Abstract
Abstract Purpose. This paper wants to contribute to providing a legal framework for research work carried out in companies and the private sector.
Design/methodology/approach. After providing the theoretical framework, an analysis is supplied of all measures –including financial ones – related to the promotion of research work in companies and the private sector, more generally.
Findings. The idea of research in Italy is still closely associated with academia and this might hamper the establishment of company-based researchers and cooperation between the public and the private sector, especially without the setting up of a legal and institutional framework that puts private research work on an equal footing with public research.
Research limitations/implications. This research calls for the need to bring together academia and industry by putting in place a set of rules regulating research work at companies and in the private sector, more broadly, according to the European Charter for Researchers.
Originality/value. For the first time in Italy, non-academic research work is analyzed in a systematic framework covering legislation and rules laid down by collective bargaining.
Paper type. Theoretical and institutional research aimed to change and modernize the legal framework in Italy.