INNOVATION AND KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER MECHANISMS IN AN “ENGAGED” UNIVERSITY. THE CASE OF THE “FEDERICO II" SAN GIOVANNI HUB (SGH)

What happens when a former industrial area (dismissed for nearly 20 years) is replaced by a knowledge-intensive Hub hosting: a University Campus, research centres and laboratories, firms, and a hybrid form of advanced education programmes in partnership with global-scale companies? The present research aims at defining the scope of such emerging phenomenon occurring in a peripheral suburb in the East area of the city of Naples (Italy), and characterised by the settlement of a knowledge intensive Hub involving innovation, technology and knowledge transfer processes. The main subject of the study is the San Giovanni a Teduccio “Federico II” University Hub, a university campus and research centre hosted by a peripheral urban suburb in the East area of Naples and herein named the San Giovanni Hub (“SGH”) or simply the “Hub”.