When research moves up regulation: a trailblazing experience of industrial PhD in Italy

The article discusses the experience of the doctoral school in human capital formation and labour relations at the University of Bergamo (Italy), co-promoted by the Association of International and Comparative Studies in Labour and Industrial Relations (ADAPT) and by CQIA (Teaching and Learning Quality Centre of the University of Bergamo). Both organisations have shown commitment to the innovative nature of industrial PhDs, well ahead of what was laid down recently in Italian legislation, which introduces industrial doctorates, but raises a number of questions concerning the extension and scope of this new typology in the national context. The approach adopted by the doctoral program stood out since its establishment as being similar to that used in other European or non-European countries where work-based doctoral programs have been established for a long time. The article explores institutional and methodological pre-conditions for the establishment of such an innovative path in the Italian context, exploring also the features of innovative doctoral programs based on apprenticeship schemes and their commonalities with the industrial PhD scheme. © 2015 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.