From the lab to the market: the path of
applied research for innovation

There are ideas capable of surpassing their initial purpose, ideas that provide answers even to questions different from those that first inspired them. Sometimes they move across neighbouring or distant fields of research, sometimes they cross the boundary between research and industry, transferring expertise, techniques and technologies directly from the laboratory to society. Physics has always been a powerful incubator of innovation, having developed pioneering methodologies that have found applications in biomedicine, cultural heritage, environmental and climate studies, energy, supercomputing, and space technologies. Over its 74-year history, INFN has played a leading role in transferring technologies from fundamental research to society, and this success has been made possible thanks to large-scale research projects and the ability to establish strong collaborations with public and private partners across the country. In Germany, an effective synergy in this field has been cultivated by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, an organisation based on a public-private funding system which, on the one hand, safeguards research independence and ensures the functioning of infrastructures, and, on the other, guarantees that research is effectively market-oriented. In this way, since 1949, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has acted as a true facilitator between industrial partners, the research community and the public sector to transfer scientific results to the industry. Its model is unique within the European research landscape and so robust that it has established the organisation as one of the world’s leading players in applied research. We interviewed Ilaria Marcolini, Head of Marketing, Communication, and Public Relations at Fraunhofer Italia, to hear how this experience has been transposed into the Italian innovation ecosystem, particularly in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, where it is based.