Navigating Transnational Innovation. Best Practices in Academic Cooperation between Italy and China

Italy and China boast a long history of scientific collaborations. In recent decades, several Italian universities have launched double degree programs, opened offices, exchanged students and professors, signed agreements, and together contributed to the production of research and publications that, thanks to the expertise of both parties, have been cited countless times by the scientific community in both countries. This chapter is the result of a concerted effort by three research groups. It aims to provide an overview of different actors in Sino-Italian academic cooperation over more than a decade, studying how the Galileo Galilei Italian Institute of the Sant’Anna School in Pisa, based in Chongqing, the “China Center” of the Politecnico di Torino, and the “China–Italy Joint Laboratory on Advanced Manufacturing (CI-LAM)” of the University of Bergamo have played a role in such Sino-Italian scientific exchange. In particular, this chapter focuses on the role of these three realities as intermediaries for Innovation between Italy and China. It will showcase the results achieved during the golden years of Sino-Italian cooperation and will attempt to provide an analysis of the post-pandemic recovery and the strategies implemented. Through scientific diplomacy, these intermediary entities (Galilei Institute, China Center, CI-LAM) have brought together minds, experiences, and stories and played an innovative and fundamental connecting role.