Launch of the Executive PhD in Innovation in collaboration with Tsinghua University

The presence of the School of Management in China is all set to be strengthened by a recently launched new project, the Executive PhD in Innovation,  a programme that is part of the China-Italy Design Innovation Hub. Protagonists of this, the biggest European innovation hub, Politecnico di Milano and Tsinghua University are proactive in the research and training of the talents and innovative leaders of the future.

Collaboration between Politecnico di Milano and Tsinghua University officially started in February 2017 with foundation of the China-Italy Design Innovation Hub in the presence of Sergio Mattarella and Xi Jinping, and, maturing over the years, it has led to the launch of this Executive PhD.

This Executive PhD will bring together Chinese and Italian academic excellences in an innovative programme, designed to teach senior profiles to creatively combine years of experience with applied research to generate ideas and innovative solutions, and also to help growth in businesspeople and managers who promote innovation by integrating managerial competences and scientific thinking.

The opening ceremony was held on 10 September, in the presence of Prof. Ferruccio Resta, Rector of Politecnico di Milano, Prof. Giuliano Noci, Vice Rector for China and Prof. Paolo Trucco, Project Director.
A chance to highlight the importance of collaboration between the two universities and recall significant moments from Italy-China relations.

Change at the top of our Business School

Today’s shareholders’ meeting has ratified the change at the top of our Business School, starting from the 1st of January 2020: Andrea Sianesi, appointed by the Senate and the University Board as the new President of Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, leaves the Presidency to Vittorio Chiesa and the office of Dean to Federico Frattini.

The gratitude of the whole School goes to Andrea for all the work he has done in recent years.

Under his guidance, MIP has, in fact, contributed substantially and fundamentally to the achievement of significant successes on the part of the School of Management in terms of international accreditations (EQUIS for 5 years, AMBA for 5 years, EOCCS for two Flex EMBA courses and the forthcoming AACSB) and results in the rankings (e.g. 7th in the world in QS – Online MBA), which today enable the School of Management to rank among the best management schools in the world which belong to a technical university.

Again, under his guidance, MIP has succeeded in following a path of progressive integration within the School, which, together with the strong drive for internationalisation, innovation in terms of both product and format and the ever increasing application of digital technology to the provision of training courses, has allowed the attainment of remarkable growth in both turnover and profitability, generating resources that have been committed to the development of the faculty of the Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, or to support the School’s strategic projects (funding for the development of activities in China and for the Gianluca Spina residency) and, last but not least, for the realisation of innovative projects for the application of digital technologies (AI) to lifelong learning (the FLEXA project).

A big thank you then, to Andrea, and our best wishes for success in his next professional challenge.

Alessandro Perego on behalf of the whole Politecnico di Milano School of Management

 

Are you ready for the FLEXA experience?

 

Digital innovation is one of the central themes at our School. It all started with the launch of the Flex EMBA, the first Executive MBA digitally delivered, in 2014 and since then our engagement in innovating education has skyrocketed. Indeed, we have just launched FLEXA, the innovative Artificial Intelligence platform developed in partnership with Microsoft to ensure personalized continuous learning to students, Alumni and – soon – to professionals.

How does it work?

FLEXA assesses your spectrum of hard, soft and digital skills to determine where there are gaps to be filled and sets off down the route towards your professional objectives.
Then, taking into account the skill gap to be fixed, the amount of time you have at your disposal and your interests, FLEXA provide you with a range of content designed specifically to improve your knowledge, selecting only high-quality material from certified sources like digital content, events and webinars.

The wide variety of articles and sources provided by FLEXA is helping me to strengthen my management skills; reading stimulating articles, and reflecting upon the insights given by leaders from across the world, is an enriching experience, that enables me to improve my knowledge of management”, explains Alessandro Fadda, MIP Alumnus and FLEXA user.

Yet, FLEXA offers much more.
Students, for example, can also enrich their career development path exploiting FLEXA potentialities, showing part or all of their profile to recruiting companies, that will come soon on FLEXA, to see job vacancies and to receive indications regarding which content to draw on to make their profile more interesting for a specific company.
This is made more effective by the engagement of companies, that can register on FLEXA to publish open job positions, for which the platform delivers a list of suitable candidates, based either on adjustable filters of the company’s choosing.

Start today your FLEXA experience today, join the platform!

MBA Recruiting Day

On January 24th, MIP will host an MBA Recruiting Day, dedicated to the International Full Time MBA candidates and the companies belonging to the School network.

Starting from 10.00 am companies, distributed by their own sector, such as Technology & Digital | Industrial & Energy| Retail & Consumer Goods| Luxury, Fashion & Lifestyle| Consulting & Finance will open their desks to candidates.
At the end of the interview sessions, all the participating recruiters are kindy invited for a networking lunch.

The event is open only to MIP International Full Time MBA candidates, available from May 2020 for project work opportunities in companies.

MBA candidates have an international background and 3-7 years of professional experience in different sectors and functional area such as: Sales & Business Development, Strategy, Operations, Marketing&Communication, Analytics and Big Data, PM, Legal, Digital Transformation.

The event is dedicated to Employers who have the opportunity to:

  • Select talented international candidates to be placed in a range of business areas and positions
  • Test the ability of one or several candidates by proposing a strategic project of high impact for your company, in areas such as Digital Innovation, Business Transformation, Brand Strategy, Internationalisation, Business Development, Process Optimisation, etc.
  • Network with other Top Employers

Companies will have the chance to publish internship and job openings before the event, while students will have the opportunity to present their applications.

Agenda
  • 9.00 – 9.30 Company Registration
  • 9.30 – 10.00 Welcome Coffee for Recruiters
  • 10.00 – 13.00 Stand Opening and One to One Interviews
  • 13.00 – 14.00 Networking Lunch for Recruiters
How to participate

The participation to this event – deadline December 4 – is reserved to a limited number of companies belonging to MIP network.

The participation will be confirmed until the available places are exhausted.

For further information please contact Unit Company Engagement& Partner Care (Company&PartnerCare@mip.polimi.it)
T. 02 2399 2832 – 2847 – 4898

Useful information

January 24th 2020 | h 9.00 – 13.30
Politecnico di Milano – Campus Bovisa | Edificio BL 28 Glass Room 1 Floor
Via Raffaele Lambruschini 4B, Milano 20156

 

 

A second great full-week experience

Part Time MBA students during the International Week in Munich

On October 27th, my MBA MIP class and I landed in beautiful Munich to start our second international full week.

It was an amazing experience, full of insights, interesting topics and great in-company visits.

It was also a closely-packed week (with activities from 9am to 6pm every day!) of learning and enjoyable breakthroughs with my classmates in the historic Technische Universität München (TUM) that has “given birth” to 17 Nobel Prizes.

Firstly the content: it was great to have three TUM professors leading us through the Finance, Project Management and Business Law modules.

For me, with my Master in Political Science, the lessons have been tough, but very helpful. More and more I am understanding that this MBA is helping me to better understand many aspects of my current company and I find myself applying what I am studying to my day-to-day activities in a practical way. Even if it is difficult, the professors were great in helping us to fully comprehend the contents. What amazes me is that now, during our working meetings in my company, I can follow every aspect with a critical view.

We had two touchpoints with companies, both of which were very interesting. MIP has chosen two leading German players in the industrial area (automotive and aviation sectors) and the meetings were very insightful.

Firstly, linked to the Finance module, we met Lufthansa on the revenue management issue. Employers who came in to speak about this interesting topic presented the subject matter clearly and in an engaging way.

Secondly, we had the unique chance of an in-company visit at BMW. We visited the historic Munich production site and it was amazing to listen to and see with our own eyes how some of the most high quality and beautiful cars are produced. In particular, we acquired a true knowledge of the extent to which timing and work organization are key in a process from the creation of a car to our daily activities.

Also, the fun part was not missing!

My classmates and I were able to stay together for another whole week! We spent the free evenings  together and enjoyed the German culture (especially German beer…) and visited Munich, that personally, I love!

I feel so empowered by this experience and so grateful for how much I am achieving in terms of content and competences, as well as in terms of networking and human relationships.

The Munich international full week has been a great part of this MBA and I just feel sorry we do not have the chance to do one more!

 

About the author
Pietro Cavallo

My name is Pietro and I grew up in Milan, where I am currently living. I work in Switzerland, in the Supply Chain division of a clothing multinational. I am the husband of an incredible wife and father of 1 crazy kid and ½…  I’ll keep you posted when the second ½ arrives…

 

Prada Group presents “Shaping a Sustainable Future Society”

The Prada Group will present “Shaping a Sustainable Future Society” on November 8th 2019 in New York, marking the third edition of the Group’s conferences dedicated to stimulate a debate on the most significant changes taking place in contemporary society.

This year’s event will explore the meaning of social sustainability seeking to define what this truly means. The speakers will reflect on the responsibility of business and institutions to foster an environment that encourages freedom, equality and justice. Dialectic thought and diverse perspectives will underpin the day’s discussions and the various speeches. True to the Shaping series usual format, rigorous academic research will be an integral part of the day.

The morning will start with a keynote speech by acclaimed architect Sir David Adjaye OBE, followed by a roundtable dedicated to discuss on how businesses can keep abreast of new challenges posed by an ever-evolving society; the conversation will be moderated by Professor Gianni Riotta, journalist and Executive Vice President of the Italy-US Council.
The panel will involve speakers with diverse experience and expertise, including Richard Armstrong, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation; Amale Andraos, Dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; Mariarosa Cutillo, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) – Chief of Strategic Partnerships; Amanda Gorman, poet and activist; Kent Larson, City Science Director at MIT Media Lab and Livia Pomodoro, President of Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, former Magistrate and President of the Court of Milan.
The roundtable will be followed by the contribution of Paralympic champion Simone Barlaam.

The event will continue by offering the contribution of the two academic partners, the Schools of Management of Yale and Politecnico di Milano, to explore the conference’s theme from two different perspectives. The Yale Center for Customer Insights will present a survey developed in partnership with the Prada Group on how consumer choices and behaviors are affected by social issues. Moderated by Gianni Riotta, a free-flowing discussion between Professor Raffaella Cagliano from Politecnico di Milano School of Management and Professor Kate Crawford, writer, composer and producer will follow, to examine how innovative digital technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), are reshaping our daily lives, and how society should anticipate and manage the risks of biased or unethical use of digital technologies.
The day’s closing remarks will be provided by Rula Jebreal, award-winning journalist, author and foreign policy expert.

The whole conference will be live-streamed on www.pradagroup.com, starting at 9.30 am EST / 3.30 pm CET. Follow the day on social media via @Prada, which will tweet live from the event and join the conversation with #ShapingASustainableSociety
An overview of the event, as well as the agenda of the day and the gallery of speakers are available on the Prada Group website in a dedicated section.
For further information: Prada Press Office Tel. +39 02 567 811 e-mail: corporatepress@prada.com www.pradagroup.com
About “Shaping a Future” conferences:
Since 2017, the Prada Group has hosted an annual conference with the aim of stimulating a debate on the most significant changes taking place in contemporary society. In both editions, Prada collaborated with the Schools of Management of both Yale and Politecnico di Milano.
The first conference in 2017, entitled “Shaping a Creative Future” addressed the links between creativity, sustainability and innovation. The second conference in 2018, “Shaping a Sustainable Digital Future” explored the relationship between sustainability and digital innovation.
The conference series format consists of keynote speeches, panel discussions, and students’ competitions.

Digital Experience

 

Digital innovation is a central theme at MIP.
It all started in 2014, with the launch of the first Executive MBA in digital learning.
Since then, FLEX EMBA has been included by AMBA among the most innovative MBAs in the world, and its courses have been the first in Italy to receive the EOOCS certification. Cherry on the top, it ranked 7th in the world and among the top 4 in Europe in the QS Distance Online MBA 2019 Rankings.

In the last five years, our engagement in innovating education through digital has skyrocketed and today, digital learning is part of most of our programs.
Not only our MBA and Executive MBA programs  have been updated to put a greater emphasis on topics such as  digital innovation and digital transformation, but the School also launched the Executive Program in Digital Transformation FLEX , a digitally delivered program aiming at giving to professionals, managers and entrepreneurs the tool-box to spread Digital Transformation in their business.

Moreover, video-clips and live sessions have been included also in the new editions of a number of programs that used to be delivered only on campus, such as a selected portfolio of the Management Academy and Corporate courses, some masters targeting Institutions & Public Administrations such as MaBIC, MIDIS, SUM, EMMPF and EMGIS, and – starting from next fall – also the International Specializing Masters IM4, AMIE, MSCPM.

Yet, an innovative learning platform developed in partnership with Microsoft, a renewed library of interactive multimedia clips, interactions via social media tools moderated by our lecturers and live sessions are just some the ingredients of MIP Digital Experience!

Indeed, the School has just launched FLEXA, the innovative Artificial Intelligence platform developed in partnership with Microsoft to ensure personalized continuous learning to students, Alumni and – soon – to professionals.

Look for the Masters and courses with the Digital Experience logo to live a truly innovative #MIPexperience!

Eduniversal  Best Masters Rankings 2019

Every year, Eduniversal includes in its rankings the Masters and MBA programs that prepares the most competent students worldwide.

The 2019 edition of those rankings has just been released and we are pleased to announce that the Eduniversal Best Masters Regional Rankings in Western Europe 2019 include Master in Energy Management (MEM) and MEGMI (Master Executive in Gestione degli Asset Industriali e della Manutenzione) –  both 2nd place -, International Master in Project Management (iMPM), 7th , and International Master in Supply Chain and Procurement Management (iMSCPM), 4th place.

The School obtained excellent results also in the Eduniversal Best Masters Global Rankings 2019, in which Master in Business Analytics and Big Data (BABD), Master in Master in Management of Research, Innovation and Technology (MIT) and International Master in Luxury Management (IMLUX) ranked respectively 5th, 9th and 3rd.

Among the elements that contribute in the final score, there is reputation of the program, satisfaction of students, opinion of recruiters and salary of the first employment.

Thesis Award “SOM for SDGs: Thesis aimed at Sustainable Development Goals” 

The School of Management of Politecnico di Milano promotes the principles of responsible and sustainable management in all its programs, and supports learning and research activities consistent with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the Agenda 2030 of United Nations. In this context the award “SOM for SDGs: Thesis aimed at Sustainable Development Goals” has been created.

Thesis or dissertation submitted should represent a contribution to solve the current social challenges and identify models of sustainable development in terms of environmental, economic and social impact.

The call targets students who have obtained a Laurea Magistrale or Laurea Specialistica or V.O. in Management Engineering at Politecnico di Milano from November 2018 to October 2019.

Deadline for submission: 9 October 2019.

 

For more information please download the call at https://www.som.polimi.it/albo-e-bandi/

 

https://www.som.polimi.it/albo-e-bandi/

The three I’s of excellence: identity, ideas, innovation

The ability to innovate without losing sight of tradition, combined with the highest expressions of design and industry. These are the crucial elements that characterise the excellence of Italian business in the world, as emerged in the Italian Way module, which took place in May and is part of the International Master in Marketing Management, Omnichannel and Consumer Analytics programme of Politecnico di Milano’s School of Management. Numerous companies took part, telling students about their own experiences, in a wide variety of fields, and surprisingly similar global challenges.

Growing without losing your identity

One of the common challenges that was illustrated during the Italian Way module is the necessity of growing, while not losing one’s identity.

«In Alessi (a well-known Piedmont-based producer of design objects) we undertook an internationalization strategy that aims at expansion in the US and Asian markets», explains chief executive Marco Pozzo. «We want to grow, but also during this process our priority is preserving our Italian DNA. Adapting to the needs expressed by the different geographical areas doesn’t mean distorting the brand, not at all. We want Alessi to preserve its own identity, embracing approaches to the table that are different like the Asian one, but also democratizing the approach to design products. In the United States, for example, there are several of our objects that are part of the permanent collection of the MoMA in New York. But we want design objects to become an integral part of everyone’s daily life».

The courage to risk

From the table to the street, the distance is shorter than you think. Indeed, in the MoMA in New York, we also find the Vespa.

«Our philosophy is clear: to maintain a strong   coherence with the past, but always focussing on innovation, both technological and design», says Davide Zanolini, executive vice president for marketing and communication at Piaggio. «What distinguishes us in the world is the courage to risk a bit more than others. We were the first to present a three-wheel scooters, the first to experiment with hybrid. In this we recognize our Italian character, as well as in a very strong engineering-technological vocation that is displayed to the public with elements of iconic design».

The team spirit  

Innovation, technology and design are also three of the characteristics on which Ferrari concentrates to consolidate its brand identity in the world. «We are proud to represent Italian excellence», explains Dennis de Munck, head of employer branding. «Above all, we want to focus on team spirit. Just as Ferrari is the racing team that all Italians and millions of people in the world root for, in the same way we want whoever works with us to feel they are part of a great team, whose goal is to respond to challenges with the strength of ideas and innovation. Excellence is what sets us apart, on and off the racetrack, and will continue to deliver it. For this reason, we are always on the lookout for top talent».

Welcoming diversity

Openness to the world and to diversity is therefore another characteristic on which Italian companies focus.

«To be international we try to open ourselves to different cultures», stresses Laura Salviati, training and communication manager at Artemide, a leading company in the lighting sector. «In the world, the approach to light varies greatly from one country to another. In industrial production, however, Italian excellence must be recognized. Abroad it’s much more difficult to find industries able to support us in productive processes. In Italy we have at our disposition know-how that succeeds in putting together craftmanship and industry. We’re not interested in producing at the lowest possible cost, but in quality».

 

Local taste, global excellence

If Artemide values territorial know-how, there are those who focus on other resources and a completely different type of raw materials, this time in the food sector. One such person is Tancredi Alemagna, founder and chief executive of T’a Milano:
«We take the best chocolate on the market and we combine it with almonds from Avola, lemons from Sorrento, Sicilian pistachios. We feature, when possible, the food specialties of our country, proposing a real Italian journey of taste. From the chocolate bar to packaging, everything must reflect our values: Italianness, quality and design».