An AI-Based Approach for the Improvement of University Technology Transfer Processes in Healthcare

Universities are today required to make an ever-increasing effort to bridge the gap between research, innovation, and marketable solutions. The goal of the paper is to contribute to enhancing the process of exploiting research results of universities through the proposition of an AI-based search process, the experimentation of the process by means of a prototype web portal named “UNIBA TT Skills Portal” that implements it and the evaluation of the perceived user experience of the web portal by using the System Usability Scale questionnaire. The paper illustrates a case study conducted on the University of Bari Aldo Moro, a large university in southern Italy, using technology transfer data in the health domain. The collection of data in a unique “place” aims at fostering technology transfer activities and the creation/acceleration of new innovative enterprises (start-ups and spinoffs) in the Healthcare sector.