Medicinal mushrooms as part of the “third mission” activities of universities – a science to business initiative related to mycotherapy

In Italy, the National Agency for the Evaluation of the University System and Research (ANVUR) carries out a systematic evaluation of the “Third Mission” activities of universities and research bodies. In this perspective, universities already engaged in research on medicinal mushrooms and on their potential applications in the industrial sector set the frame for collaboration with large, well-reputed private companies. In Italy, one of the major problems of mycotherapy is related to lack of certification and the dubious origin/identity of mushroom extracts used by the industry. Hence, products deriving from medicinal mushrooms that are in trade do not often meet the required quality criteria. In this paper, a multipartner collaboration is presented, which aims at the bottom to top development of nutraceutical products from Pleurotus mushrooms in agreement to science-to-business (S2B) marketing.