What is Third Mission

The term “Third Mission” refers to activities related to the transfer of scientific, technological, and cultural knowledge, as well as the productive transformation of this knowledge through interaction between universities, civil society, and the entrepreneurial sector. The aim is to promote economic and social growth in the territory and to ensure that knowledge becomes useful for achieving social, cultural, and economic benefits.

As defined by ANVUR, the Third Mission is an institutional responsibility of universities alongside the traditional roles of teaching and research. This concept is addressed in DL 19/2012, which outlines the system of “Self-Assessment, Periodic Evaluation, and Accreditation” (AVA), and DM 47/2013, which lists the parameters for periodic evaluation alongside those for research. The Third Mission operates with two key objectives:

1. Economically Valuing Knowledge: This involves transforming knowledge generated through research into useful knowledge for productive purposes. Examples include managing intellectual property, creating new enterprises, conducting contract research, fostering relationships between research and industry, and managing intermediary and support structures.
2. Socially Valuing Knowledge: This aims to produce tools that can improve quality of life in various areas, including pedagogical (adult education, lifelong learning, continuous training), cultural (management of museum hubs, archaeological excavations, scientific outreach), and civic (defense of public assets, consultancy in public interest debates and controversies).

The goal is to leverage teaching and research by stimulating interaction between universities and stakeholders, with a focus on the territory and social spaces to build synergies based on knowledge. An example of this is the project “Participation and Education for Citizenship in the Territory of Tuscia from the 1970s to Today: Global Dynamics and Local Dimension” (2021-2022), coordinated by historians from the Department of Economics, Engineering, Society, and Business, and the Department of Linguistic, Literary, Historical-Philosophical, and Legal Studies. This project is based on partnerships with various civil society entities and local organizations.

Specifically, the Mariano Buratti High School in Viterbo hosted a social theater workshop that involved dozens of students from different classes and concluded with a theatrical performance in the evocative setting of the Renaissance cloister of Santa Maria in Gradi.

The following activities fall under the Third Mission:

• Relationships with schools, cultural institutions, and society
• Services for businesses
• Job offers, internships, and startups
• Public events and meetings, lectures, and presentations.