attenzione alla necessita di un approccio integrato al... more Italian Abstract: Partendo dalla crescente attenzione alla necessita di un approccio integrato alla gestione dei beni culturali, che oggi trova pieno riconoscimento anche in sede europea, il presente contributo prende in esame le azioni di policy avviate in Italia, in particolare da regioni e fondazioni di origine bancaria, in materia di distretti culturali. Dopo aver illustrato i percorsi istituzionali, si analizzano e si confrontano le definizioni di riferimento, gli assets di partenza e gli strumenti adottati per l’istituzione dei distretti, al fine di individuare i principali modelli che si sono affermati nel corso degli ultimi quindici anni e il loro contributo alla valorizzazione del patrimonio culturale. Infine, vengono effettuate alcune riflessioni circa il ruolo degli studi economico-manageriali nell’indirizzo delle politiche oltre che nella valutazione dell’efficacia e della sostenibilita delle stesse.English Abstract: Starting from the growing attention to the need of an ...
La globalizzazione, la diffusione dell’economia della conoscenza e le sfide connesse allo svilupp... more La globalizzazione, la diffusione dell’economia della conoscenza e le sfide connesse allo sviluppo sostenibile stanno contribuendo a ridefinire il ruolo dell’universita. Oltre alle tradizionali missioni di insegnamento e ricerca, l’universita sta assumendo un nuovo ruolo, quello di facilitatore al servizio della comunita locale. La prima parte del presente studio delinea il quadro teorico della Terza Missione (TM) e la sua transizione verso quella che e stata definita la Quarta Missione (QM) dell’universita. Successivamente lo studio illustra l’approccio adottato dall’Universita di Macerata (UniMC), che si pone come un ateneo fondato sulle scienze sociali e umanistiche. Dal 2013 UniMC ha attuato azioni mirate a rafforzare l’imprenditorialita e basate su un approccio umanistico per lo sviluppo locale. In questo contributo sono descritte sei azioni, selezionate tra le molteplici che UniMC ha sviluppato, tra cui: Ufficio per la Valorizzazione della Ricerca - ILO e Placement; l’Atelier ...
Regional Science Policy & Practice
Universities have long been considered key players in regional innovation systems and innovation-... more Universities have long been considered key players in regional innovation systems and innovation-driven regional development. In addition, as part of the quadruple helix, they can play a major role in RIS3 design and implementation by acting as civic universities. This contribution differs depending on external and internal factors as well as their interaction. This paper aims to shed light on the main challenges and drivers experienced by five universities whilst taking part in an Erasmus+ project. Adopting a reflexive narrative approach, it investigates to what extent and how they acted as Civic Universities and what they could learn from this quadruple helix interaction. The results show that, even in their diversity, all universities perceived themselves to have acted as CUs in the context of the project.
Il Capitale Culturale: Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage, 2020
This paper analyzes the opportunities related to public-private cooperation for the implementatio... more This paper analyzes the opportunities related to public-private cooperation for the implementation of information communication technologies (ICTs) to promote cultural heritage tourism. After a literature review on the role of cooperation between private and public sectors and the most relevant information communication technologies (ICTs) for the promotion of cultural heritage, the analysis moves to travel apps, by illustrating features, main trends and some applications of this technology to cultural heritage and tourism. In the second part, the connection between tourism, cultural heritage and digital technologies is analyzed through the description of Smart Marca app, which, starting from the cooperation between local public and private entities, exploited ICTs to promote cultural tourism in Fermo area (Marche Region, Italy). Il contributo analizza le potenzialita della cooperazione pubblico-privata nella progettazione e realizzazione di nuove tecnologie dell’informazione (ICT)...
COVID-19: Paving the Way for a More Sustainable World, 2021
In this paper, a decision-making framework for the design of redistributed manufacturing (RdM) ne... more In this paper, a decision-making framework for the design of redistributed manufacturing (RdM) networks is developed. Redistributed manufacturing, a manufacturing paradigm greatly empowered by the Industry 4.0 toolset, is the shift in production towards geographically dispersed interconnected facilities. The framework is context independent, accounts for the collective impact of all decision-making levels on one another in an iterative manner, and incorporates uncertainty. The framework has been applied to a case study in the aerospace spare parts production sector. Results indicated that the RdM paradigm demonstrated considerable improvements in service level when compared with a traditional centralized counterpart, while it was not as competitive with regards to total cost. This paper contributes to the literature on model-based distributed manufacturing systems design under uncertainty, and enables informed decision-making regarding the redistribution of resources and decentralization of decision-making. The novelty of this paper is the approach employed to handle complexity, nonlinear interrelationships and uncertainty, within the domain of RdM network design. These computationally demanding attributes are handled through simulation, and only their impact is passed back to an analytical model that generates the RdM network.
Journal of International Food & Agribusiness Marketing, 2021
Participatory approaches can play a pivotal role in the fishery sector to stimulate innovation an... more Participatory approaches can play a pivotal role in the fishery sector to stimulate innovation and knowledge exchange among stakeholders and orientation of policy decision making. Starting from these premises, this paper presents a multiple case study based on a EU funded project (namely, ARIEL project, under the egis of the INTERREG VB ADRION Programme 2014–2020) and aimed at promoting technological and non-technological solutions for innovation of small–scale fisheries and aquaculture in some countries of the Adriatic-Ionian Region. Some innovation brokerage events were organized in the first month of 2019, to boost a dialogue between regional stakeholders involved in the fishery sector. This research provides the content analysis of the outcome of the events in order to identify national peculiarities and transnational common points. Implications for marketing strategies and practices are then summarized.
Il Capitale Culturale: Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage, 2020
In regional development strategies, universities are playing an increasingly decisive role as a k... more In regional development strategies, universities are playing an increasingly decisive role as a knowledge generator and facilitator in the dialogue between local actors. This paper aims to understand the role that the University of Macerata can play in the process of interaction between business, public sector and research. Following a series of events organized by the University of Macerata with this objective, in this context will be analyzed the results of a focus group within an Entrepreneurial Discovery Process event. The participating stakeholders identified the university as the centre of a regional innovation ecosystem, where knowledge can be generated and transmitted. Nelle strategie di sviluppo regionale le universita stanno assumendo un ruolo sempre piu decisivo, quale generatore di conoscenza e facilitatore nel dialogo tra gli attori locali. Questo contributo ha l’obiettivo di capire il ruolo che puo ricoprire l’Universita di Macerata nel processo di interazione tra impr...
Moving from the diffusion of hubs in the last decade and the potential role they can play in fost... more Moving from the diffusion of hubs in the last decade and the potential role they can play in fostering community empowerment and developing social innovation, this paper describes steps, activities and implications related to the setting up of the Tuscan Wine Hub, within the European project The Wine Lab . After the definition of the wine business scenario and hub main peculiarities, the analysis moves to the description of the main outcomes of the activities carried out within the Tuscany Wine Hub, highlighting the potential of this tool to foster collaboration among different stakeholders and promote innovative practices in rural and disadvantaged areas. Partendo dalla diffusione che hanno avuto gli hub nell’ultimo decennio e dal ruolo potenziale che possono svolgere in termini di rafforzamento della comunita e innovazione sociale, il contributo descrive le principali fasi, attivita e implicazioni legate al Wine Hub nato in Toscana nell’ambito del progetto europeo The Wine Lab. Il...
Agriculture, 2020
This exploratory study focuses on the role of the university in supporting sustainable developmen... more This exploratory study focuses on the role of the university in supporting sustainable development in rural areas, focusing on small wine producers, particularly those located in remote and disadvantaged areas. Disadvantaged areas have distinctive features. Firstly, they are fragile areas from a sociodemographic point of view because of population ageing. Secondly, they are unstable from an environmental (physical, eco-systemic) point of view, as a consequence of insufficient maintenance of their seminatural capital. University–business cooperation with companies located in those areas thus needs to be designed by considering the specific characteristic of the place. Therefore, this exploratory study sought to understand how the university can work with small wineries and support them and their rural area to face inequalities and low growth, and foster social innovation. We present a case study based on field research in Italy. The results—based on the analysis of 26 semistructured ...
Tourism in Southern and Eastern Europe, 2021
Purpose – In last decades, digital technologies have progressively transformed tourism becoming a... more Purpose – In last decades, digital technologies have progressively transformed tourism becoming an opportunity to satisfy the demand for cultural tourism, increasingly asking for immersive and interactive experiences. This paper investigates the connections among tourism, cultural heritage, and ICT, by providing an assessment of how these applications can influence customers’ intentions to visit a destination. To this aim, the case of Smart Marca - a mobile tourism app aimed at promoting cultural tourism in Fermo area (Marche Region, Italy)- is presented. Methodology – The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been adopted as a framework to explore customer intentions to adopt tourism apps and visit a destination. A survey on a sample of 128 university students has been conducted. Starting from the TAM framework elaborated by Kuo and colleagues (2019), a grid of 8 influencing factors has been built, in order to investigate young users’ attitudes towards continuing using the app, ado...
The paper reports about a case study about the regional role of universities, by focusing on the ... more The paper reports about a case study about the regional role of universities, by focusing on the implementation and management of living labs to promote local tourism. The aim is to provide evidence of effective approaches to involve stakeholders in initiatives of regional development. To this aim, the stakeholder engagement activities that took place at the University of Macerata (Italy) were analysed. The conclusions highlight the usefulness of the methodologies and techniques used to facilitate university-business cooperation under the aegis of a living lab.
PRN: Political Processes, 2015
Italian Abstract: Partendo dalla crescente attenzione alla necessita di un approccio integrato al... more Italian Abstract: Partendo dalla crescente attenzione alla necessita di un approccio integrato alla gestione dei beni culturali, che oggi trova pieno riconoscimento anche in sede europea, il presente contributo prende in esame le azioni di policy avviate in Italia, in particolare da regioni e fondazioni di origine bancaria, in materia di distretti culturali. Dopo aver illustrato i percorsi istituzionali, si analizzano e si confrontano le definizioni di riferimento, gli assets di partenza e gli strumenti adottati per l’istituzione dei distretti, al fine di individuare i principali modelli che si sono affermati nel corso degli ultimi quindici anni e il loro contributo alla valorizzazione del patrimonio culturale. Infine, vengono effettuate alcune riflessioni circa il ruolo degli studi economico-manageriali nell’indirizzo delle politiche oltre che nella valutazione dell’efficacia e della sostenibilita delle stesse.English Abstract: Starting from the growing attention to the need of an ...
La globalizzazione, la diffusione dell’economia della conoscenza e le sfide connesse allo svilupp... more La globalizzazione, la diffusione dell’economia della conoscenza e le sfide connesse allo sviluppo sostenibile stanno contribuendo a ridefinire il ruolo dell’universita. Oltre alle tradizionali missioni di insegnamento e ricerca, l’universita sta assumendo un nuovo ruolo, quello di facilitatore al servizio della comunita locale. La prima parte del presente studio delinea il quadro teorico della Terza Missione (TM) e la sua transizione verso quella che e stata definita la Quarta Missione (QM) dell’universita. Successivamente lo studio illustra l’approccio adottato dall’Universita di Macerata (UniMC), che si pone come un ateneo fondato sulle scienze sociali e umanistiche. Dal 2013 UniMC ha attuato azioni mirate a rafforzare l’imprenditorialita e basate su un approccio umanistico per lo sviluppo locale. In questo contributo sono descritte sei azioni, selezionate tra le molteplici che UniMC ha sviluppato, tra cui: Ufficio per la Valorizzazione della Ricerca - ILO e Placement; l’Atelier ...