Abstract

The presentation aims to analyze the case study of the creation, establishment, and development of the envisaged Italian Research Managers and Administrators (RMAs) Association, under an innovative perspective, not previously covered at a national level.

Specifically, we are carrying out a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis of the internal and external factors that have a potential positive or negative impact on the launch of the Italian RMAs Association by an RMAs informal working group.
Internal factors are the characteristics of the current informal RMAs network and external factors are political, economic, social and technological determinants characterizing the Italian context.

Through this methodology the working group intends to implement the most appropriate strategic choices (identified in the 2022 Strategic Plan) and an effective marketing strategy for the Italian RMAs Association, coherent with critical success factors and enabling conditions characterizing the national framework. These elements – as well as the synergies among them – are in fact those that will have to be monitored with particular attention to seize opportunities based on the strengths, transform weaknesses into strengths, identify and limit emerging risks, with the ultimate goal to maximize success chances of the path towards the Italian RMAs Association.

This topic is particularly relevant and timeliness because, throughout the Italian Recovery and Resilience Plan implementation guidelines (Mission 4: Education and research; Component 2: From research to business) – currently in discussion – there are frequent references to highly qualified research managers as professionals playing a crucial role in the governance which must be provided by the implementing entities of different measures, such as extended public-private partnerships, national research centers, innovation ecosystems, and research and innovation infrastructure.
This shows a growing interest of policy makers in the role of research managers, which will necessarily be accompanied by a definition of their requirements in terms of skills and competence and their expected role.

This is a presentation recalling a previous one, illustrated during the 2021 EARMA Conference, which displayed the first steps of the Italian path towards the gathering of the national RMAs community.
This work will be followed by a series of follow-up activities: a contribution to the EARMA newsletter, presentations in other national (e.g. Italian Association of University General Directors - CoDAU) and international locations (e.g. UK, Portugal), and at least a publication in relevant Journals.

The format choice is motivated by the fact that this analysis requires enough time to examine single impact factors, and, above all, it wishes an interaction by participants, especially those who had or are having similar experiences in other national contexts. In this sense, both “Oral 30 mins” and “Fifteen Minute Discussion Tables” appear suitable formats.