Category: Events

86 candidates from 24 different countries have just begun the digital journey of MIP’s International Flex EMBA

Posted on | by Angela Leone | Leave a Comment on 86 candidates from 24 different countries have just begun the digital journey of MIP’s International Flex EMBA

The new edition of our International Flex EMBA has just begun with a large number of participants from all over the world, each ready to live an unforgettable distance learning experience.

Dozens of candidates, connected from 26 different countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, officially started the MIP’s distance-learning Executive MBA on Friday, 6 November, providing tangible proof of the unstoppable nature of training!

Our Business School has set up a class made up on average of professionals aged between 30 and 40, primarily with an educational background in engineering and economics and over 10 years of experience chiefly in the fields of Information Technology and Construction, in their various capacities as Project, Sales or General Managers.

This success goes to show that plenty of professionals continue to be driven by the desire to improve, to refine their managerial skills and above all, to look to the future with positivity and far-sightedness. But it is also shows the perseverance with which MIP Politecnico di Milano intends to exploit the potential of digital learning to pursue its goal of training innovators capable of leveraging digital technologies to drive economic and social development. This commitment has helped us scale major global rankings, coming in 5th in the QS Online MBA Ranking 2020 and 9th in the Financial Times Online MBA Ranking 2020.

Our School is delighted with the diversity of this year’s EMBA, its international reach and the varied backgrounds of its participants, all of which will undoubtedly enrich the participants’ cultural and personal baggage. At the Master’s opening ceremony, the students themselves commented profusely on the class’s “incredible blend of skills and experiences” and on its “representation of the entire business world”, also in geographical terms.

Congratulations to everyone involved for deciding to invest in training!

And congratulations to the hundreds of young graduates and professionals who, since September, have chosen MIP for their professional and human growth.

Digital transformation: now or never

Posted on | by Angela Leone | Leave a Comment on Digital transformation: now or never

Professor Antonio Ghezzi presents the International Master in Digital Transformation: from the strategic to the organizational repercussions, moving from the need to develop an entrepreneurial mindset to managing a now inescapable change. For every company

 

Digital transformation yes. As long as you talk about it in the right way, deeply understanding its nature and repercussions for companies. «Today we’re seeing an abuse of this term on the part of many groups, in order to position and reposition themselves», explains Antonio Ghezzi, Associate Professor and Director of the International Master in Digital Transformation at MIP Politecnico di Milano. «What we need to do, instead, is to establish the boundaries of this concept. Too much emphasis risks leading to an inflation, with a bubble like that seen with dotcoms in the early 2000s. Instead we must try to understand the nature of technological waves, what they can bring to business and how the role will change of managers, who can no longer ignore the transformations underway».

 

An opportunity even for the smallest

According to Ghezzi, implementing a digital transformation leads first of all to transformation processes that must be interpreted. «The first theme is of a strategic nature. Through the combination of different technologies, new markets can be created. In addition, the nature of competition changes, it evolves, abandons the shapes of the past. The second theme is of an entrepreneurial nature», continues Ghezzi. «This phenomenon leads to the emergence of new business opportunities, that you need to know how to seize. Creativity becomes fundamental, from this perspective. And it allows startups and all these born digital companies to compete with companies that are much more structured». The third and last theme is the organizational one: «It’s difficult to implement a strategic plan, if the organization isn’t aligned. And then you need to think of the impact of digital: what impact does it have on the macrostructure? And the microstructure? Are there the appropriate skills to bring forward the plan?».

 

The digital company must experiment

Obviously, the role of the manager becomes fundamental in the face of a change that is inescapable and so necessary. «It’s important to recognize that, by now, the world is digital», explains Ghezzi. «Even those who have managed to position themselves in a confined space must know that, sooner or later, that niche will be eroded. To find new paths, companies must experiment, investing a little bit in different directions, learning to test the quality of their choices, to understand which are the best. In such a turbulent context, where discontinuities aren’t only of a technological nature, classic planning becomes impossible. This has also been understood by the largest companies, which are now starting to imitate this approach that up until now has been typical of startups». To face these challenges, according to Ghezzi, the entrepreneurial mindset is ideal: «The search for business opportunities must be constant. The discontinuity in which we live forces us to do so. Unless companies want to be supplanted. Think about how much digital companies like Amazon, Airbnb, Uber have achieved in such little time».

 

From know-how to know-where

However, you need to know the technologies in play. Better yet, you need to know where to find them. «We’re moving from the know-how model to the know-where model. It’s unlikely that a single company possesses all the technologies that are now characterizing the digital transformation. If we put artificial intelligence at the top of the pyramid, descending we would see that this will require machine learning, big data and data collection that can happen at the consumer level, or through the Internet of Things. And all this data, then, has to be put into the cloud. So it becomes hard for a single company to manage this complexity, and for this reason it becomes important to know where to find these digital services».

MIP Politecnico di Milano has created the ’International Master in Digital Transformation in order to train professionals at ease in this environment. «First of all, we provide general management fundamentals to our students, along with notions of marketing and finance strategy. Then we examine the technologies closely, evaluating their managerial impact. The third part includes an analysis of lean start-up and design thinking approaches. Students will have the opportunity to put into practice what they studied. There’s no better moment than now to enrol. Organizations that don’t put into place this process risk ending up on the sidelines», concludes Ghezzi.

QS MBA Career Specialization Rankings 2021: work, research and placement make the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano one of the best in the world

Posted on | by Angela Leone | Leave a Comment on QS MBA Career Specialization Rankings 2021: work, research and placement make the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano one of the best in the world

QS ranking recognises MIP’s MBAs in six areas, with special emphasis on the excellent score achieved in Operations Management, followed by Entrepreneurship and Marketing. Such a recognition bears out the labour market’s appreciation for both the training endeavours of the school and its alumni.

 

MIP’s MBAs rank among the best in the world, including in terms of specialisations in the different working fields. This is revealed by the QS MBA by Career Specialization Rankings 2021 drawn up by Quacquarelli Symonds, a company that engages in analysing academic curricula available worldwide. According to this ranking, built on the results achieved by the different schools and alumni in a variety of business areas, the School of Management of Milan Polytechnic ranks among the top 100 in as many as six categories, standing out in particular in Operations Management, Entrepreneurship and Marketing.

 

More specifically, the best result was scored in Operations Management, where the School ranked 5th, while it reached the 35th position in Entrepreneurship and the 43rd in Marketing. Acting as key enablers of this remarkable achievement is above all the very high score awarded to research, together with reputation among employers and career placement.

 

These results are even more relevant if benchmarked against the method used to draw up the ranking, as over 37 thousand employers were considered and millions of academic publications and statistics on alumni employment were reviewed. First and foremost, this goes to show that the labour market recognises the prowess of the people trained at the School of Management, and that these very people then pursue top-level careers, either as independent professionals or within leading organisations.

 

The variety of the considered areas is also striking, confirming the school’s commitment to pursuing a path where management, economics and technology meet and blend together to form an educational whole.

 

In addition to the three areas mentioned above, the School of Business also ranks among the top 100 in the areas of Consulting, Information Management and Technology.

 

This is the third confirmation in a few days of the quality of the School educational offer. MIP Politecnico di Milano Graduate School of Business has been included for the second time in its history in the prestigious international Financial Times Executive MBA 2020 ranking, while MIP courses have been celebrated in the QS Business Masters Rankings 2021. A double recognition further enhanced by the result achieved in the QS MBA by Career Specialization Rankings 2021.

Innovative design and technology for an inclusive society: new Joint Research Center

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Creating a more ‘smart’ and inclusive world: this is the scope of the new Joint Research Center ‘Innovative design and technology for an inclusive society’ created through a five-year agreement between the Politecnico di Milano, NTT DATA, and POLI.Design, with the participation of the Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering of the School of Management.

The new Research Center will see the work of NTT DATA — a leading Japanese multinational company in consultation and the IT sector — POLI.Design — a company of reference for post-graduate education that acts as a hinge between the university, institutions, companies and work — and, for the Politecnico, the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, the Department of Design, and the Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering.

The idea of working together grew out of not only a desire to make joint studies on innovative technological issues, but also sharing important values for promotion together, such as equality, diversity, and inclusion.

One of the collaboration’s primary goals is to use the most advanced technological and design tools synergistically to initiate a cultural transformation, to ‘focus on people’, supporting the inclusive development of society and placing technology at the service of individuals.

The collaboration establishes financing for activities and research projects related to different areas and topics of primary importance to create and realize ‘transparent’ technological solutions with impacts on our daily lives: Smart Mobility, Cybersecurity, Blockchain, Internet of Humans, Diversity Management, Universal Design, Design for Social Benefit, Product and Service Design

In particular, the contribution of the Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering will focus on the issues of Data Analytics and Technology Tools for Diversity and Inclusion in close collaboration with the Department of Electronics, Electronics, Information and Bioengineering at the Politecnico di Milano.

For more information, read the press release.

«Between MIP and the Red Cross: study and work to help Lebanon»

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Christian Lenz is enrolled in the i-Flex EMBA programme at MIP Politecnico di Milano. A course of study that he is able to follow from Beirut, where he leads a team of engineers involved with public health. Here he talks about the challenges of this job and reconciling his studies with such a challenging role

 

Working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in a country like Lebanon and, at the same time, pursuing a master’s at MIP Politecnico di Milano. This is what Christian Lenz, deputy water and habitat coordinator for the organization and, at the same time, student in the 2019-2021 i-Flex course, does. A double commitment that undoubtedly leaves room for little else: «The pressure, both in my studies and in work, changes over time and can lead to significant levels of stress», he explains. «But there are also benefits. Thanks to the master’s, I’m more aware of the key issues when I draw up a budget, and I’ve developed a good background that allows me to understand the dynamics of the economic crisis in Lebanon. This has made my work more satisfactory, more technically sound and also more efficient».

 

The explosion of Beirut

Christian Lenz has worked for the ICRC for over four years. Currently, he is working for the department that deals with public health: «I lead a team of engineers. One key aspect is the integration of these activities in the broader spectrum of what the ICRC does, with the aim of maximizing the humanitarian impact». The dramatic event that took place in the Lebanese capital on 4 August (the explosion of a warehouse at the port, which killed more than 200 people and injured 7,000) required an enormous effort of Lenz and the ICRC: «The Red Cross is an organization used to operating in emergency situations, so we were able to respond immediately to the most urgent needs. The morning after the explosion, our engineers worked side by side with local authorities, restoring water supplies for 120,000 people by the end of the afternoon», he says. «We continue to respond to the pressing needs through provision of medical supplies, cash donations to the most impacted families, as well as mental health and psychosocial support to affected people».

 

Challenges, obstacles, emergencies: a different type of job

Therefore, Lenz’s work isn’t a job like all others, given the backdrop and the almost always difficult situations in which he operates: «The Red Cross is present in situations of armed conflict and violence. This increases the level of challenge compared to “normal” working environments. In addition to technical obstacles, we face other challenges: understanding the context in which we work, identifying the most pressing humanitarian needs and setting priorities, but also taking care of our staff and leading them in difficult conditions. In emergency situations, we are called on to make decisions based on limited information and then to come up with solutions that would be cost and time effective. It can be very stressful. In some situations, logistical constraints can slow down our work significantly».

 

The importance of soft skills in a humanitarian context

But if these challenges are eminently technical, it’s also true that it wouldn’t be possible to face them without excellent soft skills. Skills that Lenz is developing also thanks to the EMBA programme: «Soft skills allow you to deliver quality work, even when it’s of a technical nature. In a humanitarian context they are probably even more important: we are constantly finding ourselves in new and unknown situations. We work in multicultural teams, whose members come from dozens of countries. It’s extremely important to know how to approach things with an open mind, to be respectful, always maintaining a positive attitude. To find your bearings and develop meaningful strategies it’s essential to listen to others, whether they are colleagues or people affected by violence and armed conflict».

 

i-Flex: the advantages of a flexible format

In a context like this, it’s the i-Flex format that allows Lenz to attend the EMBA programme: «It is almost entirely digital. Coming from a traditional approach, at first it scared me. But during the first week, held in-person, we were introduced to the concepts of online education and collaboration. I adapted and learned quickly that online education and collaboration represent the future. Interactions with my classmates are enjoyable. I recommend the i-Flex to anyone who is interested in a high quality international EMBA and requires flexibility both in terms of time and geography».

 

The Financial Times Global Executive MBA 2020: The School of Management of Politecnico di Milano among the best in the world.

Posted on | by Angela Leone | Leave a Comment on The Financial Times Global Executive MBA 2020: The School of Management of Politecnico di Milano among the best in the world.

MIP, the Graduate School of Business belonging to the School of Management, enters the FT international rankings with its Executive MBA, a programme listed for the second time in its history and described as outstanding for its commitment to CRS.

 

MIP Politecnico di Milano Graduate School of Business joins The Financial Times Executive MBA Ranking 2020, for the second time in its history, with its 100th place in this acclaimed international classification. After its 94th place in 2010, the Business School of Politecnico di Milano is once again among the schools recognised for the quality of their Executive MBA programmes.

 

MIP’s Executive MBA is in 35th place for its focus and care for issues of sustainability and CSR, in 71st place for international diversity and 80th according to the parameter that examines research carried out at the School of Management. It also scores highly for the quota of women in the faculty (Female faulty, 41%), and on the School of Management’s Advisory Board (Women on board, 50%).

 

Compared to the European ranking for 2019, other improved parameters are average salary three years after graduating, up by 9% on last year, and increase in salary after graduation, up from 43% in 2019 to 49% in 2020.

 

Overall, the School of Management is one of only thee technical universities with a Business School or a Department of Management in the classification, behind Imperial College (UK) and Aalto University (Finland).

 

Vittorio Chiesa and Federico Frattini, President and Dean of MIP Politecnico di Milano, respectively: “It gives us tremendous pleasure to see our Executive MBA rewarded by such an authoritative ranking as that compiled by the Financial Times. Joining the top 100 programmes in the world once again after a ten-year break is a great achievement and will encourage us to continue our work of further improving the quality of our educational offer”

 

View the full Financial Times Executive MBA 2020 Ranking table here

Call for Visiting Professors and Fellows at the School of Management

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The School of Management is committed to host visiting professors, guest professors and fellows from all over the world to promote and enhance the international exposure of research and teaching activities.
We are eager to host researchers in different fields of Management, Applied Economics and Industrial Engineering.
More information on the research lines and research groups are available here.

The call for the academic year 2020-2021 is now open. Applications must be sent before November 30th 2020.

For more details please visit:

https://www.som.polimi.it/en/join-us/

Expo Dubai 2020: re-establishing the connections

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Lucia Tajoli, Full professor of International Economics, School of Management, Politecnico di Milano

Lucio Lamberti, Full professor of Multichannel Customer Strategy, School of Management, Politecnico di Milano
Coordinator of the Physiology, Emotion and Experience Lab

 

Expo Dubai 2020, which will be held between October 2021 and March 2022 after a year’s postponement due to the pandemic, will—presumably and hopefully—be a key hub, post-Covid. World Expos are considered to be mega events, comparable in impact only to the World Football Championships and the Olympics in terms of media exposure, number of participants and effects on the host economy, but unlike mega sports events, they last longer (6 months) and potentially have a greater influence on the economy of the participating countries.

The last two editions of the World Expo have had special connotations. The 2010 Shanghai event was the largest in history in terms of participants, with around 84 million visitors. The theme was the quality of life in cities (“Better City, Better Life”), but, not by chance, together with the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it was also China’s way of demonstrating to the world the socio-economic prominence that the country had achieved. The 2015 Expo, held in Milan and focused on the theme of the ability to provide high-quality food to humanity (“Feeding the planet, Energy for life”), attracted around 20 million visitors, and represented, in a stagnant national economic context and despite considerable organisational complexity, a driving force for what many international analysts have considered the Milanese “Renaissance” of the last lustre.
The theme of Expo Dubai 2020 is “Connecting Minds, Creating the future“. The event focuses on the role of interconnection as a key to sustainable development.

192 countries have signed up, including Italy, which will participate with a pavilion with the theme “Beauty Unites People“.
The Politecnico di Milano and its School of Management are partners of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is organising Italy’s participation in Expo Dubai 2020, and, starting from 2018, has developed several studies aimed at quantifying the potential impacts of this involvement. Indeed, beyond the obvious need to justify the investment of public resources in the construction of the Pavilion, the measurement of returns (economic and non-economic) is made particularly relevant by the geopolitical specificities of this event: the geographical position of Dubai, the hub of the ME.Na.Sa. (Middle East, North Africa and South Asia) area, and logistics intersection, and the passageways of the New Silk Road makes this Expo a fundamental point of contact between Europe and the areas of the world with the highest rates of economic growth and growth of the middle classes.

It is no coincidence that the event, in the initial forecasts, has attracted a very large majority of non-local visitors, and foresees a committed and significant participation in terms of planning from both Middle Eastern countries and emerging economies such as those of India and Central-Southern Asia. This is a very important opportunity to address the issue of sustainable development in these areas of the world, for example with reference to Infrastructure and transport, the enhancement of cultural heritage, life sciences and aerospace.

Three main kinds of consideration justify the great attention that economic operators in the world are paying to the event.
Firstly, being the first World Expo held in the Middle East, Expo Dubai 2020 represents an opportunity to consolidate business and representation relations at various levels between this area of the world, the Arab world, North Africa and Europe.
Secondly, it is an Expo with a strong research connotation (even more so considering that the pandemic could reduce the number of “real” visitors and increase the virtual interconnection aspect): the Expo season has been archived for a couple of editions now, interpreted as a mere “showcase” of the participating countries, the logic of participation of many of the countries involved, including Italy, is to create within Expo 2020 a true hub of expertise to develop stable collaboration platforms, to be perpetuated even after the event.
Thirdly, this Expo represents one of the first mega events, together with the Tokyo Olympics, of the post-pandemic period, and will therefore have the dual role of showing the possible profile of the new normality in terms of events, flows of people and interconnections, and on the other hand of contributing to financial recovery following the interruptions linked to the pandemic.

The measurement of the impact of participation in a mega event with World Expo on the Organiser, and even more so on the countries that participate without hosting it, is a topic to which the scientific literature has not yet given definitive answers. With reference to the Olympic Games, while there are qualitative indications about the expansive result on the host country, there are also many critical voices that highlight how these initiatives tend, on a direct financial level (difference between investments and tickets, television rights, sponsors, etc.), not to pay off.
However, it is clear, on the one hand, that the direct financial effects are only one aspect of the induced fallout (there are impacts on tourism, equivalent advertising of the territory, etc.) and, on the other, that the World Expo has a different spin-off profile from the Olympic Games, due to the fact that it lasts 6 months and therefore produces a much higher flow of visitors, and because the participation of the host and organising countries is oriented towards primarily economic and diplomatic development objectives.

With reference to the participating countries, in particular, it is possible to attribute the areas of spillover to a potential impact on exports, as participation is an opportunity for promotion of one’s own excellence and of organisation of diplomatic and commercial missions. There is also, in the hub vision of Expo Dubai 2020, the possibility of promoting the meeting between supply and demand of capital, i.e. between innovative entrepreneurial initiatives and financiers, generating incoming and outgoing flows of foreign direct investment. Thirdly, participation with a pavilion at an Expo is also linked to the promotion of the cultural specificities of a territory (and the connotation focused on the beauty and technologies for cultural heritage of Italian participation makes this theme particularly central), and therefore tends to involve tourism promotion, with the potential expansive economic effects that this entails. Last but not least, diplomatic proximity and exposure to scientific collaboration platforms are increasingly a fundamental objective of participation in an Expo event. The analysis carried out in 2018 showed that a precautionary estimate of the expansionary effects of these phenomena for Italy could reach a value of 1.7 billion Euros per year for at least three to four years after the event.

It is clear that these estimates must be—if not revised, at least reconsidered—in the light of the pandemic. However, paradoxically, net of the possible further brakes to the event linked to phenomena at this unpredictable time of the continuation of the state of emergency, the need for the world economies to recover the positions lost in recent months, and the possibility of experimenting with new forms—more digital and less physical—of international promotion initiatives, could even have an even more expansive effect. What is certain is that Expo Dubai 2020 can have a symbolic value of a desire for redemption and, at the same time, a stage of further consolidation of the relationship between Europe and Asia. Analysing the effects in the short, medium and long term is a fascinating challenge that must be taken up in order to make these opportunities increasingly central in the process of developing international economic, and other, relations.

Building a Roadmap for the Future of Global Manufacturing

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Conversation with Marco Taisch
Professor of Advanced and Sustainable Manufacturing Systems, and Operations Management, School of Management, Politecnico di Milano
Scientific Chairman of the World Manufacturing Foundation
President at MADE, Competence Center on Industry 4.0

 

 

Tell us about the path that led to the World Manufacturing Forum: why was it launched, and what are its objectives?

Since first edition of the forum held in 2011, the World Manufacturing Forum is organised yearly by Politecnico di Milano with financial support from the European Commission. In 2018, thanks to Confindustria Lombardia and Regione Lombardia, in order to give stability and guarantee an expansion of activities, we created the World Manufacturing Foundation, which organises the annual event and deals with various initiatives.
The Foundation, created as an open international organization involving regional governments, companies, trade associations, industrial and non-industrial, therefore has the strategic objective of restoring the centrality of the manufacturing sector in the political agendas of various countries.

The main tools put in place are the World Manufacturing Forum, that last year attracted around 1500 people in three days, and the World Manufacturing Report, a yearly white paper that, through a process of consultation with experts from the world of business, academia and policy makers, collects opinions and offers visions for the future on a specific issue, which are relevant to manufacturing, suggesting key recommendations.

In the first edition, in 2018, we addressed the issue of the future of manufacturing as a lever for creating economic and social well-being; in the second, last year, we focused on the fundamental skills required by the sector. And this year, in the event that will take place on 11 and 12 November, we will talk about artificial intelligence.

 

The 2020 edition of the Forum has a unique flavour, a flavour relating to distance, but also to post-Covid recovery. What kind of edition will it be?

The format of the event will change due to the need for social distancing, but only in part: it will take place at the traditional venue in Villa Erba di Cernobbio with a maximum of 200 participants, with worldwide streaming.
We asked ourselves, like everyone else, what will be the impact of Covid on the manufacturing sector at regional and global level, and to give us an answer we created the “Back to the Future” project (the quote is intentional), new this year.
We “decomposed” the complexity of the problem into 14 sub-themes and created 14 working groups accordingly, each one coordinated by an expert (managers, representatives of the associative world, policy-makers, academics), who were asked to discuss and analyse the impact of Covid on their area of expertise, and to give recommendations.
We have already shared online, with the public, several drafts of documents and videos, produced by these workshops, whose results will be presented on the first day of the Forum, on November 11. On November 12 we will present the World Manufacturing Report.
If I can give a little preview, next year we will talk about digital transformation as an enabler of manufacturing sustainability, thus bringing together the two most important trends in the sector.

 

We come from the epic situation of Industry 4.0. How can digitisation in the factory world be a competitive advantage for boosting production and starting up again faster? 

Before the pandemic, it was “normal” to say that digitisation was the competitive advantage, and that’s the way we characterised the 4.0 industry. Now we have changed the statement: it is no longer an advantage, but a business prerequisite.
During the lockdown we saw how digitisation ensured business continuity for many companies that had already invested in this area. For others, unfortunately, there was nothing to be done.
It was a tragic way of realising, undoubtedly, that it affected those companies which, out of ignorance or inertia, had not paid attention to this technological trend.
In our country in particular, which was slower to adopt new technologies, the pandemic has accelerated the awareness of the importance of digitisation.

 

Large companies and small businesses: who has the advantage in this fourth industrial revolution?

Large companies have been digitising in our country for some time now, even before the “National Industry Plan 4.0” of 2017. Small and medium-sized enterprises, were, in fact, lagging behind. It was thanks to the plan, and the planned tax incentives, that they became aware of this opportunity for modernisation. Paradoxically, it was by talking about tax incentives that it was also possible to train in the field of technology, and this had a huge impact on the cultural growth of our country on these issues.
It is very important that the national plan has continuity over time, and that it is not a one-off incentive, to enable businesses—especially small ones—to plan and build a training and expertise programme. And today, to do so, they have several tools at their disposal, such as the Digital Innovation Hubs, and especially the Competence Centers. The Politecnico di Milano has put itself in the forefront of this last tool by creating MADE, a competence center that, gathering the skills of multiple departments, coordinates the work together with 44 other partners from the academic and industrial world.

 

What, in your opinion, are the 3 key words on the evolution of digital transformation in factories over the next 6 months?

First of all “servitisation”, i.e. the development of new business models that are being created thanks to new digital activities carried out in remote industries.
And then the second, “remote” or, if you like, “industrial smart working.”
Finally “resilience”, meaning adaptability, reconfigurability and flexibility of the factory and the supply chain.

Practicing Continuous Innovation in Digital Ecosystems

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Luca Gastaldi, Associate Professor, Politecnico di Milano
Jeannette Visser-Groeneveld, Executive Secretary CINet, University of Twente
Harry Boer, Professor of Aalborg University

On 20-22 September 2020, the 21st CINet Conference on Practicing Continuous Innovation in Digital Ecosystems was held. The conference was preceded by the 20th CINet PhD workshop.

The event was hosted by the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano (Luca Gastaldi, Mariano Corso, Daniel Trabucchi, Stefano Magistretti and Rosella Onofrio) but took place virtually, due to the Corona pandemic.

The PhD workshop attracted 16 students from six different countries, who presented and discussed their research designs and early findings. Reflecting current hot topics in industry and science, the studies discussed included digital technologies, maturity and transformation, business model innovation, and digital platforms.

In the conference, the same topics were on the top of the agenda. In total, the 110 attendants from 16 countries worldwide, presented twelve papers on Value Creation in Digital Ecosystems, and an additional four papers on (Innovation in) Ecosystems. Other popular topics included Design Thinking and Continuous Innovation (eight papers), Innovation through Digitalization (eleven papers), and Healthcare Innovation (four papers). Furthermore, considering emerging societal issues in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, a special session was held on Innovation and Resilience, aimed at stimulating new research avenues and knowledge on how innovation management approaches are interlinked with resilience in organizations and how resilience can become a focal aspect in these approaches and innovation outcomes

Keynote addresses were delivered by Professor Wim Vanhaverbeke (Surrey Business School, United Kingdom) who spoke on Digital Technologies and the Role of Innovation Ecosystem Management: Examples from Agriculture and Healthcare, and Professor Roberto Verganti (Politecnico di Milano, Italy and Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden), who shared his thoughts on Data and Platforms in the New Normal.

Having an entirely virtual conference cum workshop was an entirely new experience for all participants. The digital platform created by Luca Gastaldi and his team functioned perfectly, without any glitch. The conference program was fully navigable, and gave direct access to the session rooms, the plenary rooms, and the papers collected in the conference proceedings. Attendance to the sessions was quite comparable to that of “normal”, physical, conference and the same held for the interactions between the participants.

All in all, a very and, perhaps, unexpectedly, good experience. Yet, many participants agreed that going virtual can be done quite effectively and provide a good climate for presentations and discussions, but does not exceed the benefits of face-to-face interactions. Hopefully, the 22nd CINet Conference in Gothenburg, Sweden, 12-14 September 2021 brings us back to the old “normal”.