From Academic Innovation to Practical Application: the LeanPD Italian Community

Abstract. Every day the academic world generates innovative ideas and theoretical models. Most of them, or at least some, are really interesting and “new”. But which is their value? How can they be used? Who will gain advantage from them? Without translating these innovations into the industrial world, the answers to these questions are vague. In fact, if not applicable to real cases and by real subjects these ideas stay volatile. Here the importance of a concrete and solid relationship between universities and industries. The academic world and the industrial one have to be very closed, they need to cooperate and to share knowledge in a synergic way. Surely this relationship is not immediate and easy, some efforts are necessary in order to guarantee a certain level of success. This paper tries to investigate the winning factors affecting this kind of collaboration, basing on a highly significant co-operation experience between Politecnico di Milano and ten Italian companies.