Abstract

The academic-industrial cooperation Eni gave life to during the 1950s and 1960s was of great importance but has not been given the attention it deserves given the leading role played by the company, founded by Enrico Mattei, during the internationalisation process of the Italian economy during the economic boom. This paper focusses on agreements made with Italian universities resulting from Eni’s business and strategic choices at a time marked by expectations nurtured towards the modernisation process undertaken by the state-run company and the public management before the epochal changes of the late 1960s and early 1970s that would lead the way to the crises and transformations of the following years.