Entrepreneurship and University Spin-offs for (Academic) Employment?

In the new Millennium Italian universities have lived many changes deeply reshaping academic institutions. A relevant aspect was the more and more significant need to answer the demand of society and respond the social pressure to accountability through the transfer of knowledge, innovation and technology to economy. It led to an extension of the so-called university Fourth Mission, an instrument dedicated to create spin-offs to share scientific research results with society. The paper investigates the present reality of university spin-offs in Italy by considering their growing number also in the light of their role of an instrument for academic job substitution. In particular, a tool to respond to the current condition of young Italian academic researchers increasingly affected by job offer reduction due to budget constraints, consequent university policies and new management issues.